Children's home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Ealing

Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 1 SC038780 Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and registered with Ofsted.

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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: 11 October 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: SC038780 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/10/2021 Full Good 27/11/2019 Full Good 18/04/2018 Full Good 04/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are receiving good care from staff who know them well. An external professional commented: ‘The staff go above and beyond to ensure that [child’s] needs are met to a high standard.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff ensure that children spend time with people who are important to them. Staff maintain regular communication with families and keep them informed of their child’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to share their wishes, feelings and views within planned and unplanned key-work sessions. Children’s meetings do not always provide opportunities for children to share their thoughts together. This is a missed opportunity to engage the children in matters affecting their daily lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is comfortable. Staff support children to be involved in personalising their bedrooms. Some areas are not maintained to a high standard. Where damage has been caused to a door, timely repair has not been completed. One child’s bedroom has very basic furniture in it, and it does not feel homely. This detracts from the otherwise warm and welcoming environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are making good progress in many areas of their development. One child said: ‘The staff support me with everything.’ Staff support and encourage children with their aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has not recently attended education; neither have they engaged in their planned counselling sessions. Staff have not been creative in their attempts to help the child to access education and other services they need.

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

Children’s individual support plans are thorough and detailed. Managers and staff undertake regular reviews of these documents. The plans help staff understand how best to support children’s specific behaviours and risks.

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

The location risk assessment identifies risks within the local and wider community. This enables staff to provide increased safeguarding support to children. Risk reduction measures are well documented and understood by staff.

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

The manager and staff support children to be safe inside and outside of the home. The manager and staff work effectively with external professionals where there are concerns relating to children at risk of exploitation. This includes sharing information with professionals. This helps to ensure that children are safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 4 Thorough investigations are undertaken by the manager when a child makes an allegation against a member of staff. Prompt actions are taken, including reporting to external professionals and taking actions to ensure that children and staff are safe. The manager offers support and reassurance to children. One child said: ‘I have always felt safe here.’

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

Staff give children consequences for negative behaviour on occasion. However, these consequences are not always restorative. Children are not always supported to understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children and staff caring for them.

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

Children are cared for by safe adults. There is a stable staff team and minimal use of temporary staffing. This means children experience consistent care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands children’s individual needs. An external professional commented: ‘[The manager] is very welcoming and communicates with me all the time to keep me updated.’ This supports partnership working to help keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the manager. Professional supervision meetings are regular and supportive. There is a clear agenda which includes safeguarding children as standard. This helps staff to reflect on their practice in caring for children. One staff member reported that the manager upskills staff to improve the support they give to each child. This improves the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings have a clear agenda which staff contribute to. One member of staff commented that team meetings are productive, and that children’s needs and progress are reviewed. Staff meetings support staff development and are a positive factor in the care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a range of training, including safeguarding training. Training is provided to staff taking into consideration children’s specific needs. This enables staff to have a good understanding of children’s care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager undertakes detailed internal reviews of the quality of care. However, children, their families and external professionals are not always consulted. Quality of care reviews are not evaluated, reducing the understanding of the strengths and development opportunities of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff engage with wider services, including the local authority, education and health, to promote positive progress for children. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d)) 27 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 27 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 6 that staff—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring that staff are consistent in addressing children’s behaviours in line with individual support plans using a restorative approach. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(ix)(x)(xi))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children; 27 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 7 the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring there is clear analysis and evaluation of care provided to children, including feedback from external professionals and family. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that staff build positive relationships with each child and help the child develop skills to have positive relationships with others. ‘Others’ includes individuals both inside and outside the home, such as other children in the home, staff, family members, siblings, previous carers and

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Recommendations

friends (in accordance with their relevant plans). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.6)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene, etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 8

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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: SC038780 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Leeland Mansions, Leeland Road, West Ealing, London W13 9HE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector

Kathryn Hurley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC038780 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 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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