Children's Home run by Norwood Ravenswood in Barnet

Unique reference number SC010415 Inspection date 16/12/2013 Inspector Seka Graovac Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 12/04/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is registered to provide short-breaks for up to nine children and young people who have a learning disability, physical disability or sensory impairment. It is run by a private company with a strong Jewish ethos. The service is open for children and young people from any background.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making satisfactory progress .

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Progress

At the full inspection carried out in April 2013, the overall effectiveness of the service was judged to be good. No requirements or recommendations were made. The service was found to be consistently child-centred. The quality of care and the outcomes for children and young people were judged to be outstanding.

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Progress

The service has continued to enhance the lives of children and young people by providing them with a wide range of positive experiences. Children and young people have continued to access many learning, creative, social and leisure opportunities that otherwise might not be available to them. The home is building on the photographic evidence of their happy participation in many activities of different kinds. The beautifully kept albums for individual children and young people contribute to their personal memorabilia and life-stories.

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Progress

The environment has been further developed to support the enjoyment and development of children and young people, while they are staying at the home. There is a new music garden with a log cabin that provides a sheltered space for playing. Children and young people were very much involved in this project. They visited various adventure playgrounds and musical gardens. They themselves have chosen the musical instruments and other equipment installed in the garden. One of the bathrooms has been fully refurbished and new brightly coloured sofas have been purchased.

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Progress

Leaders and managers have a strong improvement agenda that is responsive to the needs of the local community. They regularly consult with parents and placing authorities about the quality of the service and any opportunities for further development. There has been one complaint from a parent that resulted in the child's care plan being adjusted to better describe their particular needs and to ensure consistency of care.

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Progress

However, the summary of the outcomes of the consultations with various stakeholders has not been included in the latest six-monthly report on the review of the quality of care that was sent to Ofsted. Also, there is no clear trail of evidence regarding monitoring of patterns and trends relating to accidents. Another weakness in this report relates to the section on the control measures used in the home. While, staff physically intervened on two occasions in the period from May 2013 to October 2013, the report erroneously states that there has been only one occasion when the staff intervened physically in order to promote the safety of children and staff.

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Progress

The home has continued to strengthen staff's safeguarding practice, in particular in respect of promoting positive and safe behaviours of children and young people. One of the senior staff members has become a trainer in behaviour support strategies. Children and young people who need extra staff support to manage their behaviour, have comprehensive written positive behaviour support plans. Those plans link with the risk assessments and care plans and are reviewed on a monthly basis. For those children and young people who do not have the capacity to fully understand the process, the home takes into account the views of people who know them best, such as parents, teachers and social workers.

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Progress

When physical intervention has been used each incident is discussed at the organisations behaviour support panel; to ensure the appropriateness of the intervention and identify patterns and trends. There is a plethora of records kept evidencing good practice in this respect. However, the home's physical restraint log recording the measure of control, restraint and discipline is not always updated to the detail required. For example, on one occasion, the time when the physical intervention was used has not been recorded in the log. The practice of the log being countersigned by the same person who used the physical intervention and who made the record weakens the quality assurance process.

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Progress

There have been no child protection concerns or incidents of children and young people going missing. The home provides children and young people with a safe service that meets their needs and consistently continues to promote their welfare and development.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline in children's home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose, that includes all required information as listed in the regulation (Regulation 17(3)) 31/12/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) improve the content of the six-monthly reports on the review of the quality of care to better demonstrate monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6, and also, consultation with children, their parents and placing authorities. (Regulation 34(1)(3)) 31/05/2014

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection.

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