Children's Home run by Jules Private Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children's home: 2659026 1 Registered provider: Jules Private Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately operated home provides care for up to three children who have emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by an acting manager who is not yet 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 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2659026 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. They are happy and settled. They have developed trusting and positive relationships with staff and say that they like living in the home. Staff and children spend time together. Children benefit from having predictable routines and behavioural boundaries, and this helps them to feel secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met to a good standard. They are registered with local health professionals and are supported to attend appointments as required. Systems have been put in place to regularly audit children’s medication, which reduces the risk of medication being missed or inappropriately administered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has a positive view of education. She has worked very closely with education professionals to support children to make educational progress. Staff provide additional educational support for children and try to introduce learning into any activities children engage in. The manager and staff have ensured that children receive daily education. When children are not in formal education, the manager and staff provide educational activities in the home. Staff work hard to motivate children to attend education and they encourage learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children decide what activities they would like to take part in. Staff support them to try new activities to enhance their life experiences. Activities are planned around children’s likes and interests, such as football and swimming.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have not made any formal complaints. They know what to do should they be unhappy with any aspect of their care. They are confident in speaking to and confiding in staff. However, children are not always provided with a formal response when they share their concerns. This lack of a response could undermine trust and make children feel unsafe.

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

Children are relaxed and comfortable with staff. This contributes to them feeling safe and well cared for, which reduces the number of more concerning incidents and the need to physically restrain children.

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

Children’s individual risk assessments provide the required clarity and detail. They are individual to the child and address levels of risk and vulnerability. These documents set out what might trigger certain behaviours and how staff should manage these. The manager frequently reviews and updates risk assessments. Staff use them as a tool every day, to inform and direct their care practice. Therefore, staff are informed about the current risks for children and ways to help reduce these risks to keep children safe. Inspection report for children's home: 2659026 3 Children do not go missing from care because staff are always available to them. Staff know children’s whereabouts and monitor them closely, as any good parent would.

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

Staff understand children’s needs very well and this leads to them not having to restrain children to manage their behaviour. They use less restrictive measures, such as talking to children, to understand their behaviour and prevent incidents escalating. Children also benefit from having access to the services they need, such as child and adolescent mental health services. The staff work collaboratively with these services, and this helps staff to manage children’s behaviour well.

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

When children make allegations against staff, these are taken very seriously by the manager and leaders. Managers take swift action to address allegations. This has helped children know they have been listened to and kept safe.

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

Staff are aware of the processes to report safeguarding incidents to external safeguarding agencies. However, not all staff understand the whistle-blowing procedures. On one occasion, the manager was not aware of a concern regarding staff conduct until it was shared by a child.

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good

The manager has not yet used quality assurance tools to audit care practice. Therefore, management oversight is unclear. There are plans to introduce an electronic management monitoring system to further assist managers in this area.

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good

Staff vacancies remain and recruitment to important roles has been challenging. The manager is also aware that there are some differences among staff which have impacted on morale. Children are also aware of these difficulties. Communication in the team is not always effective, and staff have spoken of a lack of support. This limits the ability of staff to fulfil their roles and responsibilities effectively.

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good

When concerns arise about staff practice, the manager investigates these immediately. However, the manager does not always share learning from investigations with the team when appropriate. This limits opportunities for learning. Records of key-work sessions do not always demonstrate good childcare practice. As a result, staff are not encouraged to improve their interaction with children or approaches to care practice.

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good

The manager is reflective and thoughtful and seeks to improve practice. There is a willingness to accept that things may not work, but also a real desire to get it right for children. Leaders have clear plans to continue to develop the service further. They are aware of the home’s strengths and the areas they wish to improve. There is strong evidence of wanting to provide good help, outcomes and support for children. Inspection report for children's home: 2659026 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all children have access to appropriate advocacy support, and where possible this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Looked-after children are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.16)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. Specifically, staff should be supported to gain a better understanding of whistle-blowing procedures and restorative approaches. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 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. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2659026 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Jules Private Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 89 Birds Nest Avenue, Leicester LE3 9NF

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Inspector

Corline Parker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2659026 6 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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