Children's home run by Children Assisted in a Real Environment Ltd in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children's home: SC466378 1 SC466378 Registered provider: Children Assisted in a Real Environment 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 home is privately run and provides long-term care for up to five children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children's home

The home registered with Ofsted on 29 October 2013. The manager of the home registered with Ofsted on 22 June 2022.

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Information about this children's home

There were four children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: Outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC466378 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/03/2025 Full Outstanding 03/01/2024 Full Outstanding 09/03/2023 Full Outstanding 05/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC466378 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are settled in this home and they achieve significant progress from their starting points. The children’s personalities are reflected throughout the home and in their personal spaces. The home is comfortable, warm and welcoming. However, some hazardous substances were not being stored safely on the day of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from caring staff who know them well and are attuned to their needs. Care is taken to ensure that children’s day-to-day routines are consistent so that children are aware of what will be happening throughout the day. This promotes a sense of stability and wellbeing for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health and emotional needs are promoted. Staff ensure that children who experience barriers to accessing healthcare are sensitively supported. For example, one child who experienced distress when attending health appointments now attends all appointments with the support of staff and parents. Staff prepared the child by using social stories. Staff also ensure that children eat a healthy diet. This has led to improvements in the health of all the children, and notably for one child, for whom there has been a significant reduction in concerns about their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaging well in education. They benefit from good attendance at school, where staff know them well. Some of the children had previously had poor experiences at school, but they are now able to confidently engage in their lessons. One child has recently moved to college. Staff understand how challenging this transition is and are exploring all avenues to ensure that they feel well supported.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children also benefit from key-worker sessions, in which they are supported to learn practical independence skills. As a result, children are able to undertake a variety of tasks confidently, such as cooking, doing laundry and self-care, with the support of staff. One parent noted that their child can now do much more for themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children form positive relationships with staff. Staff use a variety of methods to share information with children and to gather their views. For example, pictorial templates are used during children’s meetings to assist with communication. This helps staff to consult with children effectively and enables children to make choices about their activities and routines.

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

Children are supported in an age-appropriate way to understand risks and how to stay safe; this includes using social stories and other communication tools. Children understand that they can speak to staff about any concerns. Children are also supported to understand their bodies and any changes that may indicate changes in their health. Inspection report children's home: SC466378 4 Leaders and managers are professionally curious about how to meet the needs of the children. They are acutely aware of changes in children’s behaviour that may indicate that they are distressed, particularly children who communicate non-verbally. Leaders and managers have regular meetings with a therapeutic lead professional, at which the progress of the children is discussed. This supports leaders in encouraging staff to be more attuned to the reasons for children’s behaviours and highlights when specialist support may be required.

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

When incidents occur, these are managed well. Staff have good relationships with the children and understand when they are distressed and how to support them. Behaviour support plans and risk assessments are detailed and there are effective strategies in place to support staff in responding well to children. Leaders and managers ensure that staff are debriefed following incidents and they reflect on ways to constantly improve interventions with children. However, records are not kept of all incidents and behaviours that happen in the home. This could lead to staff not being up to date with current events and behaviours and some concerns not being appropriately identified or addressed.

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

No physical restraints have been recorded since the last inspection. However, incident records indicate that a physical restraint has been used on at least one occasion.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are ambitious for children. They are committed and influential in improving the lives of those in their care. They provide daily updates to families and seek to involve them in the care of their children. The registered manager knows the children well and models a compassionate approach to their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Older children who are subject to pathway plans are supported to make the transition to adulthood. The home’s leaders advocate for the right provision to ensure that the children continue to receive the appropriate care and support. However, for one child who is due to leave the home, transitional support plans have been substantially delayed and staff have not escalated their concerns effectively to ensure that this is addressed promptly. This has resulted in the child not yet having details of where they will be moving to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team has regular meetings to discuss the needs of children, seasonal activities, policy and procedures and staff dynamics. This promotes clarity and consistency of practice and enables cohesive working so that the staff can meet children’s needs and ensure that positive outcomes are achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training provided to staff is comprehensive and in line with the needs of the children. Staff receive a thorough induction and training is regularly updated. This ensures that staff are confident in supporting the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive informal and formal supervision sessions. Supervision does not consistently cover the progress of the children or evidence reflective practice. This is a missed Inspection report children's home: SC466378 5 opportunity to ensure that staff are supported to improve their practice and their care of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel they are well supported and morale is high among the staff team. This has a positive impact on children in the home, who benefit from a stable staff team who know them well. Inspection report children's home: SC466378 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff receive supervision that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and that they understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, ensuring that all incidents of concern are recorded, including records of restraints. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure longer-term support for children to move on from the home effectively (regulation 6(2)(b)(vi)); the home has an important role in supporting each child leaving the home in the period immediately before their departure. The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child's transition is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving, both practically and emotionally. In particular, ensuring that substantial delays in transition planning for children should be escalated to the local authority. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 57, paragraph 11.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children's home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children; they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children's homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.), in particular, ensuring that all hazardous liquids are safely stored. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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 children's home: SC466378 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Children Assisted in a Real Environment Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 144 Old Oak Road, LONDON W3 7HF

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Inspector

Angela Reid, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC466378 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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