Children's Home run by Cre8tiveCare Ltd in Brent

Inspection report for children’s home: 2727492 1 Registered provider: Cre8tiveCare 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 run home provides care for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager were registered with Ofsted in October 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: 2727492 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/04/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2727492 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a warm, welcoming and well-decorated home. Staff keep the home to a high standard, and it is clean and comfortable. Children’s bedrooms are spacious, yet homely. Staff have encouraged children to personalise their bedrooms to reflect their personalities and interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. This has contributed to them wanting to stay at the home and feeling a sense of belonging. One professional said that staff are very good at building a positive rapport with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are achieving academically with the support of staff. Leaders and managers work in partnership with agencies to promote the children’s educational attendance and achievements. Staff are dedicated to helping children engage with education when there are barriers to learning. From children’s starting points, they are now attending regular education with encouragement from the staff team. One child is now attending mainstream school for the first time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health. Leaders and managers seek specialist services to support children’s well-being. All children are registered with universal services and staff help them to attend appointments. When they do not want to attend, staff have focused discussions to educate them on the importance of maintaining good health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a varied diet. Twice a week the home has a private chef visit. This has helped children experience foods from various countries as well as their cultural preference. They engage well with the chef and often have conversations about different food types.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in a range of activities in the home and local community. Staff encourage and support their personal interests. During their leisure time, children enjoy going for walks and playing tenpin bowling with staff members.

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

Staff build trusting relationships with the children. They manage children’s behaviour positively and are aware when a child is showing signs of feeling distressed.

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

Children engage in the development of their individualised care plans. This gives children a sense of responsibility and ownership of their aspirations and safety. Plans are detailed and written in a child-friendly way.

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

Risks to children are managed effectively. Staff are responsive when managing the safety of children. Risk assessments are updated regularly and clearly reflect the levels of risk Inspection report for children’s home: 2727492 4 to children, and strategies to mitigate risk. Leaders and managers work in partnership with relevant agencies to promote the safety of children.

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

Staff offer support and advice that helps to keep children safe. Children regularly engage in tailored discussions and reflect on their decision-making, both in the home and in the community. When a child has been missing from the home, staff have prompt discussions with the child involved to help them understand the risks and how to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have effective oversight of the home. Managers use weekly and monthly audits which contribute to comprehensive reviewing and monitoring systems. This promotes high-quality care to children. However, independent monitoring is not always timely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff rota is managed effectively. Children receive care from a familiar staff team. Leaders and managers ensure that there is consistency around the daily staff rota. This has supported children developing positive relationships with all staff members and not just their key workers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are currently recruiting new staff. There is a newly assigned interim manager who will soon be joining the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular training. However, there are some gaps in training recordings, which does not reflect the training received by staff. Managers are currently sourcing more specialised training for staff to further support the needs of children. Leaders and managers are revising their recording system for their training records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision is regular and staff report feeling supported by managers. Discussions are child centred and topic areas are relevant. However, supervision records lack attention to detail around action plans and depth of discussions. This does not support staff to fully understand and uphold their responsibilities effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2727492 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. Independent monitoring visits should take place monthly and reports should be submitted to Ofsted in the same time frame. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should have a workforce training matrix which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed

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Recommendations

by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. Supervision requires more exploration around the quality of care children are receiving and staff should have a clearer direction in the expectations of their role. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2727492 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 10 Watermark Way, Foxholes Business Park, Hertford SG13 7TZ

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Inspector

Natalie Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2727492 7 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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