Children's Home run by Heritage Children’s Homes Limited in Somerset

Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 1 Registered provider: MJ Residential Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to two children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2022.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: none Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the home’s first inspection since it registered in February 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home. The child has made progress from their starting point. Since moving into the home, the child has found attending mainstream school a challenge. In response to this, the registered manager advocated for a tailored education package. As a result, the child is engaging with personalised tutoring, and there is a plan for this child to eventually reintegrate to a formal school setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has opportunities on a day-to-day basis to take part in activities that are meaningful and which supplement his education. For example, he visits museums and castles. The staff have a good understanding of the child’s learning style and interests. They have been proactive in identifying volunteering opportunities in the field of electronics and lighting, which greatly interests the child. The child told the inspector about his aspirations to one day being a lighting engineer.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A strength of the team of staff is their commitment to ensuring that the child has time with their family and friends. As a result, the child is spending good-quality time with members of their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff know the child well and show him genuine warmth and care. The inspector observed staff engaging with the child in a supportive, caring and sensitive manner, and the child interacted well with the staff. The child told the inspector that the staff are ‘amazing’ because of how they help him, and he said that he feels ‘loved’.

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improvement to be good

All staff who contributed to the inspection demonstrate a sound knowledge of child protection and safeguarding. Risk assessments and care plans are detailed and kept up to date. They provide the staff with strategies to best support the child. That said, since the child moved into the home, a member of staff has acted unprofessionally. Leaders and managers responded swiftly and appropriately to this incident. All safeguarding agencies were informed, and the child has received good- quality support. Learning from this incident has been included in the induction process of new staff. A requirement is made to ensure that all staff’s practice is safe.

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improvement to be good

Except for one incident, the child is supported positively whenever they are worried or upset. This is because the staff know the child well and identify potential risks and triggers. The child told the inspector that he feels ‘safe’ and ‘loved’ because the staff are ‘phenomenal’. The registered manager and staff team achieve a balance that allows the child to take age-appropriate risks while ensuring that the child remains safe. Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 4 Staff are competent when speaking with the child, and open and frank conversations are recorded as taking place. As a result, the child takes on board the messages they are given and incidents are short lived, behaviours are positively supported, and physical intervention is not used.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is qualified and is consistent in her leadership of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are either qualified to the appropriate level in residential childcare, are currently undertaking the relevant course, or are new to the home. This means that the child receives support from suitably qualified staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There was an overwhelmingly positive response from the staff about the home and the registered manager during this inspection. A child-centred approach, good- quality supervision and helpful training were themes throughout the feedback. In particular, the inspector was impressed when listening to staff speak about their aspirations for the child and how they are going to support him to achieve his goals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager maintains good-quality relationships with all professionals involved with the child. An independent advocate told the inspector that the manager and team work well to support the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records are well kept and detail the day-to-day activities and progress the child has made. There is a good level of management oversight and evidence of how learning is taken from independent sources. However, the home’s workforce strategy and development plan remain in draft. They require attention by the registered manager to ensure that they reflect the current workforce and the ongoing development of the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 5

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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

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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)) 9 September 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should: - detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s statement of purpose; - detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 6 probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications); - detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; - detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4)(b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home.

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Recommendations

The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and be used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide can help children to understand: - what the day-to-day routines of the home are (what happens in the home); - the statement of purpose of the home (the care they can expect to receive while living there); - how to make a complaint in line with the home’s complaints procedure; - how they can access advocacy support or independent advocacy if eligible; and - how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. In particular, the guide must be in a child-friendly format with language and terminology that are easy to understand. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.22)

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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: 2634633 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: MJ Residential Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: MJ Support Staffing, Creech Castle, Bathpool, Taunton TA1 2DX

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Inspector

Linda Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2634633 8 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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