Children's home run by Tutelage Care Hatley Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2691579 1 Registered provider: Tutelage Care Hatley Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately run and provides care for up to two children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in July 2022.

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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: 2691579 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2023 Full Good 30/11/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2691579 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided to the children in this home is good. Children are settled in the home and plan to remain there for the long term. There is a stable staff team, which supports children to build strong relationships with staff who they know well. The stability of the staff team promotes a settled atmosphere in the home, which is good for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming. Children are able to express their personalities throughout the home in the decor. Children engage in activities which they enjoy. Recently, the children each cooked a meal from the country of their choice, and the child who prepared the best dish received a prize.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend quality time with their families. Staff make themselves available to support family time, even when they may have to travel long distances from the home. Children know they are able to contact staff if there are any concerns during family time and they will receive support. Staff collaborate with partner agencies to ensure children are safe when they are with their families. When staff are concerned about risks to children during family time, these concerns are raised in a timely manner with families and partner agencies. The registered manager ensures concerns are escalated when children may face harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make steady progress to improve their outcomes in education and to develop life skills. When children experience barriers to learning, staff advocate for them to receive further support and educational provision which is attuned to their needs. When children do not engage in education, appropriate vocational training is arranged for them. Staff are effective in liaising with partner agencies to ensure children’s needs are prioritised and further support is provided when necessary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff care about the children and know them well. They are attuned to the needs of the children and notice changes in their behaviour which indicate they may require more support. Staff are responsive to children’s needs. Key-worker sessions are in line with the needs of children. For example, when children do not like the sessions, staff find creative ways to discuss concerns with them and to engage them in conversations that explore their wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do not want to leave the home and have indicated they wish to stay there over the longer term. Children like the staff and are able to talk to them. When children find it difficult to engage, staff are patient and caring towards them and respect their feelings. Staff use incentives and rewards to encourage children and reinforce positive behaviour. This is effective in helping children understand more appropriate ways of behaving. Inspection report for children’s home: 2691579 4

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

The registered manager and staff team understand how to keep children safe. This is reflected in comprehensive individualised risk assessments which guide staff to support children effectively. Staff use risk assessments for children at risk of exploitation to identify triggers and behaviours which may confirm exploitative activities are taking place. Coupled with policies and key-worker sessions, these help to support staff to keep children safe. Children who are at risk are provided with appropriate support, including mentors who help children develop a better understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

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

Episodes of children going missing from home have significantly reduced. Use of disruption and distraction techniques have been effective with some children in encouraging them not to go missing. Staff understand the push-and-pull factors impacting children who are missing from home and try to develop routines and activities which support children to make better choices.

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

When staff know where children are but they do not return home, staff advocate for them and request professionals’ meetings when concerns escalate. Staff share information with partner agencies, which leads to more effective interventions. Staff stay in touch with children and visit the address where they are staying to encourage them to return home. Staff also speak to those they are staying with to encourage them to support children to return home. The registered manager ensures children are supported to understand the risks they face. When children have returned, the registered manager requests return home interviews from local authorities.

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

When incidents occur, staff use de-escalation techniques effectively, helping children to feel supported when they are distressed. Recording of incidents is detailed and debriefs following incidents are reflective and lead to an improvement in practice. However, incident reports could be improved by ensuring that each incident is recorded separately, so responses to incidents can be clearly tracked.

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

Behaviour support plans are effective in supporting staff to understand children’s behaviours and what support they need. Children are involved in the development of their plans, which leads to greater understanding of their needs and behaviours. Plans are supported with rewards for positive behaviour and consequences when appropriate. Children are supported when they express their emotions and helped to understand how to share their views.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inductions of staff are detailed and the training provided is specific to the needs of the children. The training and induction programme is detailed and comprehensive. Staff have worked in the home since it opened and benefit from training updates, which ensure they are aware of new developments in practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2691579 5 Staff receive regular and effective supervision which focuses on children’s needs, experiences and plans. Safeguarding issues are discussed, as well as staff development needs. This demonstrates effective management oversight of staff practice and development, and the progress children are making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Allegations against staff are taken seriously and managed in accordance with practice guidelines. Children are informed of the outcome of allegations and support is offered to them throughout the process. Training is provided to staff when it is evident this is required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know the children well and advocate for them. This is the major strength of this home. Leaders and managers are effective when liaising with partner agencies to ensure children’s needs are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are appropriate policies and procedures and staff are supported to follow them. However, while the registered manager does ensure proper procedures are followed, the recording of information needs to be consistent and management oversight should be clear on all records. Specifically, records of key-work sessions should include more detail of views expressed by children. This will inform more effective interventions. Leaders and managers have recently invested in an electronic database where children’s records will be kept. This should help to improve the recording of information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment of staff is generally consistent. However, this needs to be more robust as checks made on new staff’s relevant qualifications are not consistent. Inspection report for children’s home: 2691579 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that recording of incidents is clear and detailed, is an individual record of the incident and includes management oversight. This specifically relates to recording of chronologies in incident reports which may obscure the detail of how individual incidents have been responded to. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that children’s wishes and feelings are sufficiently recorded. This specifically relates to children’s expressed views being captured in key-work records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.6)  The registered person should ensure that good employment practice is maintained which safeguards children and minimises risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61,

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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 for children’s home: 2691579 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tutelage Care Hatley Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 33 Roebuck Road, Hainault Business Park, Ilford IG6 3TZ

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Inspector

Angela Reid, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2691579 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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