Children's home run by Tutelage Care Barking Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 1 Registered provider: Tutelage Care Barking Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for up to five children with learning disabilities and social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 19 January 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since August 2023 and has applied to register 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/10/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their individual starting points. Staff support children with personal targets to help them develop important life skills, such as maintaining their personal hygiene and self-care and shopping and budgeting skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and assist children to attend school. They have daily communication with children’s teachers and share updates about children to help them respond to the child’s needs in a holistic way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs and ensure that they are met. The manager and staff support children to attend all of their routine and specialist health appointments. One child is supported to complete physiotherapy exercises at home. Staff also ensure that children eat nutritious meals to promote and maintain a healthy weight.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use various methods of communication to engage with non-verbal children. These include using social stories as well as visual and verbal prompts. For example, staff present options to one child, who responds by touching their mouth to mean yes or pushing the item away to mean no. This enables children to express their views and gives them some autonomy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to access and engage in a wide range of activities in the community, including visits to the theatre, activity parks and a theme park. One child received a bike at Christmas, which is helping them to develop their bike-riding skills. Staff also encourage daily activities and hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their families, in the community, and in the home. Children thoroughly enjoy this time and are always pleased to see their family members. This supports children to maintain their identity and important family relationships. One child’s grandparent said that they feel their grandchild has positive experiences and is safe and well cared for by staff.

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

Children are supported to move into the home through careful transition plans. They visit the home before moving in, and children already living in the home are also prepared for new children coming to live with them. This supports children to feel comfortable when they come to live together. However, during referral and admissions processes, managers do not always consider how staff will be able to meet children’s needs or how children will impact one another in the home. This impacted on some children’s relationships with one another.

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

Children’s individual risks and needs are well understood by staff. The manager develops detailed care plans and risk assessments that help staff to meet the needs Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 4 of children. Children are closely supervised by staff, which significantly reduces some of the risks to children.

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

Incidents are managed well by the manager and staff, who are able to de-escalate challenging behaviours through talking to children and calming them down. The use of restraint is low, and staff only use physical intervention to keep children safe.

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

Children have positive and trusting relationships with staff and share their wishes and feelings with them. Staff complete social stories or have one-to-one conversations with children to support them to understand their individual needs and vulnerabilities and encourage positive changes.

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

Since the last inspection, there has only been one incident of a child being missing from home. Staff followed the correct protocols, took prompt action and worked well with safeguarding agencies to locate and safeguard the child. However, the missing- from-home record did not have accurate dates of the incident, which creates confusion about when the incident actually took place.

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

Safe recruitment checks are not always robust. Leaders and managers do not consistently verify references or scrutinise employment dates and gaps in employment history.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home experienced a period of instability during a change of managers. However, this has been recognised by leaders and managers. They have worked hard to make positive changes to provide an environment where staff are supported and children achieve good outcomes and have enjoyable experiences. The current manager knows the children well and understands their needs and behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that there is a sufficient number of staff to support children, based on their individual needs and risks. Additionally, there is always a female member of staff on shift to provide support for girls when necessary. This ensures that girls have the opportunity to freely discuss any issues they may have, enabling trusting and positive relationships to build.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safeguarding practice is good. The staff understand and recognise that they have a responsibility to report any concerns to the manager, responsible individual or external professionals using the whistle-blowing procedure. This increases children’s safety in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly. They are well structured and provide opportunities for staff and managers to discuss children’s needs and staff responsibilities. There are also seven-minute briefings that are focused on specific topics, such as safeguarding. This supports staff to focus and refresh their knowledge on important topics and strengthen staff practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 5 Staff supervision is of good quality and focuses on children’s needs and plans. Staff’s individual practice and performance are appraised annually. However, a number of staff do not have up-to-date mandatory training. Leaders and managers are addressing this shortfall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management oversight, monitoring and reviewing systems need to be strengthened. The quality of care review does not include feedback from children and stakeholders or timescales of when actions will be completed. This prevents leaders and managers from tracking progress and the quality of care effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders, managers and staff work proactively and positively with other agencies and professionals. Social workers feel confident in the care that children receive from staff in the home. They say that the manager and staff communicate well and work closely with them to support children’s needs. One social worker stated there has been a positive impact on the child since the manager has been in post, who understands and responds to the needs of children well. Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

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, leaders and managers must ensure that all staff undertake training to meet the particular needs of children living in the home. 23 February 2024

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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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if— 23 February 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 7 full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d) (7)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that safe recruitment processes are followed, verify all references, obtain a full employment history and scrutinise any gaps in employment.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that they include feedback from children, parents and professionals and an action plan with timescales to inform the quality of care review. 23 February 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 8

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Recommendations

◼ The registered person should only accept placements for children where they have fully considered staff skills and training and the impact that the placement will have for the child in the future and for other children in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) ◼ The registered person should ensure that the staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, missing-from-home records should reflect accurate dates. (‘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: 2662453 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tutelage Care Barking Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 33 Roebuck Road, Hainault business park, IG6 3TZ, Ilford, Essex EN9 1JH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Olabode Martins-Yedenu

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Inspector

Amena Begum, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2662453 10 regulates and inspects 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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