Children's Home run by Kent County Council in Kent

Inspection report for children's home: SC403850 1 SC403850 Registered provider: Kent County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home, providing short breaks for up to six children who have severe learning difficulties and who may also have physical disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2018.

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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: 8 December 2021

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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: SC403850 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/12/2021 Full Good 08/10/2019 Full Good 08/01/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 22/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: SC403850 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individualised care from a caring and knowledgeable staff team. As this is a short-break provision, children’s needs are varied, and staff demonstrate immense skill in managing differing communication and behavioural needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Detailed admissions meetings between parents and staff take place at the start of visits. This ensures that staff have the most up-to-date information when looking after a child. This information is shared immediately with the wider team in handover meetings and care targets are subsequently updated. This approach allows staff to be able to support ever-changing targets for children and shows their ability to work collaboratively with parents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents talk positively about the home and what it provides for them as a family and for their children. One parent commented, ‘My child always goes [to the home] happy and jolly and comes home the same. I can’t fault it at all, all staff are friendly.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are well understood. An innovative child-focused meeting structure demonstrates how children have a good say in how they are cared for. Staff understand the importance of choice and work hard to enable children to make choices and decisions about their day-to-day care, such as about food, activities and how staff are supporting them. This person-centred approach allows children to feel valued and that their choices are important.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to engage in education and develop independence skills. The communication and working relationships between staff and teachers are good. If the registered manager is unhappy about any aspect of the education that children are receiving, she is quick to raise issues and, where appropriate, challenge.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Regularly updated care plans give guidance to staff on how to meet children’s needs. However, despite these being updated regularly, some include contradictory information on how to care for children. This could cause confusion for staff.

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

Leaders and staff have a good understanding of the risks that children may face. Comprehensive risk assessments support staff to know how to look after children effectively.

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

When there are concerns, the response is robust. Leaders are child-centred in their approach to safeguarding and are not scared to challenge other professionals tenaciously if this is needed. This ensures that children are protected.

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

Quarterly safeguarding reports allow the registered manager to maintain effective oversight of all aspects of safeguarding. Any themes are quickly picked up and Inspection report for children's home: SC403850 4 responded to. These reports also evidence the consistently robust action that staff take when they are concerned about children.

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

Any concerns about staff practice are immediately responded to. The registered manager raises any issues with the staff concerned through supervision and any themes are then shared in team meetings. A system is in place to make sure that all staff, no matter what their role, are invited to team meetings to make sure that the important safeguarding messages are heard by all.

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

Staff manage behaviour well. There are few restraints, and when they do occur there is a good debrief for staff. However, children are not always given the opportunity to reflect on the restraint if they are then going home. Given the time between visits, it is sometimes difficult for children to recall incidents of restraint.

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

The environment is safe. Weekly and monthly health and safety checks are supported by annual inspections of all key services, such as fire and gas. When concerns are identified, leaders immediately seek to rectify these.

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

There is some inconsistency in recruitment practice. One staff members’ file showed that gaps in employment were not followed up and, despite gaps being understood by leaders there was no record of this. Leaders have minimised the impact of this by ensuring that all other checks, such as reference checks and Disclosure and Barring Service checks, are completed. The registered manager has a good oversight of other aspects of recruitment files and is quick to pick up any discrepancies in references.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a clear vision for the home and the children. They involve everyone connected with the home in this vision, including children, parents and staff. Leaders are clear about their expectations and lead by example.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff talk positively about how available the registered manager is and feel that they can talk to her about anything. They also feel that she is open to new ideas about how to improve things. The recent introduction of a Monday morning debrief for staff has been welcomed by all.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive effective and regular supervision. When concerns are raised about practice, these are quickly discussed. Beyond this, detailed supervision notes show that staff have an opportunity to reflect and grow. This is supported by comprehensive reviews of performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good systems in place to monitor the home and the actions that have been taken. Monitoring reports, alongside safeguarding reports, demonstrate a clear knowledge of the home’s successes and challenges. Detailed action plans highlight how any shortfalls will be managed. However, the independent person does not routinely see children and observe care practices. This does not provide the manager with sufficient challenge to be able to further develop the home. Inspection report for children's home: SC403850 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d)) 31 July 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than five days after the incident of restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.6)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulation 44) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55,

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Recommendations

paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. This is in relation to clarity of recording in care plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children's home: SC403850 6

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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: SC403850 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kent County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kent County Council, Sessions House, County Road, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ

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Inspector

Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC403850 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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