Children's Home run by Laurel Leaf Homes Ltd in Newham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 1 SC060545 Registered provider: Laurel Leaf Homes Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to eight children who experience social and emotional difficulties, and for children with learning disabilities.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were three children living at the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in April 2005. The manager is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 14 February 2024

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2024 Full Good 01/11/2022 Full Good 25/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The strength of this home is the relationships developed between staff and children. Children feel happy and safe. One child said: ‘They have my back, and they care.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can express their views and feel listened to. They participate in weekly house meetings where they share their feelings and plan for the next week’s activities and meal preferences. Children know how to complain and are confident to raise a concern.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that children attend education. Children are supported to attend school. The home has been recognised by one local authority for its outstanding contribution to the education of looked after children by being placed on the Local Authority’s Virtual School Roll of Honour.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s emotional health and development needs are understood well. Children are supported to develop positive friendships. Children’s friends are encouraged to visit the home. Children are supported well to stay in touch with their family and with people who are important to them.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered various activities, such as trips to the cinema, go-karting, participating in arts and crafts sessions, cooking, playing football and being supported to learn to drive. Children’s achievements and important milestones, such as birthdays and individual achievements, are celebrated.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to support children in gaining independence skills. One child is now able to travel independently to and from college, which has positively improved their confidence and self-esteem.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and is well resourced, including an arts and crafts room, a gym and a games room. Children’s bedrooms are spacious, with en-suite facilities. Children can personalise their bedrooms. However, although the home is generally clean, given the size of the property some attention is needed to ensure that the larger upper rooms are maintained.

p.3

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

Children’s impact risk assessments are of a good standard. They identify the needs of each child well. Individual risk assessments cover appropriate vulnerabilities. However, these are not always signed off by managers.

p.3

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

Children are reported missing from home appropriately. Staff work closely with the relevant agencies to reduce risk. The information recorded on missing grab packs does not provide all required information, such as Oyster and bank details, in line with the local area missing protocol. Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 4 Staff receive safeguarding training and are aware of the children’s vulnerabilities. Staff have a satisfactory knowledge of safeguarding and the whistle-blowing procedures.

p.3

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

Incidents are generally managed well. Key-work sessions take place following incidents. However, these do not always explicitly address the risk. Language used in some of these recordings is not child-friendly and management oversight of some records is inconsistent.

p.4

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

Safer recruitment is in place to ensure that children are cared for by staff who have been vetted appropriately.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager has applied to Ofsted for registration. She understands the children’s needs well. She is enthusiastic and knowledgeable and demonstrates professional curiosity.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is mentored by a consulting manager, who was the previous registered manager, who provides a wealth of knowledge and experience. The responsible individual also offers support.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the management team work well together. There are monitoring trackers in place that help to identify any emerging themes in children’s behaviour and children’s levels of progress. However, shortfalls in record-keeping are not always picked up.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are open to challenge and have realistic plans for the development of the home. The workforce development plan needs to be reviewed and updated. It is missing information relating to staff supervision, appraisal, and induction timescales.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular team meetings ensure that the views of staff are heard, and that their well- being is supported. Staff say that they enjoy working at the home.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the responsible individual value the input and scrutiny of the independent visitor and can evaluate the effectiveness of the home by providing realistic quality of care reviews. Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 5

p.4

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.

p.5

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—

p.5

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

p.5

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)(a)(h))

p.5

Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that there is management scrutiny of key documents such as the children care plans and incident reports, and that updated plans are signed off. 30 November 2024

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the recordings of key-worker sessions are purposeful and evaluative, so that they are helpful to a child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they have systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. The registered person should also ensure that actions agreed at previous supervision sessions are consistently reviewed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 6  The registered person should ensure that children are able to experience living in a home that is homely. This is in relation to maintaining the level of cleanliness in some

p.5

Recommendations

areas of the home, such as the upper rooms, and in refreshing areas of decor that are dated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that home’s missing procedures take into account the views of appropriate local services and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing persons incidents in the area where the home is located. The registered person should ensure that all staff are familiar with the Philomena Protocol and that children’s missing grab packs contain all required information. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.29)  The registered person should ensure that they have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20) which includes details for the processes and agreed timescales for staff to

p.6

Recommendations

achieve induction, probation and details the process for managing and improving poor performance and the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way, ensuring that information about the child is recorded in child- friendly language that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

p.6

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: SC060545 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Laurel Leaf Homes Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 42 Stavordale Road, London N5 1NE

p.7

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Noorjahan Gokool Hoota

p.7

Inspectors

Amanda Burrows, Social Care Inspector Ruth Okezie, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC060545 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.

p.7

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

p.8

Inspectors

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

p.8

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspectors

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

p.8