Children's home run by Jamores Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 1 Registered provider: Jamores Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This privately run home is registered to care for up to three children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The home registered with Ofsted in February 2020. The registered manager post has been vacant since October 2022.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

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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: 2566238 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/03/2023 Full Good 12/10/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are enabled to build positive relationships with staff. Staff show care, compassion and warmth towards the children. This helps children to settle into the home and talk to staff about their worries. Staff sensitively promote positive endings when children leave the home. They provide children with photo albums so that they can take with them special memories of the staff and the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with children’s teachers to ensure that each child’s individual educational needs are met. One teacher said that staff maintain daily communication with teachers and accompany children to school. This helps children to engage and make good progress in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities both in the home and the community. They benefit from having good routines and structure to their day. Children are given opportunities to have new experiences in the community. Children who were initially reluctant to engage in community activities are now able to go out and enjoy their favourite activities with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the value of children maintaining family relationships. Children are sensitively supported to spend time with their family and others who are important to them. Staff support children and families to overcome any difficulties in relationships. As a result, children spend more quality time with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s physical environment is safe for children. The home is homely, clean, tidy, well maintained and well decorated. Children’s bedrooms and communal spaces are well furnished, personalised and comfortable. There are no health and safety concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know and understand children’s health needs. Staff take action to ensure that appropriate services are in place to support children’s health. Staff discuss health plans with children in individual key-work sessions. However, on one occasion, a member of staff failed to follow the home’s medication policy. As a result, a child was able to access their medication. Managers took appropriate action in response to this incident by getting medical advice, and the member of staff completed training in medication administration.

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

Children say that they feel safe. They can identify a trusted person to talk to if they have any concerns. Allegations against staff members are managed appropriately and swiftly. Concerns are shared with the relevant agencies. Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 4 Leaders and managers respond promptly to the safeguarding allegations. They work in close partnership with safeguarding professionals, including the local authority designated officer. Leaders and managers have completed a robust internal investigation and are implementing an action plan to ensure the safety of children.

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

Staff support children to understand the risks posed to them when accessing the internet. Staff use individual sessions with children to help them develop their knowledge and understanding of the risks. There are effective strategies and monitoring systems in place to address any concerns raised. As a result, children are kept safe when playing and working online.

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

Staff only use physical restraint when it is necessary to safeguard children and others. However, new staff do not always demonstrate appropriate skills to de- escalate incidents. In addition, incidents of restraint and the method of restraint used are not always clearly recorded, and restraint records lack sufficient management oversight. This compromises behaviour management and the accurate recording of all events that have an impact on children’s welfare and safety.

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

Staff encourage positive behaviour with positive reinforcement and praise. However, not all children respond well despite the rewards given. In addition, consequences have not been effective and are not always consistent. Leaders and managers do not routinely review and evaluate records of consequences given in order to identify any themes, patterns and/or shortfalls.

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good

The leadership and management of the home are not stable. The registered manager post has been vacant since October 2022. The responsible individual and the experienced director assist the acting manager and the deputy manager to manage the home. The instability in the leadership and management of the home impacts on the management oversight and consistency of staff practice, including the recording of information. The requirement raised at the last inspection in relation to the registered manager post has been restated.

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good

Despite the unstable management arrangements, leaders and managers work well with children’s professional networks. Feedback from professionals is positive regarding the quality of care provided and communication from staff. One social worker reported that the staff went above and beyond to ensure that a new child moving into the home felt welcomed. There is a shared approach to providing children with good-quality care and support.

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good

Leaders and managers do not have effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care provided to children and identify key themes. This is due to the inconsistency in the quality of records. In addition, managers do not always respond to the shortfalls in the recording of incidents identified in the independent person’s monthly reports. This compromises management oversight and the development of the service. Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 5 Children’s case records do not always include important information. For example, details of children’s most recent placing authority plans, including education plans, are not on their files. This reduces the manager’s and staff’s understanding of the children’s needs and their progress.

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good

Staff understand their roles and responsibilities. They say that they feel well supported. Regular team meetings demonstrate that staff are able to reflect on practice and the needs of children. However, the staff team is new, and the majority has no previous experience of working in children’s homes and does not have an appropriate qualification.

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good

Some supervision records do not demonstrate staff reflection well, and managers were unable to demonstrate that all staff had received appropriate supervision of their practice due to a lack of records. Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 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 provider must appoint a person to manage the children's home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated. 30 November

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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

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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; and

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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) (h)) 30 November Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 7 In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that they understand, monitor and review the quality of care provided to children and take effective action to address shortfalls in practice. Leaders and managers must ensure that new staff have the appropriate experience and qualification to meet the children’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children's home.

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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

details of the child's behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

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 30 November Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 8 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 (1)(a) (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that restraint records include full details of the method of restraint used and its duration. In addition, restraint records must demonstrate management oversight and review of the incident.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that all staff supervision records provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33 (4)(b). ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraphs 13.3 and 13.4)  The registered person should ensure that medicines are administered in line with a medically approved protocol. In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff follow the home’s medication protocol when administering medicines. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards',

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Recommendations

page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should maintain records for each child, which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child, and ensure that they are kept up to date. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Information about this inspection

Inspector has 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: 2566238 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Jamores Ltd, Thames Innovation Centre, 2 Veridion Way, Erith DA18 4AL

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Inspector

Dorothy Thompstone, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2566238 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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