Children's Home run by Heartwood RSC Limited in Cambridgeshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 1 Registered provider: Heartwood RSC Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2023.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/08/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/05/2022 Full Good 29/09/2021 Full Good 12/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, five children were living at the home. Two children have lived in the home for over 18 months.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have moved in since the last full inspection. The manager has improved the way in which children’s needs are considered before they move in and the impact on children who are already living at the home. Introductions for children moving in are well planned and supported. This ensures that all children feel supported, valued and cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff use individualised plans to support children’s progress and development. Plans identify children’s day-to-day and longer-term needs such as helping them with improving their budgeting and self-care tasks This helps children progress their independence and life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and strive to build good relationships with them. Interactions between staff and children during the inspection were positive. The manager arranges weekly ‘chatterbox’ meetings with children to ensure that time is spent with each child. Staff show interest in what children say and demonstrate emotional warmth towards them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of supporting children with education. All children attend school or alternative education. The manager and staff have built positive professional relationships with local education providers. When children have not been in school, staff advocate for them to receive support to return. This has included one child who was supported with a phased reintroduction to school following a period of missing education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers and staff enable children’s family relationships. This includes supporting family members to visit the home and taking children to see their families. When appropriate, staff and managers have worked with children’s social workers to support children to return to their family home. Since the last inspection, two children have returned home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager responds to complaints and takes them seriously and acts on them. One complaint could not be dealt with quickly, but the manager kept the child updated about why. One complaint was not upheld; the manager met with the child and explained the reasons. Showing children that complaints are taken seriously helps them to feel valued and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is welcoming, nicely decorated and well furnished. There are personalised photos and other items displayed in shared spaces. The home is well maintained and there is a plan for ongoing and future maintenance and Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 4 improvements. Children have large bedrooms are large which they are encouraged to personalise. They are given a budget to enable this when they move to the home.

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

Children feel safe and supported. Staff are committed to working with children to reduce risk of harm. Staff are aware of safeguarding procedures and encouraged to raise any potential concerns immediately.

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

Staff know children’s individual needs well. Staff are guided by detailed, individualised risk assessments and behaviour support plans, which are updated regularly. These help ensure children’s vulnerabilities are understood by staff so they can support children.

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

Incidents of restraint are uncommon, and staff only physically intervene with children when necessary. Staff’s actions are proportionate to protect children and those around them. Comprehensive and timely records of incidents include the manager’s review and debriefs with staff and children. Debriefs help staff to improve their approach to helping children to manage their emotions more positively.

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

Staff praise children when they have made positive choices. They use a range of rewards that help children to build self-esteem and confidence. For example, each child has an incentive chart with individualised rewards. Consequences focus on a restorative approach and the records of these are reviewed by the manager. Relevant consequences help children to make good choices and to learn from mistakes.

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

When incidents occur, staff usually respond effectively. However, on at least one occasion, the incident record did not clearly show staff’s responses. This makes it difficult to ensure strong managerial oversight of the actions taken by staff or to enable learning from incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2023. She has met all the requirements from the last inspection. Staff and children speak highly of the manager and her leadership. She has shown commitment to helping childing to achieve their best outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and responsible individual have high expectations and aspirations. They have created a development plan and a reviewing system to regularly monitor and improve the quality of care provided. This includes monthly internal audits, quarterly reviews and feedback from the independent person. The manager uses learning from practice and feedback to improve children’s experiences. This feeds into future planning. Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 5 The home is well staffed and has suitable resources to meet the needs of each child. The manager has developed a positive team identity among staff. She has identified difficulty in recruiting male staff but has taken action to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager diligently oversees recruitment of staff and completes necessary background checks and references. Staff have good inductions that are overseen by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training for staff is comprehensive. The manager has created a training plan to ensure that all staff training is up to date. She has identified areas for additional staff training including working with children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and working with the home’s therapeutic model of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak highly of the manager and the support and energy that she has bought to the role. Staff have regular supervision that they feel is helpful and effective and recorded appropriately. Additional supervision is offered when a need is identified by either the staff or the manager. There is an ‘open door’ mindset to help improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals and family members is positive. Staff and managers are said to communicate with and respond well to each child. One social worker said that the staff and the manager have built good relationships with their child. A headteacher said, ‘The manager really cares for [the child]. She advocates for her and will do anything for her. The staff are amazing.’ One parent said that the relationships their child has with the staff are amazing and that their child ‘has a real sense of belonging’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. In particular, incident records written by staff should enable managers to accurately review what has happened and identify possible shortfalls or improvements. (‘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: 2497538 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Heartwood RSC Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 416 Green Lane, Ilford IG3 9JX

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Inspectors

Mandy Start, Social Care Inspector Daniel Rankin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2497538 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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