Children's Home run by Kartikeya Solutions Limited in Haringey

Inspection report children's home: SC483623 1 SC483623 Registered provider: Kartikeya Solutions Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The privately run home provides care for up to five children who have social and emotional difficulties. Three children were living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The home was registered with Ofsted in September 2014. The registered manager has been in post since March 2021.

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Information about this children's home

The provider has a school in the building that two children living at the home attend. The inspector only inspected the social care provision on this site.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children's home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 6 September 2022

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC483623 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/09/2022 Full Good 16/03/2022 Full Good 03/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC483623 3

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outstanding

Children receive exceptional care and support from very caring and attentive staff. Staff build trusting and nurturing relationships with children. This helps children to settle at the home and feel loved. These relationships also ensure that children are happy, and they feel valued.

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outstanding

Children make excellent progress at the home. They learn and develop skills that contribute to positive outcomes in their lives. Most children who move to the home are living with mental health needs that require support. Staff work well with other professionals to ensure children’s needs are met. A child who was in hospital at the time of the inspection had regular phone calls and visits from staff. The child was happy about the visits and said this showed staff cared about them. Managers are working well with hospital staff to support the child to return to the home.

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outstanding

Children take part in a range of activities. For example, they go to the cinema and visit local attractions. They also enjoy visits to a farm, going indoor skating and skydiving, doing pottery, going on shopping trips, playing football, attending youth clubs and composing music in a studio.

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outstanding

Children get support to learn independent living skills, such as cooking, laundry and tidying their bedrooms. One child was proud to show photos they took during culture week activities in October 2023. They said they enjoyed cooking and tasting different foods. The cultural diversity of staff is a strength of the home. Staff support children to enjoy meals and activities from different cultures. This ensures children have varied enjoyable experiences and opportunities to develop new skills.

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outstanding

Children receive care from a committed and stable staff team. Staff have the skills required to provide excellent care to children. They respond well to children’s needs by providing support quickly when needed. Staff are providing extremely good and sensitive support to a child who is exploring their identity. Staff show how much they care about children and are proud to see them make good progress in all aspects of their lives. A member of staff said having a therapist to consult with and give the team advice is good and allows them to reflect on current issues and come up with strategies that everyone can follow.

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outstanding

Children’s education is an important issue for managers and staff. The provider’s school provision makes it easy for children to attend. It ensures that children who missed a lot of schooling can receive education in a safe and supportive environment. This helps children to receive education in a progressive and nurturing way. There are plans for them to move to a mainstream school when they are ready. A social worker said, ‘The home has been instrumental in getting [name of child] to attend school regularly and enjoy a variety of activities.’ Inspection report children's home: SC483623 4 One young person who recently left the home praised the support they received. They and their parent praised staff for supporting them to learn to manage distress in a positive and safe way. The young person said, ‘I would be dead if it wasn’t for the home.’ The young person described being anxious about moving from the home,

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outstanding

but said they knew staff were available for support and advice. At the time of the inspection, the young person was visiting the home for the second time since leaving. They said the welcome they received when they first visited was overwhelming as everyone was so pleased to see them. The young person and their parent said the support from staff helped them to repair their relationship. The parent said, ‘I can’t thank them enough. [Name of young person] and I are friends now.’

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outstanding

Other family members and professionals were also very positive about how well staff support children. They all said children are getting excellent care from a nurturing staff team. Everyone said the home is very good at nurturing relationships between children and their families. Managers work with social workers to ensure that children see their families regularly. Staff go with children to visit their families. Professionals said staff are very good advocates for children, with emphasis on children’s welfare. Children are doing extremely well since being at the home, with significant reductions in risk factors. A therapist was recently employed by the home to provide more support for the children. They said their main role is to help staff to work better with children in meeting their needs. This is essential to achieve good care outcomes for children and prepare them for adult life.

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outstanding

There is a comfortable feel about the home, and children can choose how they want their bedrooms to look. For example, some children have LED lights in their bedrooms. Children have opportunities to provide feedback and they contribute to the development of the home. Records of children’s meetings show that they discuss a variety of issues, including planning what they would like to eat, activities and improvements to make the home more comfortable.

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

Children are safe and they receive care from staff who understand how to keep them safe. Children can speak with staff at any time or during key-work sessions if they are worried about anything. A therapist supports children to learn how to manage problems in a way that keeps them safe. Children also have support from the therapist with their mental health and well-being.

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

Staff rarely use physical interventions. They receive training to do this in a safe way. Managers review incidents to ensure there is learning from them and that processes are in place to prevent recurrences.

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

There are few incidents of concern at the home. Children live together well and there are rarely arguments between them. Incidents of children going missing from home have significantly reduced. This is because of the supportive relationships children have with staff and feeling safe at the home. A child who recently had the time they are allowed to be away from the home extended was happy that they are Inspection report children's home: SC483623 5 being trusted to go out for longer periods without staff. This will help them to further develop their safety awareness and independent living skills.

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

Children receive medication from staff who are trained to administer medicine safely.

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

The home is clean and tidy and is a pleasant environment for children to live in. The registered manager and staff do regular checks in the home. A maintenance manager checks the home and carries out necessary repairs when they can. External contractors carry out other repairs as needed. This ensures the home is safe for the children, staff and visitors.

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

Managers carry out required checks before new staff start working at the home. There are enough staff to support children and to provide the care they need. Recruitment of staff is ongoing; this ensures sufficient staff to provide the care and support children need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager understands what the home does well and what they need to improve. Leaders, managers and staff are proud about the progress children are making since moving to the home. They are motivated to further improve the quality of care, therapy and education children receive. This is to ensure that children can make good progress, thrive and be better prepared for adult life. A senior manager said, ‘It is our desire not to stand still as an organisation. We need to constantly improve our provision for the benefit of children.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are good processes to help the registered manager to assess the quality of care at the home. The independent visitor supports this by providing feedback following their visits. A senior manager and the therapist provide further guidance to the manager and staff. The registered manager uses this to help him to develop the home. This promotes the provision of safe and nurturing care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are happy to work at the home and they feel well supported by managers. Managers ensure staff have a good induction when they start working at the home and provide training and support to prepare them for their roles. Staff receive training on how to support children, using a recognised therapy model. Staff said the training provided and the support they receive from the therapist are helpful in their work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular and effective supervision. They also have regular team meetings. Staff said they work well as a team so that children get the right care and support. Managers help staff to develop their skills in leadership to prepare them for when such roles are available. This will help retain staff, promote their enjoyment of the job and ensure children get care from a stable staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been met. There are now effective processes to safeguard and protect children from harm. Inspection report children's home: SC483623 6

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Information about this inspection

The 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 children's home: SC483623 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Kartikeya Solutions Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Kartikeya Solutions Limited, 47 Hillfield Park, LONDON, N10 3QU

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Inspector

Thobekile Bandama, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC483623 8 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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