Children's home run by Blossom Children’s Homes Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2612063 1 Registered provider: Blossom Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. It provides care for up to four children with learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted in December 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2612063 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report children's home: 2612063 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home was registered in December 2020 and staff welcomed their first child in February 2021. Four children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s communication needs are very well met. Staff plan their shifts with care and attention and routinely include information about the way children prefer to communicate. Staff routinely use symbols and pictorial cues with children. Staff are committed to ensuring that children’s needs and wishes are very well understood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children seem very comfortable and ‘at home’. They move freely around the home and outbuildings which contain a sensory room and games room. They are supported extremely well to make choices about their room decorations, their menus, activities and day-to-day life. For example, the home has several magnetic pictures of the children engaging in a range of fun activities on walls. Children enjoy looking at their pictures and moving them around to other areas of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child’s case record did not include an up-to-date care plan or copy of their deprivation of liberty order until these were requested during the inspection. Despite this shortfall, the staff and manager’s regular communication with the child’s professional network means that they work in line with the local authority plans and agreed targets for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to make progress with their health needs. Staff are proactive and creative in supporting children to attend medical appointments that are distressing for them. One teacher said, ‘Since being there, my young person has made great progress, including better sleep patterns, personal hygiene, losing weight, managing to sit for a haircut and their speech is progressing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite the restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, children have had good opportunities to have fun in the home and in the community when possible. For example, children have particularly enjoyed first experiences such as trips to the beach.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children feel safe and are very well protected from neglect, harm and abuse. They benefit from the organisation’s clear and comprehensive child protection policies and procedures. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding policies, managing allegations and whistle-blowing procedures. This helps to keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children’s safety and well-being is at the centre of practice at the home. Staff team meetings, supervision and shift-handover meetings continue to have a strong focus on child protection. For example, staff worked extensively using social stories with Inspection report children's home: 2612063 4 two children to explain why hitting is not ok. This helped to improve behaviour and to reduce further incidents.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff work effectively with other professionals. Their contribution to the protection of children is very good and is valued. A local authority social worker said, ‘Communication from the home with the wider network involved in [name of child]'s care is very good. They seek advice and support as and when needed and communicate regularly with school to ensure consistency across the environments [name of child] is in.’

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Individualised risk assessments address known and anticipated risks. These provide staff with guidance and highly effective strategies that help to reduce children’s risk- taking behaviour. Staff vigilance with each child helps plan for any potential risks between children in the home. However, the work staff do to reduce incidents between children in the home is not always clearly recorded.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are clear and consistent in setting boundaries for children. Behaviour management support plans are individualised. These plans provide staff with effective strategies that help promote appropriate behaviour and assist them to manage children’s complex behaviour. However, comprehensive records of behavioural incidents are not routinely kept for all children. This compromises management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a suitably qualified, experienced manager with a background in working effectively with children with learning difficulties. He leads a diverse and skilled staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they feel supported by regular team meetings, supervision, induction and daily support from managers. However, supervision does not take place in line with the statement of purpose. Supervision records do not routinely reflect the content of discussions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers actively and regularly monitor the quality of care provided to children and consistently seek to improve children’s lives. External monitoring of the home has improved in recent months. This has helped leaders and managers to continue to make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers meet with children, parents and others to understand their views about the effectiveness of the service. One parent said, ‘Staff are wonderful. Staff communicated with him. They learnt by observing and getting into his world and understanding his bubble. He is happy.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know children extremely well and advocate effectively on their behalf. Managers ensure that new strategies and interventions from specialist providers are considered, to address children’s changing needs. This ensures that Inspection report children's home: 2612063 5 children remain the focus of interventions, to keep them safe and develop necessary life skills. Inspection report children's home: 2612063 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of the child’s death;

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Requirement Due date

in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child’s date of birth;

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

ensuring that accurate and comprehensive records are kept for behaviour management incidents; and

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Requirement Due date

ensuring that risk assessment records include details of any risks children may pose to each other and the strategies used to manage these risks. 25 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 25 January 2022 Inspection report children's home: 2612063 7 receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to ensuring that local authority care plans and deprivation of liberty orders are requested and reviewed when care plans for children change.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to ensuring that supervision of staff takes place in line with the home’s statement of purpose and that supervision records include an account of the content of discussions. 25 January 2022

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: 2612063 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blossom Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Private Client, Unit 7-8, Moran House, 449- 451 High Road, London NW10 2JJ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Wakeling

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2612063 9 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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