Children's Home run by Moonreach LTD in Kent

Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 1 Registered provider: Moonreach LTD

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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 is registered to provide care for one child who experiences social and/or emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 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 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: 7 November 2023

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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: 1258463 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/11/2023 Full Good 13/09/2022 Full Good 24/05/2022 Full Inadequate 02/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the caring approach from the staff, who are committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for them. Staff are child focused in their approach to the care they provide and strive to create a positive living experience for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children describe a supportive and respectful relationship with the staff. Staff have regular natural and planned conversations with the children. This creates plenty of opportunity for the children to discuss what is important to them. Staff actively promote the children’s involvement in decisions about their care, making sure whenever possible, their wishes and feelings are taken into account.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean and welcoming and provides a nice environment for the children to live in. Staff have made recent improvements to the environment, with the children having been consulted on the refurbishment plans. The children have nice bedrooms and are encouraged to personalise these to reflect their own likes and interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their starting points. This is especially noticeable regarding their ability to make safer choices, and the progress the children make in relation to their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s families and social workers receive regular updates from staff. One social worker praised the weekly reports provided by the team, highlighting their confidence in the staff’s ability to support the child’s care plan effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise how important it is for the children to maintain strong connections with their families. To promote these relationships, they actively encourage and support family time and, when possible, welcome family members into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently encourage children to participate in activities, understanding the positive effect this has on their day-to-day experiences. They promote an active and healthy lifestyle, helping the children find purpose and supporting them to establish daily routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s needs are carefully considered ahead of them moving into the home. This ensures that thought is given to staff being able to provide the children with the care and support they require. The children are provided with information about the home and staff before they move in, helping them feel prepared and at ease. When it is time for the children to move on from the home, this is done in a planned way, ensuring the children experience positive endings. Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 4

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

Staff have a detailed understanding of the individual risks for the children. They take a proactive approach to help mitigate risks and keep the children safe. The children receive support from a consistent staff team. This continuity helps the children to develop meaningful relationships with staff, which is fundamental to keeping them safe.

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

Staff recognise the importance of boundaries for the children. While the children do not always agree with the rules in place, they still appreciate that these exist because the staff care for them and want to keep them safe.

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

All staff have completed physical intervention training. Despite this, staff do not use physical intervention and instead rely on other strategies to manage behaviour, such as de-escalation techniques. The children respond well to this approach because of the relationships and respect they have established with staff.

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

The staff expertly manage and respond to the children who go missing from home. There are clear plans in place which detail the steps that are required of staff should this happen. Staff are proactive in gathering information to enable them to identify and understand patterns linked to the children going missing. Staff consistently go above and beyond to locate the children and seek their return.

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

The staff work in collaboration with the child’s network and regularly attend multi-agency safeguarding meetings. These meetings have been fundamental in supporting information-sharing around contextual risks for the children and encouraging a joint approach to the support provided. When there have been concerns with the children’s friendships, staff have been highly effective in taking proactive steps to reduce and disrupt these connections.

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

Most safeguarding concerns are well-managed and carefully documented. On one occasion, the record of a safeguarding incident did not provide for a clear picture of events. Furthermore, while this incident was reviewed by the manager, this did not provide the level of scrutiny needed to identify practice shortfalls and support lessons learned. This, however, was an isolated event, with all other safeguarding incidents being clearly recorded and having full management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. This understanding has been supported through the visits and reports completed by the home’s independent visitor. The manager values the feedback gained from the independent visitor and routinely takes on board their advice to drive improvement for the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff express appreciation for the support they receive from the manager and describe him to be readily available to offer advice and guidance. The manager promotes a positive working environment, with staff happy and enthusiastic to come to work. Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 5 The manager consistently considers how lone working might affect staff. The manager makes sure there are measures in place to both support the staff’s physical safety and reduce the potential risk of isolation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported by regular and good quality supervision. The records of these supervisions are not consistently recorded in line with good practice or the organisation’s own supervision policy. The manager provides additional support to staff through annual appraisals, debrief meetings and opportunities for reflective practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are vigorous recruitment procedures in place to ensure that all staff are safe and suitable to work with children. Staff describe a helpful induction, during which they are provided with the training and support needed to perform their role effectively and with confidence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the manager has improved systems to monitor the service’s progress. Alongside monthly management audits, the manager also completes a three- monthly quality of care review. Although the report from this review helps to identify areas of improvement, it does not routinely involve the input of families, children or external professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff cannot always easily locate children’s records. This makes it difficult for staff to find key information about the children, including their local authority care plans and minutes for meetings held about them. This hasn’t impacted on the care of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, following incidents of a safeguarding nature, the manager should review and explore all available evidence to identify and ensure lessons are learned. 21 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there (Regulation 36 (1)(b)(c) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the children’s care plans, including the local authority’s care plan are stored with children’s records and accessible for staff. 13 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 7 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

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) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that they routinely seek feedback from children, parents, and professionals when undertaking a quality of care review of the home. 4 April 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a record of supervision should be kept for staff. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 1258463 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4 Dane John Works, Gordon Road, Canterbury CT1 3PP

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Inspector

Kerry Howarth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1258463 9 regulates 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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