Children's Home run by Mastery Services' Invictus Children's Home in Lewisham

Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 1 Registered provider: Mastery Services’ Invictus Children’s Home

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered with Ofsted in May 2025 and is privately owned. It provides care for up to two children with learning disabilities. This was the first inspection of this home since registration.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left the home in August 2025. The current manager started working in the home in the same month and has applied to be registered.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child’s experiences and progress are limited by poor leadership, inadequate safeguarding practice, and an absence of staff supervision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not provide the child with individualised care. The risk assessment that leaders completed before the child moved in identified diagnosed needs and risks, and mitigating actions to address these. However, those actions were not consistently followed up, and staff have been unable to safely manage the child’s behaviours and risks. As a result, for the child living in the home leaders gave notice on their placement just three months after they arrived.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child has experienced instability in the home. There has been a significant turnover of staff, with nine workers leaving since the home opened in June. This lack of consistency means the child has been unable to form positive, trusting relationships. Leaders lack insight into the impact this constant change has had on the child and have not put any measures in place to minimise it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child has made no progress in education. There has been no education provision in place since they moved into the home, and staff and leaders have taken no effective action to address this or advocate on the child’s behalf to their placing local authority. Although the child has an education, health and care plan, not all staff are aware of this, which hinders their ability to understand and support the child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not fully implement the child’s plan for family time. They regularly support the child to travel a distance for planned time with family. However, when contact with other family members has not taken place as often as it should, staff have not taken steps to address this. This means the child is not being consistently supported to maintain and sustain positive relationships with their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some areas of the home are in poor condition and are unhomely. There are damaged and marked walls, broken furniture, and damaged doorways. The door to the front room has been missing for at least several weeks, which presents a fire risk. There are two large monitors hanging on the sitting room wall, one of which has a smashed screen and presents a risk to the child and others. The child’s bedroom was extremely untidy, with clothes strewn over the floor. Staff tidied it up during the inspection but could not explain why this had not been done sooner. A visual timetable to support the child’s needs, as identified in their care plan, is not on display. The fridge is locked in a cupboard in the hallway, and the child cannot access it.

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

Safeguarding practice in the home is inadequate. Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that staffing arrangements consistently ensure safety for the child. Staff do not Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 3 safely support the child when they present a risk to others or protect the child from potential harm. Although the child is under a high level of supervision due to the risks they present to themselves and others, on one occasion, they were able to leave the home unnoticed by staff and on another, got onto the home’s roof. Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe.

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

An allegation the child made against a staff member was not investigated. The registered manager referred the allegation to the local authority designated officer (LADO) but did not carry out their own investigation when they were informed it did not meet the threshold for LADO involvement. This means there was no conclusion to the allegation, and the child was not made to feel safe or reassured that their voice was heard and responded to.

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

Staff are not always helped when they are unable to keep the child safe. On one occasion, the manager sent a staff member home due to their visible distress and agitation during an incident. However, the manager did not follow up with them afterwards. This resulted in the staff member returning for their next shift without any debrief or assessment of their capacity to support and safeguard the child, and another significant incident then occurred.

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

Risk assessments are of poor quality and the child’s most significant risks have not been assessed. For some identified risks, there are multiple risk assessments, but these are not consistently and regularly updated. Consequently, they do not always adequately reflect the child’s behaviours or warning signs when the child is becoming unsettled. In addition, actions that staff should take in line with this guidance are not consistently taken, as not all staff read the necessary documents. This means that the child experiences disjointed and inconsistent responses when they are unsettled. These numerous failings in risk management hinder the team’s ability to respond effectively and keep the child safe.

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

Staff do not carry out meaningful work with the child that helps them to understand their behaviour or to think about alternative ways to behave. Records are too brief and do not capture the details of conversations that have taken place or the child’s voice.

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

Leaders are not professionally curious about the child’s risks. Despite being under a high level of supervision in the home and frequent incidents taking place, the child sees their family unsupervised. The manager has not sought to understand whether or not this disparity in the level of oversight is appropriate or safe for the child or their family. The manager was unclear whether a risk assessment was in place to make sure the child’s safety could be assured.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has no effective leadership team in place. Since it was registered, the registered manager, responsible individual, deputy manager, and a senior support worker have left. Some of these workers were dismissed for poor performance. However, one Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 4 senior leader’s poor performance was recognised but not addressed by the director. The new manager had no constructive handover from the previous manager. This has led the current manager to have significant gaps in their knowledge about the child. The home’s chaotic leadership has been detrimental to the child’s care and the operation of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders are not ambitious for the child and do not advocate for their best outcomes. They have failed to escalate concerns to the placing local authority that the child has had no education provision since they moved into the home. Leaders have also not questioned the lack of assessment for a potential developmental condition or attempted to promote family time when it does not take place as it should do.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Communication between leaders, managers and staff is poor. The on-call rota available to staff is out of date as every senior worker included on it has left the home. This leaves staff unclear about who to contact in an emergency and is unsafe, due to the child’s presenting risks. Team meetings did not take place until the new manager started, and those that have taken place do not include discussions about the child. Staff have not received supervision since the home opened. As a result, staff are given no guidance on how to safely support the child and are not given the time to discuss the quality of the care they provide.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders’ oversight is inconsistent. Leaders and managers have not ensured that the child’s placing local authority is regularly informed about their well-being or safeguarding incidents. This has limited external oversight of the child’s welfare. The child’s care plan has not been fully implemented by staff, which has reduced the quality of the child’s experiences in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff are not fully trained to support the child’s assessed needs. This includes needs that were known before the child moved in and in relation to a risk that has emerged while they have lived at the home. This further compromises the quality of support the child receives, and they do not receive the individualised care they deserve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure the needs of children admitted to the home are within the remit of the home’s registration conditions and statement of purpose. As a result, leaders have allowed a child to move into the home whose needs cannot be met by staff. Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 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 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

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

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 designed, furnished, and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(d)(e)) 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 6 *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 have the experience, qualifications, and skills to meet the needs of 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

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)(c)(e)(h)) 9 November 2025

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a) 9 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 7 undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s placing authorities provide them with education, and that requests for assessments are made when children are considered to potentially have developmental conditions. 9 November 2025

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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. (Regulation 8 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff help children to achieve their educational potential, especially when they are not in formal education. 9 November 2025

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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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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

that staff— 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 8 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

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

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

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)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(xii)(b) Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 9 In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff build relationships with children that are consistent and supportive. Leaders must ensure that staff are supported and equipped with the necessary training and skills to build these relationships, manage more challenging behaviours and work effectively to reduce racist, physically aggressive and violent behaviours.

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises. (Regulation 21 (b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children can access the home’s fridge. 9 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: 2841607 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Mastery Services’ Invictus Children’s Home

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Inspector

Jo Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2841607 11 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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