Children's Home run by Sans Soucie Children Services LTD in Surrey

Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 1 Registered provider: Sans Soucie Children Services 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

The home is operated by a private company and is registered to provide care for up to four children who have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since April 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following the last inspection of the home, a compliance notice was issued under regulation 13 of The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. In addition, a notice of restriction was issued, which meant that the provider was not able to admit any further children to the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/06/2025 Full Inadequate 26/06/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has made progress as a result of the development of caring and trusting relationships with staff. The child has made progress with their education, relationships with others and managing their emotions. They are happy, more confident and settled in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have helped the child to understand that their voice matters and will be listened to. The child is more confident about giving their views and has attended their child in care review for the first time. The child was confident in speaking to professionals about the care that they receive and told them that they feel listened to by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child attends school, and staff promote their education. The child has made significant improvements to their school attendance and attainment. Education professionals highlight the child’s progress and acknowledge this by writing praise cards. The child brings these home and shares them with staff. The child is proud of their achievements, and these are celebrated by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the child’s health and well-being needs are met. They are registered with a doctor, dentist and optician and are up to date with all appointments. Staff support the child to engage with mental health professionals and with the behaviour analyst. The child is being supported by external professionals regarding a recent medical diagnosis. Leaders and managers are sourcing training for staff so that they have an understanding of the condition and can also support the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Routines and appropriate boundaries that have been implemented by staff have enabled the child to have more certainty in their life. These changes have helped the child to feel more settled and less anxious, leading to a decrease in incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The look of the home has been positively transformed, and the environment has a warm and inviting feel. The child has been involved in decorating the home. There are rugs on the floor and pictures and ornaments throughout, making the area feel homely. A downstairs bedroom has been converted into an additional communal relaxation area. All previous damage has been fixed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is involved in planning their week and creates meal plans and activity plans with staff. The child is encouraged to pursue their passions and hobbies. However, if the child decides that they do not want to engage in a planned activity, staff are not proactive in having alternative activities ready for them. This can result in the child feeling bored and disengaged at times.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use individual sessions effectively to support the child with their development. Independence skills, together with a reflection on behaviour and managing relationships, are regularly covered in these sessions. Staff have helped the child to Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 4 understand that disagreements with friends or staff do not have to mean the end of relationships. Consequently, the child has improved relationships with staff and peers and improved their resilience. However, staff do not always fully check the child’s understanding of conversations, which has occasionally left the child with an inaccurate impression of what was discussed.

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

Staff understand the child’s risks and vulnerabilities. Staff work collaboratively with external professionals around the child’s plans, which are detailed and provide clear guidance to staff on how to support them. The child contributes to their plans and knows how they will be supported. The plans are regularly updated and any actions from individual sessions with the child are incorporated into the updates. Updates to plans are shared with staff, and an online recording system is used to evidence when staff have read the updates. This allows leaders and managers to be sure that staff are aware of any changes to the child’s care.

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

Staff have worked with the local community to ensure the child is safeguarded. When staff found that the child was able to access unfiltered internet content via a local external connection, they took appropriate action to ensure that access was removed, helping the child to be safer when accessing the internet.

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

The responsible individual has thoroughly reviewed staff training needs and the courses that they have undertaken. She has identified which training courses are appropriate and is sourcing new providers to ensure that the training meets the needs of staff. She is also refreshing staff knowledge on legislation associated with children’s homes. All staff are now enrolled on the childcare qualification training.

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

There has been one safeguarding concern since the last inspection. Although this was not initially recognised by staff as a safeguarding concern, once it was highlighted, the concern was thoroughly investigated and well managed by the responsible individual. However, phone calls made to the on-call manager are not recorded and so could not be reviewed as part of the investigation. This potentially means that information relating to safeguarding concerns may not be recorded. There was no impact on the safety of the child in this instance. There have since been significant levels of training and coaching from leaders and managers to ensure that staff are able to recognise and raise concerns.

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

Although staff have completed safeguarding training, some staff are not fully aware of safeguarding procedures. The manager has plans to address these gaps in staff knowledge and ensure that training for staff equips them for the role. These gaps in knowledge have not affected staff decision-making around safeguarding for children.

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

Safer recruitment processes are generally followed. However, leaders and managers do not check why staff have left previous roles if they involved caring for children or vulnerable adults. Safer recruitment checks are carried out by a separate department within the organisation, and management oversight has not highlighted this shortfall. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 5 Leaders and managers do perform internet searches of potential candidates, which provides additional scrutiny to an individual’s application.

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

Incidents of physical intervention are rare. Physical intervention is used by staff to keep children safe and only if de-escalation techniques have been unsuccessful. Staff speak to children after occurrences of physical restraint so that they can reflect on the incident and how they are feeling. However, there is no subsequent review with staff, and incident reports lack detail. This prevents leaders and managers from having full oversight of incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The previous manager left, and a new manager has been recruited. The new manager is currently going through recruitment checks before taking up their position. A new responsible individual has been recruited and has been deemed suitable by Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual has introduced new systems to increase oversight of the home. She has implemented trackers that enable managers to monitor supervisions, complaints and incidents to ensure that all appropriate follow-up work is completed. The trackers are also intended to help managers to identify any themes, patterns or trends promptly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have been diligent in seeking feedback on the home from the child, their family, the staff and external professionals. This feedback has been used to identify what is going well and any areas for improvement. All actions have been incorporated into the home’s development plan. The responsible individual intends to share this with the staff so that they are also aware of what is going well and where the shortfalls are. This is intended to help staff to recognise their contribution to the positive changes in the home and to give them an awareness of what can be further developed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inductions for staff are thorough and support staff with the knowledge required to embed them into their roles. The responsible individual has plans for established staff to recomplete their inductions so that she is satisfied that all staff have the required knowledge for their roles in caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak positively about the changes that have been made in the home. They are proud of what they have achieved and understand how the changes have positively impacted on the child. They are supportive of the leaders and managers and are embracing the new ways of working. Staff retention is good, and morale is high.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved on from the home. The child was supported by staff throughout the process. When transition plans were not clear, causing the child anxiety, leaders and managers challenged external professionals, and this resulted in a robust plan. This alleviated the child’s concerns and enabled the child to have a smoother transition. Staff supported the child to travel to their Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 6 new home and stayed with them while they settled in. Staff have kept in touch with the child and plan to visit them soon.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals speak positively of the care that the child receives. They highlight the progress that the child is making as a result of the changes in the home. Professionals say that staff advocate for the child and communication has vastly improved. The behaviour analyst stated she is not invited to all of the child’s meetings. This is a missed opportunity to use the skills of a professional and further strengthen multi-agency working.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervisions for staff have significantly improved. Supervisions are now regular, reflective and child focused. Staff are able to give and receive feedback during these sessions and review the child’s care. Staff are eager to learn and further develop. However, appraisals have not taken place. Although leaders and managers have identified this shortfall, it has not been promptly addressed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 7

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that knowledge gained from training is embedded into staff’s practice.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they prioritise appraisals for staff.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, the register person must ensure that there is a system in place to record staff calls to the on-call manager. 27 November

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is 27 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 8 authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(b)(i)(ii))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities both inside and outside of the home (where appropriate) and are encouraged to participate in those activities. Additionally, alternative activities should also be available. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.5)  The registered person should ensure staff have the skills and confidence to communicate easily with the child and be able to check that the child has understood what has been said to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.10)  The registered person should ensure effective working relationships with relevant

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Recommendations

people, ensuring these individuals are able to fully contribute to the child’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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: 2745551 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sans Soucie Children Services LTD

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 5 Paris Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford GU2 9JX

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Inspector

Louise Webling, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2745551 10 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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