Children's Home run by J & R Care Limited in Kent

Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 1 SC065684 Registered provider: J & R Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to six children. It is owned and operated by a private organisation. There were six children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The children living at the home attend the organisation’s school, which is located on the same site. The inspector only inspected the social care provision.

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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: SC065684 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/10/2022 Full Good 02/11/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/04/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in the home are provided with love and care. This is evident through the positive relationships between them and staff. Staff are aspirational for the children, encouraging and supporting them to develop and maintain interests and hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make positive progress in their behaviour, understanding of self and their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are generally positive about living in the home and enjoy the experiences that they are provided with. Staff provide children with experiences and activities that promote their self-confidence, identity and self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to share their views through regular children’s meetings, which are vibrant and well established. Key-work sessions also ensure that children’s voices are heard, and some of the children have advocates to support them in meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff communicate well with families. When appropriate, families can call and visit the home and staff supervise children’s time with their families if needed. A recent sports event hosted at the home was attended by family members and was a real success.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transition planning is good for children entering and leaving the home. Consideration is given to getting to know young people before they move in and keeping in touch when they leave. However, written evidence of the assessments of how well young people will get on lack detail.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint and are supported to do so. Written records clearly detail the complaint. However, they are less clear regarding the feedback that was given to the child and their view.

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

Staff are committed to keeping children safe. Children make good progress with their behavioural needs because of the support that they receive.

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

The number of physical interventions for children has decreased significantly. When physical interventions are used, the children and adults are offered opportunities to reflect on the incident. However, these discussions are not always recorded within timescales.

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

Children do not regularly go missing from the home. When they do, missing from home protocols are followed by staff to bring children home safely. Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 4 Staff complete key-work sessions with children that explore peer relationships in the home and address any concerns of bullying. The quality of these sessions is good. Staff listen to children and support them in a non-judgemental way.

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

Staff have a good understanding of risks to children and can articulate these. However, written risk assessments do not always reflect this knowledge. For example, risk assessments are not always kept up to date and do not always contain adequate information or guidance. This is primarily a recording issue, the impact of which is reduced by the knowledge of the staff team.

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

The home is generally well maintained and there are now two members of staff employed for maintenance management. However, there were minor issues seen during the inspection that had not been logged. These were resolved quickly. However, monthly health and safety checks in line with the provider’s policy are not being completed consistently, which would help to ensure that any issues are routinely identified.

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good

The registered manager has good insight about the strengths and weaknesses of the home and is aware of the areas of improvement needed. She is clear about the ethos of the home and wants the children to be loved and parented by the staff using a consistent and therapeutic approach. However, there is a vacancy currently for a deputy manager. This has resulted in a higher workload for the registered manager, and she has less capacity. Consequently, some shortfalls have not been addressed.

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good

Team meetings are held every fortnight and are used as a space for updates and reflection. Staff report these meetings to be positive and explain that they have resulted in improved relationships between staff and greater knowledge of the expectations of the management team. However, minutes of these meetings are not always kept. Consequently, staff who are not able to attend are not able to see what has been discussed.

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good

Staff who work in the home are permanent members of staff, which provides consistency for the children. They enjoy working in the home and feel supported by the registered manager. However, staff supervisions are not completed on a regular basis and the recording of supervisions is not consistent.

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good

Staff can access training and are given allocated time to complete this. However, there are gaps in training related to the needs of the children. There has not been any evident negative impact on children. However, the registered manager does not have access to clear information for identifying/tracking the training needs of the staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 5 Medication recording errors have happened sporadically since the end of last year. This has been addressed by the registered manager in staff meetings. However, some training needs have been highlighted but have not yet been actioned.

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good

Staff have built positive relationships with external professionals, who highlight the good communication with staff and the positive progress of children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 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, The 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 maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that assessments considering the needs of the child when entering the home also explore and relate to the children already living in the home. Also, that the recording of physical interventions is completed within timescales, that risk assessments are updated regularly in line with children’s current needs and that team meeting minutes are kept up to date. 12 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that supervision is held within the timescales outlined within the statement of purpose and policy, and that supervision is recorded and shared with the employee in a timely way. 12 September

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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;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 12 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 7 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to managers ensuring that staff training is accurately recorded and monitored, and that specific training relating to the needs of the children they care for is provided to staff.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that medicines are administered in line with medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication and any patterns in recording errors should be addressed immediately by the registered person. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment, that meets the needs of their children. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety. The registered person will ensure monthly health and safety monitoring is completed and all maintenance issues are logged and responded to within the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children are able to take up issues or

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Recommendations

make a complaint with support, and should ensure that the outcome of the complaint is shared with them and recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)

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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: SC065684 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: J & R Care Limited, Ash House South Centre Road, New Ash Green, Longfield, Kent DA3 8JF

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Inspector

Faye McCarthy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC065684 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 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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