Children's Home, Residential special school run by Mayne Enterprises Limited in East Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 1 SC413992 Registered provider: Mayne Enterprises Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and run by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care for up to 11 children with social and emotional and/or learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There were five children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The children attend the organisation’s school on the same site. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2013.

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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

Date of last inspection: 12 January 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/01/2022 Full Good 27/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/06/2019 Full Good 03/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to giving children freedom and choice, and this is balanced with providing nurturing care. For example, during the inspection, children were encouraged to come away from the computer and television and get together with staff to play some outdoor games. Children were observed to be comfortable and relaxed with each other and with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children attend the onsite school. One child who no longer attends the school is waiting for an alternative education provision to be identified. In the meantime, the residential staff are helping the child to maintain a healthy routine by engaging them in meaningful activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work therapeutically with the children. This helps each child to make good progress in relation to their emotional well-being. One parent told the inspectors that, ‘In a short space of time, he has been transformed. The staff are calm, the atmosphere is calm and he is calm.’ The parent went on to say that their view is that the child’s future is looking much brighter.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to preparing children to live more independently in the future. There is a flat that is used to support children to develop their independence. This is currently being used to good effect to support one child to help them to learn valuable life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are supported by staff through careful planning and strong communication with external health professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s cook had recognised that evenings and weekends were busy, especially with children attending various external clubs. That meant there were limited opportunities for the children to experience a social mealtime together. Consequently, the cook arranged for all the children to eat together at lunchtime. This has been a great success and has helped to ensure that children maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff are aspirational for the children and set meaningful goals. However, not all children’s goals are clearly aligned to those in their care plans prepared by their placing authority. Additionally, some children’s records do not fully describe their progress in relation to accepting support to explore their developing sense of identity. As a result, there are missed opportunities to consistently capture the progress children are making towards achieving all the goals that are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff remain resilient when managing difficult situations. However, one child has left the home in an unplanned way. It was recognised by managers that the staff were Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 4 unable to keep the child safe. Managers worked with the child’s local authority to manage the move and to avoid disruption.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Work to improve the environment has been completed. This has created a bright and homely environment for the children. This is enhanced by the presence of pet dogs that are frequently brought into the home by members of staff.

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

Safeguarding children is a priority. Good-quality training ensures that staff can make sound decisions to address safeguarding concerns. Effective and open communication with children’s parents and social workers further underpins the safeguarding culture and promotes the children’s safety.

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

Incidents when children are at risk of harm are rare. When concerns arise, managers take swift and decisive action to ensure that children are protected from harm. However, this sound practice is sometimes undermined by an ongoing weakness in how children’s risk and impact assessments are written. The assessments do not clearly describe how staff should manage a child’s risks and the measures needed to keep a child safe.

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

Staff respond promptly when children go missing from the home. Staff follow children’s individualised plans that describe the steps the staff must take to ensure that children are returned home safely. As far as possible, children are involved in the development of their plans. This empowers the children and contributes to their sense of security.

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

Staff are adept at noticing changes in children’s presentation and behaviour. They recognise that those changes may indicate that children are struggling and need additional support.

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

The use of consequences and physical interventions is rare. When they do occur, managers ensure that these are applied fairly and effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are ambitious and passionate about providing a good quality of care to the children. They demonstrate that staff are valued, which inspires staff to give a good quality of care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are very clear about the progress children are making. They work closely with other professionals and act swiftly when plans need to change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers demonstrate that staff are valued, which inspires staff to give a good quality of care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers maintain good oversight to ensure that areas of practice, including the care of medicines, are effective and safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 5 All staff receive regular practice-related and reflective supervision sessions and varied training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have recognised that the electronic and paper-based record-keeping systems used in the home could be more streamlined. They are taking steps to address this to ensure that all staff can easily access children’s most up-to-date records when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safe recruitment practice is generally understood and implemented effectively. However, on one occasion, an unsafe adult was employed to work at the home for a brief period of time. There was a lack of professional curiosity about the member of staff. This error has not had any impact on the safety and well-being of the children, but managers have carried out a full investigation to identify lessons learned.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers demonstrate that there is an embedded culture of welcoming feedback from external sources. Criticisms and comments about the service are seen as an opportunity to learn, reflect and improve. Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children’s risk and impact assessments clearly describe children’s most relevant risks.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 31 December

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)) 31 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 7 This is with particular reference to ensuring that children’s plans are aligned with the plan prepared by the placing authority, and that records demonstrate the progress children are making towards achieving all the goals that are important to them.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that case records are kept up to date. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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: SC413992 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Mayne Enterprises Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 267 Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6FL

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Inspectors

Helen Simmons, Social Care Inspector Mike Simmonds, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC413992 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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