Children's home run by Waves Care Ltd

Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 1 Registered provider: Waves Care 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 children’s home provides care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, there were no children living at the home.

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Information about this children's home

There is currently no registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/07/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 3

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improvement to be good

Two children have lived at the home since it was registered with Ofsted, but both have moved out because staff were unable to fully meet their needs.

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improvement to be good

Children are not supported to maintain healthy routines that enable them to engage in formal or meaningful activities. One child spent much of the day sleeping.

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improvement to be good

Children are not given sufficient support to understand their own emotional and physical health needs. In one example, a child declined to take their medication, and staff were unable to help them to understand its importance. This had a negative impact on the child’s emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

While staff speak very fondly about the children and can recall some positive moments with them, staff were unable to maintain positive relationships with children, which hindered children’s progress. Key-work sessions, which are designed to help children address issues that are important to them, were not consistently delivered.

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improvement to be good

Managers do not consider the impact on children of unplanned endings. Both children’s placing authorities were asked to move the children out of the home before suitable homes had been identified for them. Children’s sense of worth and belonging are negatively affected by placement disruptions.

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improvement to be good

Before children move into the home, the manager carries out a risk assessment and creates a care plan. The psychologist linked to the home creates a therapeutic support plan. These documents do not include sufficient details of the risks and vulnerabilities that are included in children’s referral information. As a result, plans do not clearly describe what staff need to do to care for children and keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

The process for making sure that new children’s needs are compatible with the needs of children already living at the home is not sufficiently robust. One child had to leave the home because managers felt that their behaviour was having a negative impact on a child who moved in.

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improvement to be good

When behavioural incidents occur, there is insufficient reflection and learning that would be helpful for children and staff to reduce the risk of a reoccurrence. Several staff have left the home after serious incidents and, as a result, there has been no reparative work that would help children to understand how to make amends for their mistakes. Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 4 When children make allegations about staff, investigations are carried out and shared appropriately with external safeguarding agencies. However, there is a lack of senior management oversight of investigations to ensure that they have been carried out thoroughly and fairly.

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improvement to be good

There is an appropriate response from staff to ensure that children return safely when they go missing from the home. However, not enough work is carried out with children to help them to find safer ways of managing their emotions.

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improvement to be good

The home has an online safety application that is designed to keep children safe when they are accessing the internet. However, it only works if children allow it to be uploaded on their device. When children decline this application, there is no other way to ensure that children are not accessing inappropriate material, and this put one child at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Staff are trained to use physical restraint when children’s behaviour is unsafe. Despite this, physical restraint was not used, and staff called the police to support with behaviour management.

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

Senior leaders have made changes to the management team to address conduct concerns. Previously, a bullying culture had a negative impact on staff morale. The result was that staff did not feel valued or supported. This hindered their ability to develop trusting relationships with children and provide them with good-quality care.

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

The new responsible individual and the new manager are taking steps to develop a positive culture that creates a safe and healthy workplace. For example, they have arranged team days that are helping staff to build positive relationships with managers and each other.

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

Several new staff have been appointed, and they receive a thorough induction. The staff training offer has been improved, and staff receive regular supervision. However, identified actions are not always reviewed in the agreed timescale.

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

The responsible individual and the manager understand what needs to be done to address the weaknesses of the home. As a result, there is a firm basis for improvement to be made in the quality of care. Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 5

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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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home's statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home's workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and 20 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 6 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child's relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health; and 20 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 7 that the effectiveness of the home's child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child's behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child's behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child's age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child's respect and trust; 20 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 8 understand how children's previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(xii)(xiii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child's education and training targets, as recorded in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child's learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; 20 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 9 promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child's education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child's education and training and to maximise the child's achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child's education or training provider and the child's placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home's statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child's placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that each child's relevant plans are followed; 20 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 10 that, subject to regulation 22 (contact and access to communications), contact between each child and the child's parents, relatives and friends, is promoted in accordance with the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

that the child's placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child's relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child's needs;

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Requirement Due date

the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; or

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Requirement Due date

the child requests a review of the child's relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(iii)(f))

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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: 2748089 11

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Alpha House, 296 Kenton Rd, Harrow HA3 8DD

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Inspector

Shaheda Dhandia, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2748089 12 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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