Children's Home run by Next Chapter Care Group Limited in Havering

Inspection report for children’s home: 2751095 1 Registered provider: Next Chapter Care Group

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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 home is privately run and provides care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties. 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 December 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2751095 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have recently moved into the home and staff make efforts to help them to settle. Admissions to the home are planned and children are given a guide that helps them to understand the expectations of the home and how they will be supported by staff. Although some staff are new to the home, they are experienced and skilled in helping children to feel welcomed and supported. Staff engage warmly with the children they care for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have prioritised discovering children’s interests and encouraging them to express their personalities when taking part in activities. Staff are attuned to the children’s needs, and ensure that children’s views on how to spend their time are respected. While staff encourage children to expand their social horizons, they are sensitive to introducing suitable activities at a pace that is child focused. Staff show empathy and understanding towards the children and understand the challenges that children face when they settle into a new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with families to support children to attend health appointments and engage in education. They recognise the challenges that children experience when attending new schools and forming new friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend quality time with their family and friends. Staff promote children spending time with people who are important to them and, as a result, staff have daily communications with families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

While children are currently in transition from previous schools, staff are advocating with professionals to promote the children’s educational needs. There have been some delays with sourcing educational provision for children. In these instances, staff have supported children to continue learning in alternative ways. For example, children have visited museums, participated in online learning, and watched educational programmes. This helps the children to continue learning until school places are allocated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is adequate, but more care and attention could be given to ensuring that the home is welcoming and warm in presentation. For example, children’s bedrooms do not appear to be child-friendly spaces, and some rooms have old furniture.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Key-worker sessions take place on a sporadic basis and are unplanned. While staff seize the opportunity to respond to issues raised by children, children could benefit from planned key-worker sessions that address pertinent issues and risk. This would further support children in developing positive responses to life challenges. Inspection report for children’s home: 2751095 3

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

Children are generally safe in the home. Risk assessments are robust, detailed, and address concerns for children. Staff know about children’s vulnerabilities, and they are effective in safeguarding them. This includes ensuring that online safety plans are appropriate and include clear strategies to mitigate risks to children.

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

When children go missing, staff undertake welfare checks and follow the appropriate protocol. The majority of missing-from-home episodes are of a short duration and are linked to children returning to the home after curfew. While the police and social workers are notified of missing incidents, missing-from-home records do not contain enough information, management oversight, or debriefs of children. Return-home interviews are not routinely requested. This prevents much-needed information-sharing, that could safeguard children.

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

Incidents are managed appropriately; however, management oversight of incident reports is not consistent. Some incident reports do not evidence the registered manager’s evaluation. This can hinder the staff’s ability to understand and respond to potential risks.

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

Social workers report that children are safe in the home and that staff raise concerns with them, when required. Children also report being safe in the home and know that staff care about them.

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

The local area assessment includes up-to-date information, and managers have liaised with partner agencies in the development of safety planning for children in the home. There are appropriate plans in place to mitigate the risks from the local area to children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Induction arrangements for new staff are detailed, and the training that staff receive is specific to the needs of the children in placement. Staff benefit from a comprehensive training programme and regular training updates, so they are aware of new developments in practice. This ensures that children are supported by skilled staff who are responsive to their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is passionate about ensuring that children have good outcomes, and they are in the process of developing systems that will support staff to improve how they record information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager benefits from the input of a behavioural analyst, who provides consultancy to the leadership team following safeguarding incidents and contributes to the review of children’s plans. This is aimed at improving how staff safeguard children, and ensuring that staff understand and are attuned to children’s needs. This also ensures that the registered manager is able to recognise and address staff training needs effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2751095 4 The staff team is permanent and work in a friendly manner with each other. The majority of the staff are experienced, and this enables them to respond compassionately to challenges that children may face. This creates a family atmosphere in the home and a sense of stability for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide regular supervision for staff; however, supervision records do not capture individualised supervision and are generic. It is unclear from these records whether the progress of children is thoroughly discussed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly and are well attended. Staff benefit from team discussions and training updates. Children’s progress and safeguarding issues are thoroughly discussed, and staff support each other in developing more-effective interventions with the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2751095 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, 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; and

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. 30 July 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 11, paragraph 3.7)

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that children’s wishes and feelings are sufficiently recorded. This specifically relates to children’s expressed views being captured in care planning behaviour support plans and key-working sessions. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the recording of incidents is clear and detailed, and includes management oversight. This specifically relates to ensuring that reports fully capture all the facts and staff strategies to manage incidents. (‘Guide to Inspection report for children’s home: 2751095 6 the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 46, paragraph 9.31)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing or away from home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return-home interview. The registered person should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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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: 2751095 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Next Chapter Care Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Carlton Terrance, Great Cambridge, Edmonton N18 1LB

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