Children's Home run by London Borough of Hillingdon in Hillingdon

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people do well in education. They attend regularly and staff are very proactive within the network to ensure suitable education resources are accessed quickly. There is a strong culture of educational achievement and this helps young people who are new to the home to make improvements in their attitude to learning.  Young people participate in a range of groups and activities both inside and outside the home; this enables them to get individualized support and helps them integrate with the wider community.  Young people enjoy living in the home. They get on well with each other and feel safe to approach staff for practical advice and emotional support. Where young people have complex emotional needs, staff access support from a psychologist to ensure they receive the care they need.  They benefit from a stable, experienced staff group, who have specialist knowledge in supporting children who arrive in England without their families.

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The children's home provision is good because:

Staff are able to adapt and learn in order to support local children and young people to integrate and make progress.  The home is inclusive and meets the needs of a wide variety of different cultures and faiths. Young people are taught to respect each other’s cultures and the home has excellent connections within the community to ensure they can practice their individual faiths.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) are complied with in respect of the home. In particular, the Registered Manager must consult with the local fire and rescue authority to ensure that the home’s policies in respect of fire safety are effective in order to manage risks of fire. (Regulation 25(2) (b)) 31.08.15

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 The registered person has specific responsibilities under regulation 34 to prepare and implement policies setting out: arrangements for the safeguarding of children from abuse or neglect; clear procedures for referring child protection concerns to the placing authority or local authority where the home is situated if appropriate; and specific procedures to prevent children going missing and take action if they do. The policy on protection of children from abuse and neglect should include arrangements in relation to dealing with allegations involving staff in the home, e-safety and to counter risks of self-harm and suicide. All policies should be reviewed regularly and revised where appropriate. In particular, the Registered Manager should produce child protection guidance, policies and procedures that are specific to the home, accessible to staff and regularly reviewed. (The Guide, page 44, paragraph

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Recommendations

9.19).  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. (The Guide, page 42, paragraph 9.5).  Staff need the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. The registered person should ensure that skills in safeguarding are gained, refreshed and recorded in the home’s workforce plan. In particular, staff should undertake training in respect of working with children at risk of trafficking and ‘Prevent’ training in relation to risks of radicalisation. (The Guide, page 43, paragraph 9.12).

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Information about this children's home

The home is run and owned by the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is registered for up to 13 young people and specialises in looking after unaccompanied minors. They also have one bedroom that is used for emergency admissions.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

05/03/2015 Interim sustained effectiveness

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good

Young people are praised and appreciated for their qualities and this helps them feel accepted and valued by staff. Staff understand that when young people arrive at the home for the first time, they may be worried, upset and have had a difficult journey there. They understand each young person’s individual needs and work quickly to make sure they receive the help and resources they need. An independent reviewing officer remarked that plans go ‘like clockwork’; he mentioned that staff undertake early assessments and identify interventions to address health concerns. He also said that the managers attend important meetings and always ‘let young people know that they are really cared for’.

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good

The home has excellent links with local education resources and works closely with the virtual school team. They are able to make sure young people are quickly assessed and that they access without delay an appropriate education placement. All young people make excellent progress in education; attendance is very good and they attain recognized qualifications in a wide variety of subjects. They participate in extra-curricular activities and are encouraged to attend groups that improve their life skills and help them integrate into the wider community. The home has a basketball court that some young people like to use and they take part in a wide range of trips and recreational activities.

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good

Young people whose first language is not English make rapid progress. They receive specialist support in education and are encouraged to develop their language skills in the home environment. Interpreters are available if requested or required for more complex meetings and discussions. Children who live far away from home are supported to stay in touch with family members wherever possible. Staff stay up late to enable them to make phone calls to different time zones and liaise with other agencies to help those young people who have lost touch with their parents.

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good

There is a diverse staff team who are very experienced in meeting the needs of a range of young people. Diversity is celebrated and people with different cultures and languages or of different faiths are encouraged to share their experiences and integrate positively in the home. All young people are supported to practice their faith and the home has good links within the local community to ensure that young people can engage safely with community groups. T

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good

The staff strongly promote equality of opportunity within the home. This means there is open an honest debate about problems, which promotes tolerance and understanding. Young people feel safe to express their individuality, irrespective of faith, culture, gender or sexual preferences.

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good

Young people’s views are central to care planning; staff prepare excellent reports and support young people to ensure they are able to raise important issues in meetings. A teacher from the virtual school reflected that she was very impressed how staff are able to put young people at ease in education planning meetings. This helps them be honest about things that are challenging for them and express their views openly, ensuring that they get the right support to help them make progress.

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good

Young people move on positively from the home and frequently come back to visit staff. One ex-resident describes how much she had enjoyed living in the home and that she missed the staff now she had moved on. Young people are well prepared for living independently and are encouraged to learn self-care skills such as cooking, budgeting and how to study independently.

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good

Young people are generally well behaved and respectful of staff and of each other. Staff intervene quickly when an individual’s behaviour is unsafe or impacting on the well-being of other residents. They review their placement and plan a move if they feel they cannot meet a young person’s needs safely. This is rare because most admissions to the home are carefully planned to ensure that young people can safely live there. However, emergency admissions have caused some disruption due to challenging behaviour. Staff have learnt from these experiences and now ensure they have better information on admissions and provide extra resources if required to manage situations safely.

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good

Behaviour is managed without use of physical intervention and sanctions are seldom used. Staff are trained in techniques to help calm situations down and learning takes place through discussion in the context of positive relationships. One young person comments that he has a particularly strong relationship with a member of staff. He felt he was ‘like a best friend’ as he made him laugh and he could talk to him about problems.

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good

The home looks after young people with a wide range of needs and experiences. In addition to looking after children who come from other countries, they also look after some from the local community. The staff do an excellent job of supporting all of the children. One young person, whose family live locally, said he gets on well with staff and likes the home, he appreciates the fact that his friends live nearby. He is making good progress and gets on well with the other young people.

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good

Young people appreciate the rules and boundaries and this helps them feel safe. One said that he likes the fact that visitors are not allowed in young people’s rooms as he wouldn’t feel safe if strangers were allowed upstairs.

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good

Children seldom go missing and if they do, staff respond proactively, in partnership with professional networks, to ensure their safe return. Where children are vulnerable to exploitation or trafficking, staff identify the risks and intervene effectively to protect them. Risks are not always clearly recorded in the young people’s individual risk assessments.

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good

Staff are supported by a child and adolescent psychologist to help them look after young people who experienced trauma or where there are mental health concerns. She provides training and consultation to the team and feels that they are very good at noticing when young people have more complex emotional needs. This means that young people receive expert assessments and access specialist support services. This is particularly helpful for young people as it means that when they move on from the home they receive the help they need to promote their emotional well-being.

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good

The Registered Manager is extremely experienced in leading and managing the home. There is a stable, knowledgeable, skilled and effective management team who work well together to ensure that the service maintains a strong focus on young people’s diverse needs. The home is managed in such a way that young people referred in an emergency, unaccompanied minors and those from the local community receive the high quality of care as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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good

The manager leads a team that models positive behaviour for young people, creates a culture of achievement in education and provides a nurturing environment. Staff receive high-quality supervision that is reflective, considerate of staff welfare and keeps a focus on work with children. There are some gaps in the frequency of supervisions for staff. However, the manager is aware of this and taking steps to improve this.

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good

Staff are recruited safely and well supported with a thorough induction which provides learning opportunities and regular feedback. The manager effectively challenges any shortfall in practice; this ensures that there are clear expectations and direction for individual staff and the team as a whole. More robust monitoring of policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding would further improve the effectiveness of the leadership and management. The policies available on the Hillingdon website are not specific to the setting and not easy to access or update. This means that staff cannot be sure that their safeguarding practice is consistent with current legislation and guidance.

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good

The management team meet regularly to prioritise the current needs of the service and also plan for service improvement. These meetings are reflective and take time to ‘check the temperature’ of the team. This ensures that managers can identify emerging problems quickly and work together to redirect support to staff and young people. Senior staff, including managers, are hands-on, visible and directly support work with young people.

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good

The manager undertakes a regular, comprehensive monitoring exercise to see emerging patterns and reflect on strengths or areas for development. There is a comprehensive area risk assessment in place which identifies potential threats and management plans to reduce risks to young people. Individual risk assessments are not always updated to reflect young people’s changing needs. Staff know the them well and communication with parents is good, so there is no significant impact on young people safety or the quality of care

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good

Staff are knowledgeable and experienced in dealing with young people’s particular vulnerabilities. However, no formal training for all staff in relation to trafficking or how to safeguard against radicalisation has taken place. Fire safety checks are carried out in accordance with the home’s policies, but it is not clear that these policies have been recently reviewed by the local fire authority or local authority safety officers.

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good

The manager advocates very strongly for young people and this is appreciated by the professional network. One professional commented that the manager is ‘always pushing for extra resources for young people’. This is particularly important for young people who are living away from their families and country of origin as they may lack the language skills or confidence to advocate for themselves. She ensures they get access to a full range of resources to meet a wide range of needs. This includes specialist support groups, extra tuition, psychological support and visiting health care professionals. Young people engage with these resources and are helped to make progress in all areas.

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good

The manager attends local authority safeguarding forums. This helps ensure she is fully apprised of any risk in the community. She uses this forum to raise any high- risk issues that may be affecting young people; these risks are regularly reviewed and supported by a multi-agency network, including the police. She also regularly attends the West London Residential Managers Network; this helps her share good practice in residential child care and has helped prepare the service to comply with the new Quality Standards and Children’s Home Regulations.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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