Children's home run by McRae Residential Care Services Limited in Croydon

Inspection report for children’s home: SC025812 1 SC025812

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Registered provider: McRae Residential Care Services Limited

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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 privately run home provides care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in June 1996. The manager was registered with Ofsted in June 2012 and is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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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: 27 February 2024

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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: SC025812 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2024 Full Good 15/03/2023 Full Good 30/11/2022 Full Inadequate 10/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC025812 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well; they listen to them, invest time in them, protect them and promote their welfare. As a result, children have been helped to develop an appropriate sense of permanence and belonging. They have a good range of positive experiences, which has helped all the children living in the home to make sustained progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop their independence in accordance with their individual needs. For example, children are supported to plan, budget, purchase ingredients and cook meals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop skills and strategies to manage their own conflicts and difficult feelings. Children benefit from clear, consistent and appropriate routines and boundaries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity and respect. They experience care and help that are sensitive and responsive to their individual needs and culture. Staff support children to develop a positive sense of self-belief, increase their ability to form and sustain positive attachments and build emotional resilience and a sense of their own identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place the well-being of children at the centre of their practice. All children’s achievements are celebrated and appropriately rewarded, and their privacy and personal space are respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to have family time, direct and/or indirect, with their family, friends and other people who are important to them.

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

Children can identify a trusted adult they can talk to about any concerns. Staff listen to children, take their concerns seriously and respond appropriately. One child said there has never been a time when they felt unsafe or uncomfortable and they feel well cared for.

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

The home has commissioned a therapeutic service that offers specialist support to children in helping to keep themselves safe. Children engage well with the therapist, who highlights areas of support for children to enable staff to explore these areas further in key-work sessions. However, there have been times when concerns have been identified by the therapist and these concerns have not been further explored by the staff. This could lead to the risk of extra-familial harm not being appropriately addressed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025812 4 The children’s internal and external home environment is reasonably safe. The lounge is homely and comfortable. The kitchen is small but meets the children’s needs. However, the children’s toilet requires some attention to ensure that it stays clean and hygienic.

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

Building work was being carried out at the time of the inspection. Although there was a buildings risk assessment in place, it did not encompass any strategies to manage the potential risk to children while the work in the home was being carried out.

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

Children’s risk assessments are not routinely updated to reflect emerging risks and children’s changing needs. They do not capture strategies on how these risks should be managed.

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

Leaders and managers have not ensured that there is a coherent system to oversee and evaluate the administration of medication practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children benefit from leaders and managers who are compassionate and highly motivated to provide good-quality care to the children living in the home. They have high expectations and aspirations and role model what is required to ensure that children’s needs are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers recognise the importance of children having stability and continuity of care, which they achieve through a stable staff team. The permanent and stable leadership team has developed a positive workforce culture in the home. As a result, staff turnover is very low.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy working at the home and feel managers maintain a close relationship with them. They receive regular supervision, guidance, and assistance to support their well-being, especially during stressful times. This ensures that children benefit from consistent, dependable and trusting adults who provide a high level of care and stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers support staff retention through providing development opportunities so staff can develop their careers within the organisation. The staff feel respected, valued and trusted by managers, which supports them to deliver quality care to the children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose has not been reviewed to reflect the staff who are completing their level 3 training in residential childcare. Once the statement of purpose has been brought up to date, this must be shared with the regulator. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025812 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 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—

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must keep children’s risk assessments up to date and ensure that they have strategies to guide staff in supporting children around emerging risks. This should include taking into account the building work being carried out in the home. 28 December

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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 to 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)) 28 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC025812 6 In particular, the registered person must ensure that a coherent system to oversee and evaluate the administration of medication practice and records is in place.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 28 December

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s toilets are clean and sanitary. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.3)

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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: SC025812 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: McRae Residential Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 57 Lodge Road, Croydon CR0 2PH

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Inspectors

Ruth Okezie, Social Care Inspector Nicki Shaw, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC025812 8 and inspects to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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