Children's Home run by John-Edwards Care Homes Limited in Swindon

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 1 SC437171

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Registered provider: John-Edwards Care Homes Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to five children who may have learning and physical disabilities. The home offers long-term care for some children and a short-break service for others. At the time of this visit, three children were living in the home and two children were receiving short breaks.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

This assurance inspection took place due to concerns being reported to Ofsted about the management of a child’s health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

Date of last inspection: 15 January 2024

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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Findings from the inspection

This assurance inspection took place over two days in order to accommodate the availability of leaders and managers.

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Findings from the inspection

Children are kept safe at this home. Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities and the additional vulnerabilities of the children they care for. When safeguarding concerns are identified, appropriate action is taken in a timely manner to keep children safe.

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Findings from the inspection

Children enjoy being at the home. They have strong positive relationships with the staff and like spending time with them. Staff treat children with care, affection and respect. Staff understand children’s individual communication needs and meet those needs effectively.

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Findings from the inspection

Children are making progress and meeting their individual targets for development. Once completed, staff celebrate the children’s achievements and new targets are set. Despite this good work, children’s written plans lack clear guidance for staff on how they will support the children to reach their individual goals.

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Findings from the inspection

Children’s written plans are not always consistently clear, detailed or current. Consequently, some staff are unaware of the change in a child’s care status, how oral hygiene is to be delivered and how they are to support children’s sensory needs. Some plans are very detailed, giving a good level of information about how staff are to support children with eating and drinking, the delivery of personal care, manual handling and management of epilepsy. However, information about children is recorded in several different documents, which leads to a lot of repetition and reduces the information being concise and easy to find.

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Findings from the inspection

Each child has a key worker who they meet with regularly. Key-work sessions cover a range of topics and activities relevant to the children’s needs. Children are often helped to take part in these sessions using their individual communication systems. However, the quality of these sessions varies, with some being brief and lacking any sensory element. It is not always clear that children’s views are sought.

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Findings from the inspection

A social worker and team manager provided positive feedback on the home. They feel that the child they have living at the home is thriving. They feel that staff at the home provide good-quality care for the child. A parent also reported that they were satisfied with the care their child receives.

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Findings from the inspection

The home is well staffed. No agency staff have worked in the home since the full inspection in January 2024. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 3 There has been some improvement in staff supervision. Supervision sessions take place regularly. When staff are absent for a period, supervision sessions include a recap of important information from team meetings. Supervision notes are not of a consistently good quality. Some are clear and provide information on changes that have been made to the care that children receive to ensure that all staff are up to date. However, the supervision notes do not reflect any real discussion around the needs of the children and how staff can develop their relationships with children and improve on their ability to meet the children’s needs. When issues with staff are highlighted, there is little evidence of staff reflection or clear planning to address the

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Findings from the inspection

issues. This does not aid the development of staff practice. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2024 Full Good 18/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/10/2022 Full Inadequate 20/04/2021 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 5

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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 person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that all children’s plans provide clear and detailed guidance for staff on how to meet the child’s identified needs. In addition, the registered person should review the children’s records to ensure that information is concisely captured and is easy to access. 15 July 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of staff supervision records are of a consistently good quality, reflect discussions around meeting the needs of the children and provide good opportunities for reflective discussions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, par- agraph 13.3)  The registered person should ensure that records of children’s key-work sessions include evidence of clear consultation with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 1.3) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: John-Edwards Care Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Suffolk Way, Sevenoaks TN13 1YL

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Inspectors

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Min Sims, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC437171 7 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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