Children's Home run by Satash Community Care Project Limited in Thurrock

Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 1 SC462450 Registered provider: Satash Community Care Project Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home, which is run by a private organisation, provides care for up to four children. The organisation promotes independence and aims to provide care that respects children’s choices, rights, privacy and dignity.

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Information about this children’s home

The qualified and experienced manager registered with Ofsted in 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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/07/2021 Full Good 23/05/2019 Full Good 17/05/2018 Full Good 14/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care and support from consistent staff who can meet their complex individual needs. The caring staff know the children well. Staff are attuned to the children’s individual communication methods and provide them with high-quality care and a stable, nurturing home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to maintain good health and well-being. One social worker described how the staff were quickly alert to a new child becoming unwell. As a result, staff confidently challenged medical staff to ensure that the child received the right treatment. Suitable aids and adaptions are in place that meet the children’s particular needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to the children’s education. Staff have worked closely with one child’s placing authority and virtual school to address a lack of education for the child. For years, staff have driven a daily long journey to ensure that one child remains at their school of choice. Staff have encouraged one child’s university and career aspirations, and provided practical support to help them to follow their dreams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make personally significant progress in their confidence, self-care, ability to communicate, and relationships with others. One social worker described the ‘phenomenal’ progress that a child has made since living at the home. This child now tolerates some toys and a television in their bedroom, can go out safely in the car and in the community, and will seek a cuddle from staff. These are things that the child had not managed before. Staff have helped another child, who has lived at the home for over four years, to flourish and grow in confidence. However, staff have sometimes struggled to change their approach to meet the child’s changing needs and demands as the child becomes older.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The detailed assessment and planning that takes place before a child moves in to the home ensures that most children are well matched with staff’s skills and experience and other children living at the home. However, the manager was over- optimistic about the ability of the home to meet the needs of one child. Consequently, despite the good intentions of the staff, this child only lived at the home for a short time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well maintained but requires some decorative improvements, particularly in areas that now look worn. Children’s bedrooms are arranged and decorated to suit their needs and interests. Staff have decorated the home ready for Christmas, and the staff and children have recently enjoyed their annual Christmas party. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 4

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

Staff ensure that the children feel safe and are safe. The manager ensures that the staff receive suitable training and understand their core duty to safeguard the highly vulnerable children.

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

Staff understand that children use behaviour as a means of communication. Clear behaviour support guidance for staff, in addition to their good knowledge of the children, means that incidents are rare and unwanted behaviours significantly reduce. Most, but not all staff, have received training in approved methods of physical restraint. One child with complex sensory needs previously required frequent physical intervention to keep them safe. However, this child has had no physical intervention in the past nine months.

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

Staff ensure that physical restraint is only used to keep a child or others safe. However, on one occasion, the staff did not apply the same threshold for moving a wheelchair-bound child against their wishes. The staff did not recognise this as a form of restraint or record it as such. The manager was not aware of the incident and, consequently, did not monitor the intervention or hold post-incident reflections with the child and staff.

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

Staff have used consequences with a child who has a good understanding of them. This is helping the child to understand expectations and boundaries. On occasion, the records of these consequences do not have full information to enable the manager to monitor the implementation and effectiveness.

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

The staff team has risen to some new challenges in the past year to keep children safe. One child went missing from the home and, on occasion, was misusing cannabis. The staff acted effectively with partner professionals and the child to ensure the child’s safe return. However, the staff have not always been fully aware of the protocols and boundaries for entering a child’s bedroom to conduct a search.

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good

The manager has high aspirations for children and staff, and builds positive relationships with them. The manager works well with partner professionals to ensure that children’s welfare and well-being are promoted. However, the manager has not maintained consistently effective oversight of aspects of the home.

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good

Staff benefit from a variety of training that is relevant to the needs of the children. The manager ensures that all staff receive training that is specific to the needs of children moving in to the home, if required. However, some staff have not had training in autism spectrum conditions, restraint or preventing radicalisation. Four staff have not completed the required level 3 residential childcare qualification within the specified time frame. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 5 On occasion, recruitment checks have not been made in accordance with safer recruitment principles. The manager has not ensured that written staff references are verified and, sometimes, the staff’s employment history is not sufficiently clear and detailed. This potentially allows for gaps in employment to be hidden. Most staff have not had a formal review of their performance in the past year.

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good

Staff enjoy working at the home. They feel valued and respected by the manager. As a result, there are few changes of staff.

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good

The manager has not reviewed all incidents, consequences and restraints to ensure that their use has been appropriate or that the records contain the required information. As a result, the manager has missed opportunities to identify a small number of occasions when staff have not acted in accordance with the home’s ethos and have not adapted their approach to supporting children as they grow and develop. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 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 promotes their welfare.

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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 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)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

children are only admitted to the home when their needs can be met and they are a good match with the other children who are already living at the home;

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Requirement Due date

staff understand that restraint includes restricting a child’s movement;

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Requirement Due date

all incidents are monitored effectively; 6 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 7 there is written consent from the child’s placing authority/ parent for any means of surveillance used in respect of a child;

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Requirement Due date

recruitment references are verbally verified;

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Requirement Due date

hazardous substances are kept secure at all times;

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Requirement Due date

all staff have an annual appraisal and undertake training in autism spectrum conditions, preventing radicalisation and the home’s model of restraint.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff who have worked in a children’s home for more than two years achieve a suitable level 3 qualification.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 6 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and 2 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 8 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(vii) (b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is well decorated throughout and provides a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff do not search children’s bedrooms without informing them and gaining their permission, unless there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that the manager receives supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which enables them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC462450 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Satash Community Care Project Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 25 Balham High Road, London SW12 9AL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Thanaletchmi Loganathan

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Vyramuthu Loganathan

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Inspectors

Joanna Heller, Social Care Inspector Tom McGhee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC462450 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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