Children's home run by Canary House Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 1 Registered provider: Canary House Care Limited 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 four children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 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 requires improvement to be 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: 2718127 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/08/2023 Full Good 23/05/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager was absent during this inspection. At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home. The children were all spoken to and were positive about their experiences. Since the last inspection, four children have moved in, and one child has moved on from the home. Staff provide children with individualised care to meet their needs. Children make progress from their starting points and enjoy their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s educational targets and maintain children’s learning experiences at the home. One child is thriving at a local school and has good attendance. Another child who has recently moved into the home will be reintroduced to school in September 2024. Staff work with the headteacher of the virtual school for another child. This work incorporates a weekly learning plan which includes supporting the child to apply for a college and take part in work experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a range of activities for children that reflect their interests and hobbies. These include recent trips to Sealife centres, cinemas, golfing and ice-skating. One child attends a gym and local football matches independently. Another child enjoys dance and building constructions bricks. These varied experiences help children to develop their friendship networks and increases their well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s views are prioritised. Children participate in regular well- planned, one-to-one discussions with staff. Emerging subjects include managing healthy relationships, online safety and developing coping strategies, improve children’s knowledge of their personal safety. All children contribute to regular house meetings. The children have access to an independent advocate. These forums ensure that children’s feelings are explored and their views are well understood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Childrens placement plans are detailed and up to date. Staff understand children’s health needs and children attend appointments as necessary. Children take part in routine activities to support their independence and self-care skills. However, the system in capturing the steps to help children become more independent needs improving. Children’s progress in this area is not always clear. This is important for children as they prepare for adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious and well-appointed. Leaders and managers have good oversight of any maintenance works. Children have contributed significantly to the personalisation of their bedrooms. However, the garden is sparse and lacking in stimulation. This detracts from the rest of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 4

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

Staff are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities. They have a good knowledge of children’s vulnerabilities and whistle-blowing procedures. When safeguarding concerns emerge, leaders and managers have actioned these promptly and effectively.

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

Children said that they feel safe living at the home and have good relationships with staff. Children understand they can speak to staff if they are worried or upset.

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

Staff use proactive behaviour management strategies successfully. These reduce situations that can increase children’s anxiety. Staff have a good awareness of potential triggers and combine this with well devised de-escalation approaches to minimise difficult incidents. No physical interventions have been necessary.

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

When risks in the local area increased for one child, staff worked with other safeguarding professionals to support the child’s welfare and safety. This resulted in the child eventually moving on from the home to be closer to their family. The child’s social worker was highly complementary about how this move was planned in the child’s best interests.

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

Safe recruitment processes for permanent staff are suitable. Leaders and managers ensure the use of agency staff is minimal. However, leaders and managers have not ensured that the recruitment records for agency staff contain all the required information. This this does not reduce the potential for unsuitable people to gain employment at the home.

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

Staff support children to take appropriate risks for their age and level of understanding. Children’s risk assessments are regularly reviewed by leaders and managers. However, written guidance around managing children’s online safety and unsupported time in the community is limited. If unaddressed, this may lead to inconsistencies in staff’s practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager resigned from her role and is due to leave the home in July 2024. Recruitment is underway to find a new permanent manager. In the interim, the deputy manager has been appointed to manage the home which is being overseen by a newly appointed responsible individual.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The responsible individual is an experienced and qualified social care professional. He is familiarising himself to this new role and is being mentored by an independent consultant who specialises in residential care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been a recent period of high-staff turnover at the home. Some of the current staff have low morale. Leaders and managers have used agency staff to cover staffing gaps. Although there is some understanding to why individual staff have left, a formal review and a clear action plan to address negative staffing trends has not been completed. Therefore, although the problem has been recognised and the immediate Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 5 impact is being managed, opportunities to identify and address underlying causes are restricted. Identifying and addressing this is important for children to receive good continuity of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers generally have effective managerial monitoring systems. However, some staff rotas have not been updated to reflect staff changes. The registered manager has had a supervision session from the responsible individual, however, there is no written record of this meeting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

On one occasion a safeguarding concern was not notified to Ofsted promptly. As a result, Ofsted’s capacity to monitor safeguarding arrangements has been reduced on this occasion.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

External monitoring by an independent person provides a suitable level of scrutiny to influence continuous improvements. However, the independent person does not always spend time with, or explore the views of children during these visits. Additionally, a high number of these visits are announced. Therefore, the additional safeguards intended by this form of monitoring are not always realised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers ensure that there are appropriate staff induction processes in place for new staff. This includes good-quality training which develops staff’s skills in line with the model of care adopted by the home. However, training in understanding autism spectrum condition and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has not been attended by all staff. This training is important to ensure that staff are fully equipped to meet children’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Parents and social workers recognise children’s progress and the positive difference that staff’s support is making to children’s overall experiences. They feel that levels of communication with staff and the quality of care provided at the home are good. Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 6

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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 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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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)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff turnover is monitored and reviewed to understand and where possible, address any negative trends;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that when supervision is completed with staff, a written record of this meeting is shared with staff. Additionally, an accurate record of the staff rota must be maintained. 02 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the 02 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 7 individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that recruitment records for agency staff include assurances that full employment history and any gaps in employment have been obtained.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay—

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Requirement Due date

if there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 02 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced. (Regulation 44 (2)(a) (3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that more visits are unannounced and that the independent person is supported to spend time with and gain the views of children more frequently. 02 August 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that gardens are appropriately resourced. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children are fully prepared to move into adult care. In particular, children’s progress in their wider independence should be systematically monitored. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27) Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 8  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child. In particular, ensure risk assessments contain more specific guidance around managing childrens online safety and unsupported time in the community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that all staff can access suitable resources to

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Recommendations

support their training needs. In particular, staffs training plan is monitored to ensure all staff are trained in understanding autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: 2718127 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Canary House Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 36 Glebe Road, London N3 2AX

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Inspector

Mark Anderton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2718127 10 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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