Children's Home run by Holibrook House Limited in Barking and Dagenham

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:

 The service has made a tangible, positive difference in the lives of many young people. Staff enable young people to express themselves, to feel valued, to make positive choices and to progress significantly across all aspects of their welfare and development.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Competent and caring staff provide firm boundaries and high quality support that is individually tailored around the uniqueness of each young person.  The management of risk is proactive, dynamic, collaborative and effective. Good safeguarding practice is embedded through the protective nature of the excellent relationships between the staff and the young people, and also through open, honest and respectful communication within the home and with partner-agencies. A recent incident has tested the home’s safeguarding practice and demonstrated its strength.  Staff passionately advocate for the rights of young people to have a ‘strong voice’ and for their views to be given full consideration at all times. Good promotion of diversity and equality in all aspects is integral to the service.  Good systems are in place for the effective and efficient management of the home. Monitoring is comprehensive and actions are being taken to address

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The children's home provision is good because:

the issue of overdue annual appraisals of staff performance.

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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 all employees have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(c)) 01/11/2015

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Information about this children's home

This privately-run home provides care and accommodation for up to six young people between the ages of 11 years and 17. Staff use a therapeutic approach to caring for young people who may experience behaviour and emotional difficulties. In addition to having two more children’s homes, the company is also a registered education provider.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

13/03/2015 Interim Sustained Effectiveness

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Good

Young people receive highly individualised care that fully addresses their needs. Staff are able to reach young people and build positive relationships with them. A professional from the youth offending service describes how a young person who has been looked after for 10 years ‘started engaging with the staff; which was unheard of’. The same young person’s social worker says ‘the staff managed to get through to him when nobody else could’. She also added that, ‘After being in many placements, this was the first time that he referred to a place as his home.’

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Good

Young people highly value the help and support that they receive from the staff. This home gives them a very positive experience of being looked after. While talking about the staff, one young person jokingly described them as ‘miracle workers’ and as ‘almost having supernatural powers’.

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Good

Staff are always available to help young people, while at the same time supporting them to develop a positive sense of control, self-reliance and independent living skills. Young people live in a pleasant and comfortable environment. They describe the staff as ‘amazing’, the food as ‘perfect’, activities as ‘great’ and the whole service as a ‘good home’.

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Good

Young people trust the staff members. One young person says that ‘the staff in this home only speak truth’. He explained: ‘The staff have never said even a single word that was untrue.’ Having established a deep-seated trust makes young people feel safe and secure. They are able to openly talk about their vulnerabilities and to ask for help. Staff enable young people to access advice and support from other services, such as those specialising in sexual health, mental health and substance misuse. Working in close partnership with other professionals, the staff empower young people to engage positively in the process of change.

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Good

Overall, young people make good progress across all aspects of their lives. This includes their attendance and engagement in education, as well as gaining educational attainments. They have made dramatic progress in their confidence, presentation, emotional wellbeing, resilience and development of social skills. In some instances, young people make exceptional progress and have effectively moved on.

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Good

However, some placements have not been fully effective, resulting in another move for the young people involved. The social worker described how, for one of these young people, ‘the staff did everything they could to facilitate the young person’s progress’. This meant that ‘although some issues remained unresolved and resulted in the move from the home, this was the first time that the young person started developing a sense of identify and belonging’.

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Good

The protective nature of the excellent relationships between the staff members and the young people is further enhanced by the home’s robust management of risks. The home’s safeguarding practice is proactive, dynamic and collaborative. An example of this is that any risks, including those relating to a young person going missing, are identified together with the social workers at the point of considering the placement. The risk management and safety plans regarding young people potentially going missing are shared and agreed with the local police and social workers before the young person is admitted to the home. This means that everybody is clear about what preventative and protective actions to take at every point of the protocol. As a result, young people go missing less often than they used to in their previous placements. The police confirm that there are no current concerns regarding young people going missing, being sexually exploited or

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Good

The young people who used to self-harm have stopped doing that and overall, the number of any incidents of challenging behaviour has reduced. When incidents do occur, the home works closely with other professionals and the young people involved to protect them from harm and to promote safer behaviour. A young person’s social worker described the management of a recent serious incident as ‘impressive’. A social worker from the youth offending team described the home’s safeguarding practice as ‘the best I have ever been involved in’ and added ‘the closest working together that I have ever done’.

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Good

The home uses behaviour management strategies that focus on involving young people and enabling them to become more aware of risks, such as those related to the use of on-line social media. They receive good support to develop vigilance, resilience and more constructive behaviour. An example of this is giving young people the opportunity to choose a sanction relating to the unacceptable behaviour that they have engaged in. The sanctions have included young people researching for, preparing and delivering workshops on the risks of alcohol, drugs, gangs, knives and bullying. The home’s zero-tolerance approach to bullying is rigorously enforced. The manager carefully considers the impact of accepting any new young people to the home on existing relationships.

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Good

Staff provide a clear structure and order through keeping consistent and firm boundaries regarding house rules. This approach has enabled young people to feel more secure and to engage in a more positive manner. Young people vote for the ‘young person of the month’. This motivates them to improve their behaviour.

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Good

A competent, experienced and qualified Registered Manager has been in post for over four years. Staff and young people describe her management style as supportive, considerate, caring, very fair, respectful and embodying the values of equal opportunities.

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Good

All staff attended a workshop on the updated statement of purpose. They are very clear about the home’s vision and the approach to the care of young people. They are committed to achieving the best for those in their care and to developing the quality of the service further. The manager has been effective at translating the vision of providing a sharply child-focused service into practice. She passionately advocates for the child’s voice to be always heard and respected. Staff listen to what young people have to say and gently influence them to make constructive choices. Young people feel heard, valued and protected.

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Good

With young people’s participation as the integral feature of the service, the home is effectively and efficiently managed. It is appropriately staffed with all the staff either qualified or working towards achieving an appropriate qualification. Strong leadership, regular training opportunities and good quality supervision ensure that good social care practice is embedded.

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Good

Staff receive additional supervision and support from a visiting consultant who is a qualified counsellor and a child-care practitioner. This enables them to carry out their role in promoting young people’s emotional wellbeing effectively, as well as the other aspects of their welfare. They also receive good support to manage well the emotional impact the work has on them. Staff retention is high; this contributes to the team cohesion, the consistency of practice and the stability in young people’s lives.

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Good

Social workers highlight the staff’s in-depth understanding of young people’s needs as one of the major strengths of the home. They also talk about the diversity within the staff team as another significant factor that underpins the high quality of the service. Bound by the clear systems and procedures, the team’s diversity and the wealth of different experiences contribute to the wide range of approaches and personal styles that the home can deploy in order to reach young people. The manager has built effective relationships with other professionals, including those from the placing and host authorities, independent reviewing officers, police, schools and health. These links ensure that young people receive consistent, wide- ranging and integrated support.

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Good

Staff also work very closely with the young people’s families to foster constructive family life, whenever that is possible. In one case, a young person returned to live with his mother after many years being looked after. The home made a major contribution in facilitating this relationship.

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Good

Staff have developed positive relationships with neighbours to build on a good community life and young people’s social integration.

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Good

All people who responded to Ofsted on-line survey or who spoke to the inspector were complimentary about the management of the home, the quality of the service provided to young people and the impact that this has had on the young people’s lives.

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Good

Young people’s files clearly demonstrate the quality of the support that they receive and the progress that they have achieved. Records are generally well maintained. Monthly monitoring visits by an independent consultant contribute to the rigour of monitoring processes.

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Good

The manager has created a culture of open communication in which any challenge to ‘do better’ is welcomed. She is committed to continual improvement and uses a range of processes to drive the development of the service. The complaints procedure is effective at supporting the promotion of a high-quality service. An example of this is making arrangements for the use of the laundry facilities clearer as a result of a complaint from a young person. Some young people participated in the workshop on the home’s statement of purpose and were able to contribute their views to the overall ethos of the service.

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Good

The manager has complied with the only requirement from the previous inspection: a comprehensive locality risk assessment has been completed and shared with the network of professionals who work in the area.

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Good

The manager is aware of the strengths and weaknesses in the service and has formulated a clear development plan. The annual staff appraisals are in progress. However, they are overdue.

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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, work based 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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

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

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