Children's Home run by Stonelake London Limited in Brent

Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 1 Registered provider: Stonelake London Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children. In its statement of purpose, the provider states that care is provided to children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 12 September 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

This inspection was conducted on site and involved meetings with children, staff and managers. Email and telephone contact took place with family members and placing authority social workers.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 2 February 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/02/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 11/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed positive and trusting relationships with staff. Children speak positively about their key workers and feel that they are helped by them. This enables children to talk to staff openly about issues that are worrying them and provides stability for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop their independence skills. Staff help children to learn how to cook, budget for shopping, and do their own laundry. One child has been supported to create a CV and has successfully applied for employment. This support helps children to learn and develop important life skills and plan for the future. Children are supported to actively engage in their care planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to lead healthier lifestyles. One child now cooks healthy meals and has given up smoking cigarettes. Additionally, the child attends the gym every week. Children are also encouraged and supported to exercise at the local park. This has helped children to maintain a healthy weight and improve their overall well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities, such as paintballing and trampolining. This provides children with the opportunity to have new experiences away from the home. Additionally, it helps children to strengthen relationships with staff and other children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain positive relationships with their families. Staff work closely with children and their families to ensure that their time spent together is enjoyable. This helps children to rebuild, develop and maintain important family relationships.

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

Children benefit from the support of an in-house art therapist. During the inspection, two children requested to speak to the therapist as they were struggling with some issues. This therapy support enables children to discuss important issues and process previous experiences.

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

Key-work sessions help children to understand their feelings and learn how to keep themselves safe. Positive relationships between staff and children result in key-work sessions being meaningful and beneficial for children. Consequently, there are fewer incidents involving children and they are rarely missing from the home.

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

Children are supported to improve their behaviour through incentive and reward charts. Children and staff agree on achievable targets to ensure that the charts result in children presenting with more positive behaviour. This approach is Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 4 successful. It helps children to make positive choices and reduces difficult or challenging behaviour.

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

Staff respond appropriately when children are missing from the home. They search for children in places that they are known to frequent and report them missing to relevant people. However, there are no clear protocols in place for staff to follow. This has the potential for staff responses when children are missing not always being consistent. Additionally, independent return-home interviews do not consistently take place. This limits the support and safeguards in place for children at a vulnerable time.

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

Staff recognise when children are struggling to manage their behaviour and regulate their emotions. Staff are alert to key behaviour indicators, such as changes in body movement, and understand children’s individual triggers. Staff speak to children calmly and suggest alternative strategies, such as going for a walk or having a hot drink. This helps to de-escalate behaviours and reduce incidents.

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good

The leadership and management of the home has improved since the last inspection. The new manager has been in post since February 2022 and has submitted an application for registration. Leaders and managers have addressed two of the requirements raised at the interim inspection. They accept that there are still improvements to be made.

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good

The admissions process for new children moving in to the home is not sufficiently robust. Leaders and managers do not evidence in records that they consider all aspects of the child’s needs and how they can meet these. This limits the manager’s ability to carry out a full assessment of a child’s suitability to live in the home.

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good

Children’s case records do not always include full information. For example, risk assessments do not include information about children’s diagnosis. Details of children’s most recent personal education plan meetings are not on their files. This reduces the manager’s and staff’s understanding of the child’s needs and progress. Consequently, this limits the approach to care provided.

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good

Management oversight of staff practice is poor. Inconsistent responses to children by staff are not addressed, and so inconsistent practice continues. As a result, children do not always have clear routines and boundaries.

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good

Staff are offered a wide range of training opportunities that are specific to meeting the needs of children in their care. However, leaders and managers do not keep a record of completed training. Therefore, they do not know if staff have completed the required mandatory training. Additionally, this information is not included in staff appraisals to give clear objectives going forward. This limits the manager’s understanding of staff’s knowledge and skills and areas for development. Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 5 Staff morale is positive and staff retention is good. Staff comment on effective management support and value regular supervision. Good staff retention ensures that children have stability and consistency in care. Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that they have clear oversight of how staff are managing children’s behaviour and that children’s care plans include all relevant information about the child. Leaders and managers must ensure that staff complete mandatory training and keep a record of this to ensure that staff have the skills to meet the needs of each child. 10 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 10 June 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 7 Receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that they complete a thorough impact risk assessment that demonstrates that they can meet the needs of any child moving into the home. The assessment must take into account the potential impact on any children currently living in the home and known risks in the community.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the missing child policy") setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b)) 10 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return-home interview. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30) Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 8

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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: 1264048 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stonelake London Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sinckot House, 211b, Station Road, Harrow HA1 2TP

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Inspector

Leanne Grant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1264048 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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