Children's Home run by Inclusive Children Services Ltd in Redbridge

Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 1 Registered provider: INCLUSIVE CHILDREN SERVICES LIMITED

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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 6 children aged 8 to 17 with social and emotional difficulties and learning difficulties. The home provides medium- to long-term care on a planned basis and in an emergency.

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Information about this children's home

The home was registered with Ofsted in January 2024. The manager was registered at the same time.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, six children were living at the home

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/07/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. They are settled in the home and there is a family feel. Children enjoy spending time with the staff and eating dinner together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff want the children to have positive memories of their time in the home. Children attend activities such as weekly football sessions and trips to arcades and theme parks. Staff also support children to create memory books and videos to reflect their time in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to communicate their thoughts and feelings. Children engage in meetings where they discuss the menu, house rules and plans for the week. Staff also support children to give feedback. When children complain, staff listen to their worries and ensure that children are satisfied with the outcome of their complaint. A child’s social worker was impressed with the social stories that staff use to help a child to manage their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take children’s education seriously. Most children attend school regularly. Children engage in the home’s independent skills programme. They are developing skills such as money management, job searching, personal hygiene and cooking. Staff record the independence sessions to demonstrate to professionals the child’s progress in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate diversity. One parent brings their cultural food to the home for their child to enjoy. Staff ensure that a child has the right hair care products and they often style this child’s hair. There is a diverse staff team who provide the children with culturally diverse meals and musical experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are well decorated and display their achievements and their daily routines in a way that children can understand. There is a relaxing sensory room in the home that children enjoy spending time in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When new children move in, leaders and managers assess their needs alongside the needs of the other children living in the home. Consequently, children experience well planned transitions into the home. When children leave the home, managers reflect on the quality of care that they received.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are some shortfalls in relation to children’s records. Specifically, children’s care plans are not child-friendly and are not consistently kept up to date. In addition, managers are still not ensuring that they receive copies of local authority plans in a timely way. Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 4

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

Staff know children’s needs well. They understand the risks that children face and manage these well.

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

The children in the home have complex health needs that are well managed with multi agency support. Staff ensure that children attend their routine and specialist health appointments. Leaders and managers also have suitable oversight of children’s medication through regular audits.

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

When incidents happen, children are supported with care and compassion. Consequences are proportionate and staff communicate with children when their behaviour is a concern. Staff no longer use physical intervention to manage incidents. However, when this has been used previously, records did not always demonstrate that leaders and managers provided additional oversight of the situation.

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

Staff know what to do when children go missing from home. One child does go missing, their social worker commends staff for their efforts and the way that they work with the child’s parents to bring them home safely. When the child returns, they have an independent interview to gain information about their whereabouts and safety. However, children’s risk assessments are not consistently kept up to date and staff do not consistently call the child in line with the manager’s expectations. In addition, staff do not always ensure that the police have the most up to date information about the child.

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

Managers ensure that the physical environment of the home is safe for the children and the responsible individual undertakes regular health and safety checks. Children also have up to date evacuation risk assessments to keep them safe in the event of a fire. Managers ensure that all staff are safely recruited before working with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a registered manager who understands the children’s needs and cares for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager empowers staff to improve practice in key areas and staff are happy with the responsibility they have. Some staff are ‘champions’. This allows them to lead other staff and support children in an area that they are an expert in such as health and fitness. Regular team meetings and supervisions encourage staff to reflect on children’s progress, their responsibilities and how they can improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive training to meet children’s needs. This includes safeguarding training and specialised training such as epilepsy and seizure management. The workforce plan supports staff development and details their qualifications and experience. Staff work well with other professionals, who speak positively about the service. They highly praise the staff for their ‘excellent’ communication and regular attendance at meetings. Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 5 Leaders and managers have good oversight due to effective monitoring and review systems. These allow leaders to have consistent oversight of staff practice and the quality of care that children receive. Leaders and managers are aware that the oversight of children’s records needs improving and have a plan to address this. Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 6

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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, 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

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

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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 (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they consistently escalate to local authorities when there are delays in receiving documents and important information. This should continue to happen until the relevant documents and support is in place.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 12 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1) (b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s records are written in a way that children can understand. They must also ensure that they include up to date information about the child. 12 May 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is always independent oversight of physical restraint records to ensure that risks are reviewed and that measures are in place to protect the child. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 49, paragraph 9.59).  The registered person should ensure that staff always follow the correct procedure when a child is missing from the home. They should also ensure that police have up to date information about the child. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 45, paragraph 9.28). Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 7

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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: 2748215 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: INCLUSIVE CHILDREN SERVICES LIMITED

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 46 The Ridgeway, North Harrow, Harrow HA2 7QN

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Inspector

Chelsea Agyeman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 9 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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