Children's Home run by NET PEX LTD in Croydon

Inspection report for children's home: 2674518 1 Registered provider: Net Pex Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in June 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with all the children. The registered manager was absent at the time of the 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

Date of last inspection: 20 December 2023

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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: 2674518 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/12/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2674518 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in education. Children who were not in education are now attending school. Professionals and parents are pleased with the progress that children are making. One parent said, ‘They were adamant from the start that our child would go to school. The staff have supported this, and they have taken their GCSEs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s aspirations and goals. For example, staff are supporting a child who wants to join the army by taking them to interviews and encouraging related hobbies such as going to army cadets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff start to build relationships with the children when they move into the home. Key- working sessions and discussions about topics that are relevant to each individual child help to strengthen relationships. One child said that the staff help them and they ‘have wiseful [sic] discussions.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met well. Staff help children to attend routine health appointments. They work closely with health professionals to ensure that children receive the appropriate support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals and parents praised the home for supporting family relationships effectively. This was particularly important to one family who feared losing their child when they moved into the home. However, the family relationships have been improving since the child has been living in the home and staff have played a role in supporting this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to express their views and weekly house meetings are held. Two children said that they would like to do more activities together. Currently, activities are limited, and they are not planned in advance. This means that children are missing out on positive experiences.

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

Staff understand children’s needs and risks. Staff are professionally curious; they explore triggers for behaviour and ways to best support children during and after incidents.

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

Staff manage boundaries by encouraging children to talk through difficulties as they occur. Some boundaries are in place that the children do not always like, such as limiting internet use. However, children are able to raise objections in house meetings. This has led to solutions being worked out together with staff, such as negotiating times for internet use at weekends. Inspection report for children's home: 2674518 4 Children have detailed risk assessments that are updated as emerging risks as they arise. Action is taken to reduce the risks to children and support is given through key- working discussions.

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

Staff do not always follow missing-from-home protocols effectively. Staff lack the knowledge of exactly what they need to do when children are missing from the home. For example, staff do not always complete online forms to report children missing to the police. This means that external professionals do not always receive the correct information that they need to support the safe return of children.

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

The home environment is well maintained. Health and safety checks are carried out regularly. At weekly house meetings, children raise any maintenance issues that impact on them and staff take action to address their concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals and parents said that the registered manager, leaders and staff are dedicated to caring for children. They value the quality of care provided to children. They also praised the managers and staff for ensuring that they are regularly informed of children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak highly of leaders and managers and feel supported. As a result, staff morale is good and staff enjoy working at the home. The staff team is stable and staff work together to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that new staff receive a good induction and staff have regular supervision and appraisals. This means staff have the space and time to support their own practice. It also allows leaders and managers to review development needs to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have monthly team meetings at which they discuss each child individually and these are a space to ensure that staff are supporting the children in the best way possible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers do not effectively assess whether children are compatible to live together before a new child moves into the home. Despite recognising potential concerns during the assessment process, leaders and managers still placed two children together who were not compatible. This decision impacted on children and led to one child leaving the home after a short time. Inspection report for children's home: 2674518 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that suitability assessments are followed to ensure compatibility of children. 7 October 2024

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)) 7 October 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2674518 6 In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff understand and follow missing-from-home protocols and record incidents appropriately.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities both inside and outside of the home (where appropriate) and are encouraged to participate in those activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.5)

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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: 2674518 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Offices rear of 93c, Upper Clapton Road, London E5 9BU

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Inspector

Jo Tarbie, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2674518 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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