Children's home run by Educare Support Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 1 Registered provider: Educare Support 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 owned home provides care for up to three children from the ages of eight to 17 with emotional and social difficulties. There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2023.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 16 January 2024

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/01/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Since the last full inspection, one child has remained at the home and is making exceptional progress. Two children have moved into the home and are also making great progress from their starting point. No children have left. All children were seen and two were spoken with during this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Leaders have created a beautifully presented and well-maintained home for children. There are communal spaces providing areas in which children can be with staff playing games and watching movies but also enough space for them to be away from others to relax and enjoy other activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to stay fit and healthy. The home is equipped with an outdoor space that one child has turned into a fully functioning gym with a wide range of weightlifting equipment. This has helped the child to continue to work on their skillset and physicality to support their growth in their chosen sport and future career.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children with their individual interests. One child enjoys being taken to a gaming centre to enjoy gaming with others in a safely controlled environment. This highlights the creative ways that staff work with children to enable them to access their interests in a safe way when there have been previous concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage children’s goals and aspirations. One child has a passion for boxing and has chosen this as a future career. Staff enable the child to attend a club four days a week and to travel around the country to live events, meeting inspirational figures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit from having consistent staff who listen to them. Staff have extremely positive relationships with the children living at the home. Children were seen having fun with staff, playing games and planning festivities. One child was able to purchase an eight-foot pine Christmas tree to sit proudly in the lounge. Other children went on a paintball outing with the whole staff team, which they requested at a house meeting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children enjoy a range of outdoor activities. One child spoke about how they planned a summer holiday. The children are supported to enjoy fun, adrenaline-fuelled activities, helping them to have exhilarating experiences with staff that they can look back on with fond memories. This also enables children to think about how anything is possible, helping them to reach their own goals because of having highly aspirational staff around them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One child, who had not been in full-time education, is now settled at college. Staff have supported social relationships so that the child can see people who are important to them outside of education. One child had not been in school for over two years. The staff and leaders worked tirelessly to meet their educational needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 4 A social worker said: ‘I was so impressed with the home picking up on the smallest improvements. [The child] is going to the gym and doing all the right things. [The child] now wants to have a career and has lots of plans, which have been worked on by the staff there.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff have helped children to develop independence skills. One child was seen preparing pancakes for their breakfast and another child spoke about menus that they plan for cooking their evening meals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to see their families. Leaders and managers look at how visits can be carried out in safe way to support those important relationships.

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

Staff understand how to keep children safe online. Children use filtered internet-enabled devices in a planned way. This creates a safe space for children to game and communicate with people safely. Staff have discussions with children to help them to understand how to keep themselves safe online.

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

The manager implements natural consequences. This has helped children to make better decisions and, as a result, has reduced the number of incidents.

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

Staff take the time to get to know the children and help them to find strategies to deal with difficult emotions. Children who would frequently go missing have not left the home without permission for several months.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been no incidents of physical intervention. Staff support the children to find safe and appropriate outlets to deal with upsetting situations.

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

Professionals collectively say that children are kept safe and protected in all instances at the home. They say that the manager shares well-written records promptly and involves other practitioners to ensure that care plans contain accurate, up-to-date information for the children.

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

Children are helped to take measured risks. No activity is undertaken without well- considered preparation by leaders and staff. Carefully written risk assessments are carried out to ensure that risks are extremely well understood and safety measures are in place to support children when they are swimming in open waters and mountain biking across treacherous terrain. Staff continuously use creative ways for the children to express themselves and share positive experiences. They are not risk-averse and staff do an excellent job of managing risk for children so that they do not miss out on valuable experiences.

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

Children know how to raise concerns. When they do, these are taken seriously. Incidents are investigated fully, and the outcome is shared with children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home benefits from having an exceptionally strong leadership team. The manager is highly skilled and holds the relevant level 5 qualification. He has considerable experience and uses this to motivate the staff to have high aspirations for themselves and to provide the best care possible for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders have created an open culture in which staff feel valued and appreciated in their roles. Children receive high levels of care due to having positive role models.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers spend significant time with the children. The manager has been on several activities with children, such as mountain biking, open water swimming, holidays and to live sporting events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has an excellent support network, with extremely close oversight from senior managers who spend considerable time in the home with staff and children. The responsible individual has employed a human resources consultant and a therapist, who visit to speak with staff if they need this support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are developed in their own roles. They are trained and mentored to became more senior figures in the organisation in line with their own goals. One staff member was supported to chair a team meeting, organising and planning their own agenda and delivering the meeting. The staff member received outstanding feedback from those who attended.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children showed how appreciative they are of the experiences that they have shared with the leaders and managers and how relationships have grown because of a strong, stable staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel incredibly well supported by leaders and managers. The team has regular and effective supervision as well as ad hoc professional discussions to discuss issues that they face inside and outside of work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders use highly effective systems for auditing and monitoring records. The manager carries out regular audits and involves senior leaders by having regular meetings to discuss all aspects of the children’s care and support as well as their wishes and feelings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There are no requirements and no recommendations arising from this inspection. The manager met the two previous recommendations. Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 6

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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: 2746279 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Educare Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Gatehouse, 453 Cranbrook Road, Ilford IG2 6EW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher O’Nions

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Inspectors

Dan Williams, Social Care Inspector Sarah Cooper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2746279 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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