Children's home run by PJL Healthcare Limited in Wealden

Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 1 SC486879 Registered provider: PJL Healthcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides individualised care packages for children and young people with complex needs and behaviours which can potentially limit their life opportunities and negatively impact on their development.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last inspected this setting on 2 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 28 October 2021 to conduct a site visit for a variation to the registration. The variation request has been granted to increase the number of children who can live at this home from four to five children.

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Information about this children’s home

In this report, the staff are referred to as ‘adults’, as this is the term which is used within the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care. Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 2 Date of last inspection: 7 October 2019

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/10/2019 Full Good 01/05/2018 Full Good 16/05/2017 Full Good 05/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 4

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outstanding

The children describe this setting as their home and say that they feel part of the ‘Frammers’ family. They thrive and blossom because of the adults’ warm, thoughtful, insightful and caring approach to their care. Children have meaningful and nurturing relationships with the adults who care for them. These relationships help children to overcome previous traumatic life experiences and to develop resilience and empathy for others.

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outstanding

A social worker said, ‘I have nothing but praise for the home and the staff.’ The social worker said that the child had had a number of previous placements but had been able to grow and to flourish at this home. The child had developed excellent relationships with all of the adults and was very settled. The child told the social worker that they wanted to remain at Framfield because it is ‘like home, living here’.

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outstanding

An extensive review and evaluation of whether, and how, to admit a child, supports excellent placement decisions which fully promote every child’s welfare. The adults consider the needs of all of the children and help them to be well prepared for the change in the group’s dynamics. The adults regularly keep in contact with the child before they move in. They find out about different aspects of the child’s life, such as what they do online and what they would like to do in their first week at the home. The children already living at the home help to make newly admitted children feel welcome. This underpins the culture of acceptance and care embedded in the home.

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outstanding

Children are positive about learning; they want to do well at school and have aspirations to develop satisfying careers in the future. Children are achieving well at school. Close contact between the adults and the school staff enables them to resolve any difficulties as they arise. Children also take part in some training with the adults, such as first aid. This demonstrates the inclusive approach that leaders and managers take regarding the importance of education, developing life skills and enriching both the children’s and adults’ experiences.

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outstanding

Children’s views are listened to, acted on and respected. The adults work with children to develop and to plan children’s care. A child said that if something she wants cannot happen, the adults will tell her why. The adults consult with children about what children want in every aspect of their care. The adults use this information to influence and to change their support. When a child reported that bullying was occurring at school, the adults took immediate action and advocated strongly on behalf of the child to resolve this quickly.

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outstanding

Life skills are promoted and reviewed from the moment that a child arrives. Adults collect and collate evidence of children’s lives at the home and build positive Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 5 childhood memories for them to cherish in the future. For example, this includes the home’s Christmas elf appearing every Christmas and writing messages to children.

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outstanding

There is a homely, fun atmosphere within the home. This helps to create and to maintain enjoyable experiences that enable children to thrive in all areas of their lives. This has also resulted in children living here for several years. One child recently moved on to live more independently. Adults continue to include this young person in the life of the home, and the two children living here were clearly glad that she will spend part of the Christmas holidays with them. This action strengthens the significant bonds developed over the years. It makes the children feel that this is their home and that the adults are genuinely interested in their futures and in maintaining their meaningful relationships.

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outstanding

Children’s safety is central to every aspect of their care. The impact of this integrated approach to safeguarding is that children feel safe and secure and develop open and trusting relationships with adults, which help them to talk about difficult matters and to share any worries or concerns.

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outstanding

From the time that the adults decide that a child will come to live at the home, they learn about the child’s needs and plan how to meet these needs effectively. For example, there is a dedicated adult who works regularly with children to promote online safety. This emphasis has resulted in children having age- appropriate knowledge to maintaining online safety.

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outstanding

Children understand the concerns that the staff have identified about their welfare, and the children themselves play a key part in developing risk minimisation strategies. A social worker was very positive about how the adults managed an online concern for one child. Their actions helped the child to understand the risks and to demonstrate how she would manage this differently in the future.

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outstanding

A safeguarding professional was positive about how leaders and managers supported them to find creative ways of working together. They corroborated information and agreed responsibilities for safeguarding concerns about one child who had made several allegations about the adults who looked after her. None of these incidents had been founded and the actions taken have reduced the numbers of allegations made. Conscientious and thorough practice has been followed, and even when the child retracted their allegation, appropriate referrals were made. Well-written and comprehensive records are kept about safeguarding referrals and their outcomes. This demonstrates the transparent and thoughtful approach to ensuring that all safeguarding concerns are audited and examined to ensure that processes keep children safe.

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outstanding

Planning for children’s safety is a key part of adults’ practice. Leaders and managers support the adults to take account of age-related risks as the children Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 6 grow, such as the children’s vulnerability in the community and online. Any difficulties in relationships between children are quickly identified and managed very well. The adults provide consistent boundaries in line with good parenting. Children described how the adults had supported them to talk about their difficulties with each other and how this now means that they can ‘sort this out ourselves’. This helps them to develop their own skills in managing conflict and disagreements constructively.

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outstanding

The rewards systems are used every day to recognise positive aspects of children’s behaviour and achievements. Daily reminders of what children are doing right are carefully collated for children to keep in their memory books and are used to promote reflective discussions with them. This approach is successfully helping children to find more positive ways of understanding and expressing how they feel. It is also helping them to recognise their strengths and to develop pride in what they achieve.

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outstanding

Adults support children through positive interventions and the implementation of strategies agreed and developed with the children themselves. Consequently, the use of physical restraint is rare, and no child has gone missing for some time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has had no registered manager since July 2021. The organisation has continually sought to find a suitable manager, and senior leaders have supported the home well. As a result, the absence of a registered manager has not had any impact on the high-quality care or children’s excellent progress. The management arrangements in place have continued to provide a supportive, collaborative and caring culture within the home for everyone.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers adeptly encourage the adults to provide resourceful and innovative care. Adults talk enthusiastically and warmly about children, at length and in great detail. One adult said that the home’s new trauma-informed approach had helped her to respond to a child in a far better and insightful manner. Adults find that the reflective approach and regular support assists them to respond thoughtfully and effectively, even when children are having a difficult time. Adults have developed an imaginative goals and life-skills programme which tracks children’s progress and helps to identify areas where a child is not doing so well. As a result, they are able to implement bespoke plans aimed at improving each child’s success and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Very effective, adaptable and stimulating training has a significant and meaningful impact on staff’s understanding, knowledge and abilities to care for the children to an excellent standard. For instance, regular therapeutic staff group supervision has supported them to be able to reflect on their practice with a view to improving outcomes for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision meetings have been regularly completed. Records of these meetings Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 7 show how supervisors explore a wide range of topics with staff that promote children’s safety and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, there are good monitoring systems in place at the home and all requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been met However, some risk assessments do not contain up-to-date information. For example, regarding how the staff should minimise risks to children. These omissions do not currently impact on children’s care, and the adults know the most up-to-date strategies to use to minimise risks. However, this could compromise effectiveness if new staff were to rely on the outdated documents. Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 8

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Recommendation

 Staff should ensure that any changes to how the adults should respond to risk are quickly updated in written risk assessments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC486879 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PJL Healthcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mayfield House, East Street, Mayfield, East Sussex TN20 6TZ

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Inspector

Ruth Coler, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC486879 10 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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