Children's Home run by The Kennedy and Elliott Partnership LLP in Newham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 1 Registered provider: Kennedy And Elliott Partnership LLP Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to four children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted in November 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected. Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 3

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improvement to be good

Staff welcomed the home’s first child at the end of January 2022 and a second child a few days later. There was one child living in the home at the time of the inspection. The other child had an unplanned ending to their placement.

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improvement to be good

One child has made slow and steady progress from her starting point, and her overall experiences are generally positive. However, this is not the case for all children. Weaknesses in the home’s matching process and the robustness of information-gathering have meant that one child’s needs were not well met. This resulted in an unplanned ending. Leaders and managers have taken learning from this experience and are putting plans in place to strengthen matching processes.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff work hard to forge strong relationships with children. The child living in the home said: ‘This is a good home and everyone here is very caring. One staff member came in on her day off to take me to an appointment.’ This support helps children to feel cared for.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from regular direct-work sessions. Staff regularly support children in managing difficult decisions and life experiences. However, full and accurate records of these sessions are not always kept. For example, direct work conducted with a child to address their emerging behaviour of singeing furniture and all of the actions staff took to manage this behaviour were not fully recorded.

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improvement to be good

Children have had limited access to education. This has been due to several factors, including children having episodes of being missing from care, delay in setting up education options for one child by the local authority and children deciding not to take up opportunities for tuition. Furthermore, staff do not keep good records of what actions they take to encourage children to engage in education and to develop good routines.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from being offered regular house meetings. Where children choose not to attend these house meetings, their views are gathered through direct work sessions. Children regularly share their views and staff act on them where appropriate. This helps children feel listened to.

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improvement to be good

The physical environment of the home is clean and homely. The provider has a programme of improvements in place for the home, including replacing window blinds, redecorating bedrooms and improving storage. Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 4

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improvement to be good

Many aspects of the home’s safeguarding practices are effective in promoting children’s safety. However, the quality of records, including risk assessments, behaviour management plans and missing-from-care records, requires improvement to be consistently good.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments and behaviour management plans do not demonstrate that the manager and staff have explored all known risks to children in a meaningful way. They do not specifically address any risk of harm. Furthermore, they do not set out specific actions of how staff should respond to and manage these risks. This does not demonstrate proactive and effective safeguarding practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond appropriately when a child is suspected of smoking in the home and when concerns start emerging about potential fire risks. However, the child’s risk and behaviour management plans have not been updated to reflect this new risk and how it will be managed. This compromises staff’s ability to safeguard the child and does not help staff to provide a consistent approach to managing this risk- taking behaviour. Staff only use physical restraint when it is necessary to safeguard children and others. There has been one incident of restraint since the home opened. The child was offered support following the restraint but declined the support. However, records were not kept of staff debriefs. This compromises leaders and managers’ oversight of restraint practice and behaviour management.

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improvement to be good

Staff demonstrate an understanding of children’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities. Staff are provided with on-the-job training by the manager. They follow missing-from-home procedures as set out by managers. However, records of missing episodes do not contain all of the actions that staff take when children are missing or to try and deter them from going missing again. This does not help to safeguard children. Staff demonstrate a good knowledge of the policies and procedures relating to the management of allegations against senior staff and whistle-blowing procedures. This helps staff to keep children safe. Children are supported to take their medication and to attend health appointments. Medication is administered and recorded safely.

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good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified manager. Leaders and managers are ambitious for change and know the children in their care well. The home is staffed by a diverse team. Staff are committed to learning and improving the experiences and outcomes of the children that they care for. Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 5 Staff say that they feel supported by leaders and managers. However, the quality and frequency of staff supervision are variable and not in line with the home’s statement of purpose. For example, not all staff receive supervision fortnightly when they start working for the company. Supervision records do not capture key information that was discussed. This compromises leaders and managers’ ability to evaluate the impact of staff on the quality of care provided to children.

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good

Staff benefit from regular team meetings. They make use of external support, such as the support from child and adolescent mental health services, to inform their interactions with children. However, not all staff have completed all of the required training, including training on local protocols for children missing from care, child exploitation and behaviour management and restraint training. The lack of core training affects the quality and depth of staff’s responses to children living in the home. However, the manager supports staff with on-the-job training and coaching, which has helped reduce the impact on children.

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good

Leaders and managers fail to consider the lack of staff training and skills when they match children to the staff group. Records such as impact risk assessments and planning meeting documents do not include full information regarding the plans for managing episodes of going missing from care and the arrangements for conducting return home interviews. This has resulted in a significant delay in agreeing the arrangements for return home interviews.

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good

Two children’s case records do not include up-to-date care plans from the placing authority. 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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good

Leaders and managers have established audit processes to monitor the home’s records and day-to-day functioning of the home. However, these processes are not yet effective in improving identified shortfalls. The provider has put plans in place to ensure that recommendations from audits are monitored and completed; however, these are yet to be embedded. Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)) In particular, this refers to ensuring that:  risk assessments clearly set out and evaluate all known risks to children  behaviour management plans provide staff with clear strategies to manage risk 22 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 7  staff receive training to meet the risks and needs of each child, including core training for children’s homes, and training such as child sexual exploitation, behaviour management and safe use of restraint, and children going missing from care.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that leaders and managers make improvements in line with learning from audit processes to ensure the continuous improvement of the home. 22 June 2022

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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; 22 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 8 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) In particular, this relates to ensuring that:  staff receive supervision in line with the home’s statement of purpose  staff receive training in line with children’s needs and risks, such as children going missing from care, behaviour management and restraint, and child sexual exploitation.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 22 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 9 In particular, this refers to ensuring that full records are kept of:  children’s daily experiences, including efforts made by staff to encourage children to attend and engage in education and develop good routines  evaluation of risk and matching to staff skills when conducting impact risk assessments and how any identified risk will be managed  full, detailed and accurate records of all actions staff take when children are missing from home  staff debriefs and learning following the use of physical intervention.

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Requirement Due date

This regulation applies to a child who is looked after by a local authority.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must co-operate with the child’s placing authority in agreeing and signing the child’s placement plan. (Regulation 17 (1) (2)) 22 June 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 for children’s home: 2654867 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kennedy And Elliott Partnership LLP

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Abacus House 14–18 Forest Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 1DX

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2654867 11 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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