Children's Home run by Next Chapter Care Group Limited in Havering

Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 1 Registered provider: Next Chapter Care Group 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 5 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. The home was registered in December 2023.

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Information about this children's home

A new manager has recently been appointed and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home. The inspectors spoke to both the children during this 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/06/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 30/04/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 3

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Summary of findings

The home has benefited from a new management team who have implemented a robust training plan for staff to ensure better outcomes for children. The requirements and recommendations from the previous inspection have been implemented, addressing previous shortfalls in practice. Leaders demonstrate improved oversight of staff training and supervision; the training and supervision have improved the skillset of staff and the quality of care that children receive. Staff remain committed to children and to building positive, trusting relationships with them. Children benefit from nurturing and attentive care from staff. They feel listened to and receive reassurance and encouragement to engage in education, activities and daily routines. As a result, children are making steady progress and experiencing improved outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive child-centred care. They benefit from the therapeutic model of care provided by the in-house therapist, who offers individual sessions to children. This is further supported by staff who have been therapeutically trained and are attuned to children's needs. Staff ensure that children's health needs are promoted and they receive specialist health input when required. This promotes good health outcomes for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children recently moved to the home. Managers ensure that they fully understand children's needs before they move in and that staff have the appropriate skills to support them. They consider the needs of all children to make sure that they can live safely together. They also identify any further support that children may require to enhance good outcomes for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care and attention are given to creating a welcoming and warm home environment. Children's rooms are decorated according to their choices and reflect their personalities. Children's artwork is displayed in the home, and this creates a sense of value and belonging for them. As a result, both children have settled well in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to express themselves and their likes and dislikes are well known by staff. Children are involved in the development of their care plans and are aware of the targets and goals they are working towards, such as developing life skills and school attendance. Incentives are used effectively to support them to achieve these goals and one-to-one discussions are focused on these targets. One child is working towards 'earning' a holiday abroad. This has been an effective target to encourage steady progress. These targets help to give children a sense of purpose and achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff advocate for children to attend the most suitable educational provision. They work in partnership with teachers and the virtual school to ensure that Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 4 children's educational needs are met. Both children had been out of education for several years. Staff understand how this can impact their confidence. Staff ascertain children's interests and help them to achieve, ensuring that the children receive educational support and that their aspirations are considered. As a result, both children have made significant progress from their starting points and are engaging in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the value of children maintaining family relationships. Children are sensitively supported to spend time with their families and others who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to develop their independence skills. Transitional support plans are detailed and include targets for the children to achieve to ensure that they have the right skills and knowledge to do well in the future. Staff help children to learn how to cook their own meals and maintain a clean environment.

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

The children are safe and settled in this home. Key-worker sessions are planned and cover topics that are important to children's wellbeing. Children use these sessions well and receive support from staff to explore issues that concern them. The sessions are linked to goals in each child's transitional support plan. This ensures that children are able to receive consistent support to manage their growing autonomy well.

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

When children are distressed, staff show empathy and understanding and are able to help children to regulate their emotions. Incidents are managed well and recorded in detail and children are offered the opportunity to express their feelings.

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

Staff understand the issues that upset children and support the children to make positive choices. Behaviour support plans are detailed and ensure that staff know how best to enable children to express themselves and build good relationships with others.

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

When serious incidents occur, leaders and managers ensure that learning reviews take place to improve practice. However, on one occasion, a placement was ended due to a child being hospitalised and a learning review was not undertaken. This is a missed opportunity for leaders and staff to reflect on how practice could be improved to prevent a recurrence in the future.

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

A strength of this home is the ability of staff to build relationships with children. This has led to children feeling able to disclose incidents where they have engaged in risk-taking behaviour. Staff seek further external support when children are at increased risk of harm and request meetings with partner agencies to ensure that effective safety plans are in place. They undertake room searches when these are required to keep children safe. They ensure that the children are aware of these searches and the reasons for them taking place. Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 5 Children who are subject to a deprivation of liberty order are guided towards more responsible autonomy and restrictions are reduced safely in accordance with partner agency agreement.

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

There has been a significant reduction in missing incidents, with no incidents in recent months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a new manager at the home, and a new responsible individual. They have been instrumental in implementing an improvement plan that supports good practice in the home. Although there is a high number of new staff, the induction process is thorough and the training programme ensures that staff have the right skills to meet the needs of children. Staff know the children well and have settled into their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new staff are supported by more-experienced staff who have been at the home over a longer period. This ensures consistency of care for the children. Staff feel supported by the manager and enjoy working at the home. The new leadership team models empathy and staff emulate these values. Supervision is reflective and addresses staff development and the progress of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team has ensured that the therapeutic approach is being implemented, by providing therapeutic training for staff. This enables staff to better understand children's needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team has recently invested in an electronic records system. However, there have been issues with the database, which have resulted in leaders maintaining manual records for some care planning documents. The additional records are different from those on the database; for example, the care plans are set out differently and sometimes the information on the records is not consistent. This could lead to confusion for staff as to which document they are meant to rely on. The leadership team is aware of this issue and the need to decide on the way forward.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team did not notify Ofsted when they made a safeguarding referral to the local authority designated officer. However, the investigation was thorough and they addressed staffing concerns appropriately. Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 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, 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must establish clear and consistent recording systems to ensure effective oversight of both the quality of children's records and the care they receive. They should ensure that learning reviews are conducted when placements have ended prematurely, to identify practice improvements and any learning for future placement decisions. 30 August 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they notify Ofsted if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs. In particular, this refers to notifying Ofsted if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 63, paragraph 14.10) Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 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: 2751095 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Next Chapter Care Group Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 17 Carlton Terrace, Great Cambridge Road, London N18 1LB

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Inspectors

Angela Reid, Social Care Inspector Rumbi Kawadza-Munsaka, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2751095 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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