Children's home run by Solace Care East Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 1 Registered provider: Solace Care East Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

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

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in October 2023. The registered manager post has been vacant since 5 June 2025. A new manager has been appointed; they are yet to submit an application to register with Ofsted.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/04/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in the home are making good progress from their starting points. The wraparound approach to care planning is effective; the manager ensures that staff follow the local authority care plan and this is incorporated into the children’s plans in the home. However, the manager does not consider all aspects of care when completing suitability assessments for a child’s admission to the home, such as assessing the ability of the staff team to meet the needs of the child.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to engage in a wide range of activities. A rewards system is in place to enable children to ‘earn’ more expensive activities. Children like this system and have goals to work towards.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to access online education. The manager has advocated for the children’s education but arrangements to ensure suitable education provisions for the children to access in September are not fully implemented.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have many opportunities to learn about themselves and to access additional support from external agencies. Key-work sessions explore a range of subjects and support children to understand their experiences and their behaviour.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When incidents occur, staff help the children to learn how to make better choices, by using restorative consequences. This means that children have opportunities to understand how their behaviour affects others.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are valued and listed to. Staff hold one-to-one key-work sessions with children. The children are also supported and encouraged to attend house meetings, where they share ideas about the home and what activities they would like to participate in.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress in the social aspects of their lives and are learning to develop safe, caring relationships; this is evidenced through their behaviour and engagement with staff.

p.3

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

Staff have created clear plans to manage risk, and these plans are shared with other professionals. All staff in the home follow the protocols for missing children, and records are accurately maintained. This supports the manager’s analysis of information for sharing at muti-agency meetings and also helps staff to understand contextual safeguarding and how to safeguard the children living in the home.

p.3

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

The manager takes prompt action to manage risk, for example for children who have been identified as at risk of criminal exploitation, raising concerns with other agencies as appropriate. Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 4 Staff attend all mandatory training and this is generally up to date. The manager is proactive in identifying specialist courses, for example regarding county lines and children going missing, to enable staff to understand how to support children in these circumstances.

p.3

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

Staff apply a therapeutic and restorative approach to managing any serious incidents that occur inside or outside the home. Staff have shown a great deal of resilience in managing some complex and aggressive behaviours; this is evidence of a strong team whose members care about keeping children and each other safe.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior leaders have a good understanding of the children’s needs. They provide clear guidance and direction to the staff team, to ensure that children receive a good level of care and support.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior leaders have high aspirations for the children and staff. They are working on some innovative approaches to developing the home and the model of care.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior leaders value staff feedback and reflections and take account of these in the home’s development plan.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses an approach of high challenge, high support. They provide staff and children with clear expectations and boundaries.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported to grow and develop. Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision. Supervision is reflective and captures learning through the application of training and day-to-day experiences.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment and employment practices help to ensure the suitability of staff, so that children at the home are protected. Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

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;

p.5

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

p.5

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)(iv)(viii))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that children are supported to engage in education. 22 September 2025

p.5

Recommendation

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 6

p.5

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: 2739006 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Solace Care East Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Solace Care Group, Unit 2a, 420 Eastern Avenue, Ilford IG2 6NQ

p.7

Inspector

Helen Daniel, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2739006 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8