Children's Home run by Supercare Holdings Limited in Croydon

Inspection report for children's home: 2628367 1 Registered provider: Supercare Holdings Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. On 18 May 2023, Ofsted granted the provider a variation to their conditions of registration. Since then, the home has been able to provide care to up to five children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 30 December 2021. The manager has been in post since February 2024 and is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: 2628367 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/07/2023 Full Good 31/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2628367 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. Children receive a good quality of care from staff who understand their needs and vulnerabilities well. Interactions between the staff and the children are full of warmth and sensitivity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with their education. One child is preparing to return to school after a five-year absence. The staff have worked closely with education professionals to ensure that the right school placement is found. For children who are still waiting for a school placement to be confirmed, staff have ensured they receive learning support from a tutor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at developing different ways to help children to communicate their needs effectively. For some children, this includes meeting their specific communication needs, including using pictorial and visual prompts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their life skills through planned key-work sessions or ad hoc discussions in which staff cover topics such as budgeting and online safety. There are some good examples of staff writing in a considered and sensitive manner. However, other records made by staff are more general and miss the child’s voice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to clinical support from the in-house multidisciplinary team made up of psychologists, an occupational therapist and a speech and language therapist.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote the children’s rights to make choices, celebrate their culture and engage in everyday decisions. The children are at ease and enjoy spending time with the staff, who understand them well. Children have access to advocates and participate in regular house meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to enjoy a wide range of activities. For example, children enjoy go- karting, cooking and playing football.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is beautifully decorated and children’s bedrooms are spacious and personalised to reflect their interests and hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves to and from the home are well planned. There is clear communication with partner agencies. As a result, children quickly settle into their new home.

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

Children’s positive behaviour support plans help staff to understand triggers for certain behaviours and give them strategies to manage incidents and prevent escalation. However, these plans are not always promptly uploaded to the home’s recording system. This means that staff do not always have access to the most up-to-date information. Inspection report for children's home: 2628367 4 The manager and the staff work hard with external professionals and the in-house psychologists to understand children’s triggers that can cause their behaviour to escalate.

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

Staff receive a range of appropriate training in de-escalation techniques. This ensures they have a good understanding of children’s behaviours and know what action is needed to reassure and sensitively support children. However, the quality of this recording is not uniform, to provide consistency in the information captured.

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

Following incidents, children are offered space to discuss their feelings. One social worker said there has been a marked reduction in behavioural incidents for their child, citing this as a strength of the home, as ‘staff support them in understanding consequences of their actions’.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and escalate significant incidents appropriately to the placing local authority and the regulatory body. Staff work closely with agencies and partners in response to safeguarding concerns. This ensures that information is shared and that a holistic approach can be agreed to promote children’s welfare and well-being.

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

Staff demonstrate a good knowledge of the policies and procedures relating to the management of allegations against staff and whistle-blowing. Allegations against staff or suspicion of harm are dealt with immediately by the managers and the details shared with the relevant agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager knows the children well and demonstrates empathy, insight, sensitivity and understanding towards the children living at the home. She is supported by an experienced deputy manager who demonstrates the same qualities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team works well together. Managers are open to challenge and have ambitious but realistic plans for the future development of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager feels well supported by the organisation and has support from external consultants as well as other managers at the sister home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has an open and learning culture which is embraced by the enthusiastic and motivated staff team. Staff feel well supported. One staff member said, ‘It’s a wonderful place to work.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are suitably qualified and experienced. Safer recruitment processes are in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision, which includes assessment of their knowledge. They receive good-quality training. There are plans in place to strengthen the staff’s knowledge of the home’s therapeutic approach. Inspection report for children's home: 2628367 5 The manager and the responsible individual value the input and scrutiny of the independent visitor and act promptly on all recommendations. The manager’s monitoring systems have been used effectively. Inspection report for children's home: 2628367 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of key-work sessions are purposeful and evaluative, so that they are helpful to children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are recorded in a consistent format, ensuring that all relevant detail is included to support identification of effective practice and management review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that supervision takes place for all staff and that records are kept up to date. It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record . (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 13.3, 13.4)

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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: 2628367 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Supercare Holdings Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire SL9 7QE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Coleman

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Inspector

Amanda Burrows, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2628367 8 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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