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Inspection report for children’s home: SC036917 1 SC036917 Registered provider: Royal Borough of Greenwich Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority home provides care for up to 5 children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in April 2003. The manager was registered in April 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

There were 3 children living at 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

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2025

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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: SC036917 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2025 Full Good 10/01/2024 Full Good 07/09/2022 Full Good 19/10/2021 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC036917 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a warm and comfortable environment for children. Children living at the home can personalise their bedrooms; this creates a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of relationships between children and staff is good. One child stated that they feel safe and have one or more members of staff they can talk to about how they feel.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The in-house therapist offers therapeutic support for all children living at the home. When this is not directly accessed, the therapist and staff use an indirect approach to provide therapeutic support and care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff continually reflect on ways to engage children in activities. Children have many opportunities to have fun and enjoy their time living at the home. They take part in activities including go-karting, shopping, and going for meals together. Children enjoy participating in activities that are important to them, this includes having their nails and hair done.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, children living at home have made significant progress in education attendance and engagement. They are supported to achieve and to be the best that they can be.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are valued by staff and have regular key work sessions on a range of subjects that are important to their lives. They have opportunities to engage in children’s meetings and to influence their care plans, although the documentation in the home does not fully reflect the work completed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children have clear plans that align with the local authority’s plans. Care plans are regularly reviewed. Staff know the children well and can identify how to support them to make progress. The manager has been involved in transition plans for children. Despite the manager’s efforts, the plan for one child drifted due to no suitable placement being identified by the local authority. This resulted in a child leaving the home without a suitable plan to support them through the next stage of their lives.

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

Staff work well with other professionals to understand the contextual risks for children when they are in the community. Staff talk with children about risk and help them understand why staff may be concerned about any risks or vulnerabilities. This open and honest approach helps children to make positive choices that reduce these risks. However, despite these concerns being discussed and a range of consequences being used, there have been ongoing issues with children smoking in bedrooms and using cannabis. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036917 4 When serious incidents do occur, there is a swift response from the manager and staff. The staff use a multi-agency approach to managing risk, as well as having clarity within the home about their own approach.

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

Some children have been missing from home. This is addressed through clear guidance for staff on children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities and comprehensive missing person grab packs.

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

There are clear support plans to guide staff’s practice and approaches to caring for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are inspirational, confident and ambitious for children and young people and they are influential in changing the lives of those in their care. Leaders and managers are motivated to provide good quality care that supports children to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are innovative in how they deliver and develop the service. They ensure that they are part of influential working groups that can lead and impact service delivery models across the sector.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that the staff team are well supported. The impact of this can be evidenced by the stability of the staff team. The staff receive regular, good quality supervision. There are reflective team meetings that use a range of approaches to address practice, including systemic exercises and clinical supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have supported staff to access a wide variety of high-quality and specialist training, enabling them to enhance their professional knowledge and skills. This has helped them to understand how to support the children living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers complete a range of comprehensive reviews. The reviews ensure that they have good oversight and understanding of the operational functioning of the home and of the children’s progress and care. They have some insight into the home’s weaknesses, and they are continuing to reflect and learn to develop the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are sufficient experienced staff in the home to ensure that the needs of the children are met. This includes the supervision and support required to ensure that children have routines that help them in their day to day lives. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036917 5

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Recommendations

 Children should be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  Expectations of standards of behaviour should be high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. Children should be supported to develop understanding and empathy towards each other. Positive behaviour and relationships should be reinforced, praised and encouraged; poor behaviour should be challenged and discussed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)

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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: SC036917 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Royal Borough of Greenwich, The Woolwich Centre 35 Wellington Street, London SE18 6HQ

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Inspector

Helen Daniel, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036917 7 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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