Children's Home run by Serenity Welfare in Enfield

Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 1 Registered provider: Serenity Welfare Ltd

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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 one child who experiences social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 1 August 2023. There has been no registered manager in post since August 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is making good progress from their starting points in education, social skills and building positive relationships. Staff have been creative in how they have ensured that the child has had access to learning, as they have been out of education for several years. The child enjoys a variety of activities, such as days out, going to museums, cooking and arts and crafts. These contribute towards their learning and help them to develop their independent living skills. In addition, staff have arranged one-to-one tuition for the child to support their education plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the child is in good health. They work jointly with mental health services to keep the child safe from harm. Staff also work in line with the relevant deprivation of liberty order. This adds to the child’s safety and there has been a reduction in incidents of self-harm over time. External professionals have noted this good progress since the child has been living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is supported to see their family regularly. With staff support and advocacy, the frequency of this contact has increased over time. This helped the child to settle into the home, as they are a significant distance away from their home area.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage the child to share their views, wishes and feelings, and where possible staff act on them. For example, when the child said they wanted a kitten they were set specific targets to work towards and now have a kitten that they care for well. If requests cannot be agreed to, staff discuss this with the child so they fully understand the reasons for decisions.

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

Staff understand the child’s risks and needs well. They support the child to be safe and supported in line with their plans and legal orders. Staff talk to the child in key-work sessions about any risks, and use rewards to encourage positive behaviour. This has led to a reduction in incidents since the child moved into the home.

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

The child’s risk assessments are thorough and identify triggers for distress and upset. Staff manage incidents well and restraint is used appropriately. Incident reports are thorough and clearly outline what happened and discussions with the child afterwards. This helps staff to maintain the positive relationships they have built with the child. Managers have consistent oversight of records. However, following a significant incident involving the child near the home, the home’s locality risk assessment was not updated to reflect additional safety measures that were needed to keep the child safe.

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

Staff are all trained in the safe administration of medication. Managers review this in line with the home’s policy. However, the recording of refusal of medication was not in line with the home’s policy and was less clearly noted. Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 3 Staff and managers work collaboratively with the placing authority, mental health services and the police to safeguard the child in their care. Partners are complimentary about this and how staff keep the child safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the home opened in August 2023, there have been significant changes in staffing. Many aspects of recruitment are positive, but leaders are not able to show how they ensure that they have explored all gaps in staff’s work history. This leaves a vulnerability in the recruitment process. In addition, despite leaders actively trying to recruit, the registered manager post has been vacant since August 2024. The post was filled for a short period in October 2024, but the manager left before fully taking up the role. The responsible individual has increased his support to the team while recruitment has continued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Senior managers have created a positive, family-like environment and staff have good working relationships. Staff said senior leaders are supportive and available as needed. Staff have regular reflective supervision which is effective in supporting them to meet children’s needs. In contrast, supervision for leaders lacks structure and actions to support development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders ensure that staff have a good induction, including relevant training. There are also ongoing training and development opportunities for staff, which means they are adequately skilled to meet the needs of the child in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders have systems in place to audit and monitor the progress of children. However, not all necessary documents are available to staff. For example, staff did not have ready access to the child’s local authority care plan or deprivation of liberty order, as these were kept at head office. This does not ensure that the available plan for the child’s care fully reflects these statutory documents. In addition, there is little planning for how the child will be supported to work towards a reduction in the level of staff supervision, to develop their resilience and independence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders have not accurately updated or submitted the home’s statement of purpose to Ofsted within the required time frame. In addition, leaders have not provided the regular review of the quality of care to Ofsted as required. This has reduced Ofsted’s regulatory oversight of the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 4

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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 recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that applicants have a full employment history, together with a satisfactory explanation of gaps in employment in their records. 31 March 2025

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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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose is accurately dated. 31 March 2025

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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 aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 31 March 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 5 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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that children’s local authority care plans are available to staff. They must also ensure that the child’s level of independence is regularly reviewed in line with legal orders, to consider and plan for when they could safely have more independence and less supervision.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available 31 March 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 6 on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff make a clear record of when medication is refused, in line with the home’s medication policy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that the locality risk assessment is reviewed when risks are identified in the community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: 2724602 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Serenity Welfare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wormley Hill House, Church Lane, Broxbourne EN10 7QQ

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Inspector

Salean Bryant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2724602 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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