Children's Home run by Cherry Care Children’s Home Limited in Essex

Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 1 Registered provider: Cherry Care Children’s Home

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private provider 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 manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2023.

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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: 2634954 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2023 Full Good 06/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. Since the last inspection, five children have moved in, and six have moved out. Both children spoke with the inspector during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good relationships with staff; they spoke about feeling that they can talk to staff and raise issues with them. Children also said they can talk to managers and trust that the things they say will be taken seriously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers listen to and capture children’s views effectively. Staff hold weekly house meetings, and child-friendly records are kept. Staff and managers also encourage ad hoc conversations. The children living in the home have not raised any complaints but know that complaint forms are available. Complaints made by children who lived in the home previously have been responded to appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage children to attend school, college or alternative education provisions. This includes support to attend existing provisions that children attended before they moved in. Staff have good working relationships with schools. When children are not in educational placements or full-time education, staff create a ‘worthwhile activities’ plan to provide them with learning opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children with physical and emotional health needs. Staff can identify and support additional needs, for example providing detailed visual prompts to aid children with their daily self-care routines. Staff and managers work effectively with other agencies to identify appropriate therapeutic support. Staff know how to respond to incidents of self-harm appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children have moved on, the home tried to make endings as good as possible. For example, when one child could not remain in the home, instead of ending the placement, the home enabled an alternative arrangement with staff support to allow for a more planned move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff help children to spend time with people who are important to them. This includes supporting families to visit the home or taking children to spend time with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is modern and well furnished throughout. Children’s rooms are large, and children are supported to personalise their rooms. The garden and external parts of the property appear well maintained. However, some areas of the home require maintenance or repairs that have not been completed in a timely manner. This detracts from an otherwise good environment. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 4

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

Children are safeguarded and protected. All staff have safeguarding training and know the home’s procedures. Safeguarding incidents are taken seriously when they occur. Incidents are also followed up by managers diligently with a good level of oversight.

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

Staff know children’s strengths and vulnerabilities. Staff are aided by risk assessment and behaviour support plans, which are detailed and individualised. Plans and assessments identify behavioural triggers, preventative measures and de-escalation responses. Staff update plans and assessments regularly. The home has also created documents called ‘my 24-hour plan’, which is in a child-friendly format and uses direct, child-focused language. This helps children to understand how they are supported.

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

Staff use physical intervention infrequently and only as a last resort, and when they do, their actions are proportionate and justified. There is a focus on using de- escalation techniques. Staff have training on appropriate physical intervention techniques. There is good management oversight, and debriefs take place.

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

Children rarely go missing from care. When they do, these incidents are managed appropriately. Staff follow protocols and take appropriate steps, including following children, reporting them as missing to the police or local authority and conducting their own searches.

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

Children’s individual identities are supported and promoted. Staff have a good understanding of working with children who are exploring their identities. Staff understand associated issues and risks.

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

Staff and managers encourage positive behaviour. The staff use planned and unplanned sessions with children effectively. When consequences are used, these are restorative. However, on some occasions, when preventative safeguarding measures are put in place that restrict children’s access, for example to social media, these are not always reviewed regularly to ensure they are still necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post for over two years. They show a strong commitment to the home, the children and the staff. The registered manager is due to leave, but the home has a plan in place to try to ensure a successful change. The manager is well supported by the deputy. They work well as a team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a high number of new staff, but there is a generally stable workforce. The home does not have to use agency staff. Staff are positive about their roles and the support from the manager and deputy manager. Staff feel able to have open discussions with each other and managers about their work. Staff highlight a strong culture of teamwork throughout the staff team. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 5 The manager makes good use of auditing and reviewing. They delegate some of these elements to senior support staff, while maintaining good oversight. This aids development and accountability among staff at all levels.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers value the staff, with responsive individualised support in place. Staff have regular supervision sessions, which they say are helpful and supportive. Staff say that there is a culture that welcomes informal, ad hoc advice, supervision or discussion as part of a positive and supportive team ethos.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s files are generally of a good standard. Case recordings are professional and detailed, and the language used is child-focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professional feedback from a range of statutory and voluntary sources is positive, both in response to individual children’s care and in respect of the management and staff support across the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management respond to allegations diligently, including seeking advice from safeguarding professionals. Thorough investigations take place. The manager has put proportionate measures in place, including disciplinary procedures, when required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well equipped in their role and speak positively about the training they receive. A comprehensive range of training is offered, with a plan for training taking place both during induction and probation periods, and for refresher training for longer-term staff. There is evidence of individualised training for children’s needs, such as ligature training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a statement of purpose; however, this has not been provided to the regulator for a long time. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 6

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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 registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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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 (1) (3)(a)(b)) 31 December

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Recommendations

 The registered person should provide a nurturing, homely environment. In particular, they should ensure that the shared spaces in the home are well decorated and maintained, and any repairs or maintenance are done in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, preventative safeguarding measures should be reviewed regularly and reduced or removed when no longer necessary. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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) Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 7 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cherry Care Children’s Home

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 47b West Bank, London N16 5DF

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Inspector

Daniel Rankin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2634954 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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