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

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:

 It has a dedicated and experienced manager who has established a strong nurturing culture in the home. The staff team share this ethos, providing warmth and appropriate affection to the young people.  Young people take an active role in shaping the culture in the home and feel safe and well looked after.  All staff share the manager’s drive for improvement through education and provide good support to young people to support their engagement in their education and training programmes.  The local authority provide good support to the home. The manager is positively engaged in relevant bodies to aid the safeguarding of young people.  Young people thrive in a home where staff are genuinely proud of their achievements, celebrate their successes and reinforce their positive aspects.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Create and implement a workforce development plan which includes all relevant information on staff training, development and supervision.(The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 Ensure young people's records are up-to-date and provide an accurate description of the work done with them. In particular ensure that risk assessments, care plans and health care plans have clear targets with identified responsibilities, timelines and recorded outcomes.(The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

 Complete a review of the home against the Quality Standards, which focuses on the circumstances of the home and any areas of high risk for the young people during that period. In particular, provide a clear analysis of areas considered and the actions stemming from this and how the home will address them.(The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

 Review and revise the home's safeguarding policy and procedures ensuring they include the guidance on the areas covered in training. In particular, issues including familial abuse, female genital mutilation and radicalisation. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 44, paragraph 9.21)

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Recommendations

 Continue and expand the work commenced with young people on developing practical skills they will need to live independently. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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Recommendations

 Complete a review of the behaviour management strategy to ensure it contains the positive rewards system operated by staff.(The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 46, paragraph 9.34)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the policy on the use of CCTV describes how this supports the safeguarding and well-being of the young people in the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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Information about this children's home

This children's home provides care and accommodation for up to six young people who have emotional or behavioural difficulties. A local authority provides this service.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

18/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people enjoy living in the home and have warm and mutually respectful relationships with staff. They love their home which is a beautifully decorated, warm and welcoming family environment. A social worker comments, ‘The staff are very child focused and it is evident they care, they want to improve the lives of children and they never give up on them. The home has a warm environment and the food is lovely.’ From the point where they come in staff enthusiastically greet young people, make them feel welcome and encourage them to talk about their day. One young person said, ‘When I first came I thought they were only here for a job but they know how hard it is to be in care and they just want to help us to have the best life we can.’

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Good

Staff have shown great persistence in supporting young people to complete school courses and sit examinations. With staff support, young people show progress in attendance and punctuality. Results vary, with some achieving outstanding outcomes but others underperforming. Young people are all engaged in some form of further education and, with staff support, those that underperformed in their GCSEs are retaking them. One young person said, ‘They have helped me to change my behaviour to get to school on time, get a job. I am going to college at now and staff suggested I do resits which I did not wish to do. I realise that this is sensible and I am doing them.’

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Good

Young people are working on pathway plans preparing them for moving on from the home. Staff support social workers in the implementation of these plans and with additional internal preparation for independence programmes. The young people have made progress in managing money and some in cooking meals and other domestic tasks. However, they are not consistently taking part in all aspects of the programme. One young person says, ‘We did a month of the independence programme. I enjoyed it as I really like cooking. I wished we could extend it. I rely on staff to do these things for me but I realise that I will have to do them for myself.’

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Good

Young people have improved their behaviour in the home and reduced or modified their patterns of absence. The looked after children (LAC) psychologist and educational psychologist attend staff meetings once a month to give advice and assistance to staff. In addition, they do some direct work with young people, helping them to address often complex issues and improve their stability in the home. Young people have improved behaviour and better understanding of healthy relationships and building attachments because of this work. One social worker says, ‘They worked with her and made her feel welcomed and valued and to not need to go missing. She feels they listen to her and get her involved in a lot of activities. She has boundaries now; they are not suffocating but realistic and fair. They make young people stick to them. The doors are open but she does not need to go.’

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Good

Young people comment on their care plans and say they regularly discuss these with their key workers. The care plans are a good description of how staff work with individual young people and the progress they are making against each key area of development. Staff have created short and long-term targets with the young people which clearly evidence their progress, who is responsible for completing tasks and have realistic timescales. However, staff do not monitor all identified actions in the care plan through this process. Where the targets are in place they are providing good evidence of young people’s progress. One young person said, ‘I have improved in everything here; my behaviour, my school. It is stricter here than in my last place.’

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Good

Where young people have a history of offending, they work closely with the youth offending team, staff in the home and, in some cases, with assistance from other professionals, to successfully reduce their offending behaviour. One young person said, ‘I have improved a lot here from a very bad person to a very good person. I am not going missing and no police involvement which is really good for me.’

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Good

Staff have commenced work with young people on improving their emotional resilience. They have received guidance from the LAC psychologist, and a qualified social worker on the staff team is leading the work. Young people are working towards measurable improvements in their emotional resilience which is helping them in forming attachments and resolving deep-seated emotional issues. A comment from one young person is, ‘It is good here they are always on my side and when things are tough they always get me to look on the brighter side.’

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Good

Staff assist young people to gain an understanding of how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Young people are working with staff to improve their health and personal hygiene. Some are engaged in smoking cessation work and others are addressing drug and alcohol problems. Staff encourage young people to take part in activities of their choice to live a healthy life style. Information from LAC medical plans are incorporated into the care plans. Staff identify areas of work with the young people to address health and hygiene issues. Young people learn about healthy eating and say that the food is really good and they can choose what they like and what meets their cultural and personal choices. Staff monitor progress with monthly targets but not all targets are included on the goals and targets sheets.

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Good

Young people know how to make complaints but say they prefer to resolve issues directly with staff or through the manager. They have access to independent advocates and two young people have used these to help them with personal issues. Young people say that staff are good at engaging with them and getting them to talk about what is troubling them. One young person described this: ‘I do not always want keyworker sessions as I feel independent and do not need to speak all of the time. Regardless we are always having them. If you just walk through the door they ask, ‘How are you?’ If you say, ‘Not good,’ they say, ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ and then you do.’

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Good

Young people say they feel involved in the running of the home and valued by the staff. They have had real influence on the running of the home through their engagement in redrafting some of the home’s policies, their weekly meetings which feed into the weekly staff meetings, their involvement in staff appraisals and through their keyworkers. The home enjoys their successes and has pictures, montages and certificates in all areas of the home celebrating the achievements, activities, culture and success of young people. All young people have positive comments books which reinforce the encouragement from staff. Young people develop healthy attachments, improve social skills and build on their positive self- image, reinforced by these supports. One comment in a book is, ‘I was so proud of you at the manager’s forum today. You did so well presenting to a room full of managers! Keep it up and continue with the Children in Care Council. You will be a

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Good

Activities for young people are varied and allow them choice. Where they have a special event such as a birthday or religious festival the home celebrate this with them. Staff maintain photograph books for the young people capturing many of their fun moments or celebrations of their achievements. Some young people have joined in fund raising activities and personally challenging events such as the national citizenship challenge. They are happy to set themselves major personal challenges such as learning to swim or drive. Young people have fun doing their activities but also develop a range of social skills and enhanced self-esteem through them. One young person said, ‘For me the home has been a phenomenal place because you do lots of activities there and you will never get bored. It is a place for joy and peace.’

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Good

New admissions to the home generally arrive in a planned way through the placement team in the local authority. The manager is fully involved in agreeing new admissions, ensuring their impact on the group is assessed and factored into the decision making process. Where this has not occurred, the home has experienced difficulties with assimilating new admissions. The home have used this as a learning experience and are reviewing the impact assessment process. During this period and in consideration of the vulnerability of individual young people, the home are not currently accepting emergency admissions.

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Good

The home has an excellent and effective working relationship with the local children’s safeguarding board. The manager is positively included in strategy meetings and in reviewing child sexual exploitation cases with other professionals in the council. Where there are suspicions of harm or exposure to exploitation, the home acts swiftly and professionally to safeguard young people. Staff have taken part in comprehensive and wide ranging safeguarding training. They are highly competent at applying this training in practice, enhancing the safe care of the young people. Staff training has focused on areas of high risk for young people looked after such as the risk of sexual exploitation and radicalisation. Where individuals have trained in other areas of safeguarding they share this expertise with team members enhancing the skills base of the whole team. The home’s policy on safeguarding contains helpful guidance for staff including actions to take

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Good

to safeguard young people. However, the policy does not contain guidance or links to the broad range of additional areas of risk staff are aware of including domestic violence, female genital mutilation and the threat of radicalisation. All young people have a behaviour management plan which focuses on the identified risks for that individual. The home operates a positive rewards system which gives evidence of young people meeting educational targets and abiding by the house rules. Staff interventions with young people focus on encouraging the positives in their behaviour which staff constantly reinforce. Young people are making improvements in their behaviour through this work. There have been no restraints in the home and young people use negotiation and discussion to resolve their problems. The manager has implemented a suitable system for recording any restraint should one occur. Young people and social

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Good

workers describe the home as strict but fair, one young person saying, ‘It is strict here but it is more convivial than in my last place. They give us good boundaries.’ Staff maintain risk assessments on all young people. Risk assessment clearly identify all known risks and circumstances were they have occurred previously and known triggers to the behaviours. Staff link the risk assessments to behaviour management plans, care plans and outcome measures but they do not always include staff actions to reduce the risks. Where the outcome measures are in place, young people are showing progress in reducing areas of risk such as exposure to sexual exploitation. Young people with alarmingly high rates of going missing, often linked to exposure to the risk of sexual exploitation, have stabilised their behaviour and stopped going missing. The staff have worked closely with social workers and the local safeguarding team in successfully addressing these problems for most young

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Good

people. If an individual continues to go missing, the home and the local authority provide positive support, counselling and guidance to the young person. The manager’s involvement in multi-agency strategy planning meetings ensures that all parties are working together to reduce the risks to young people. When young people return from a period of being missing staff offer them a return interview with an independent person. All young people have chosen an interview with staff from the home rather than an independent person. These actions are reducing risks for young people and providing them with stability and improved life chances. Staff monitor the use of the internet and actively implement the policy on cyber safety. However, they are encountering new areas not covered in the policy, such as young people’s use of internet-enabled telephones. The manager has identified this as an area for development but does not believe she has the competency to

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Good

complete a comprehensive review. The Registered Manager is seeking assistance from the local authority to complete this. Until the policy is in place, keyworkers are discussing methods of staying safe with young people and checking their understanding of potential threats. One young person says, ‘They are always talking to us about how to stay safe.’ The manager maintains an assessment of the suitability of the location of the home. She was reviewing this during the inspection and enhancing it with the addition of positive resources in the area. She is an active member of the local ward panel meetings working in partnership with the police to improve the safe care of young people and improve responses to those who go missing. The home has a description of the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) in the statement of purpose. However, the home do not have a policy on the use of CCTV. The assistant manager has completed a draft policy which he was ratifying with the

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Good

local authority during the inspection. The use of CCTV is appropriate and enhances the security of the building and young people without being intrusive. The home is a safe and well-maintained environment. All testing and certification of electrical and gas appliances are in place. The manager commissioned a fire safety review after the last inspection and has completed identified actions from this. One young person said what he likes about the home is the nice decoration and the electromagnetic opening fire door.

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Good

The manager provides good leadership to the staff team. She is well liked and valued by staff, young people and placing social workers. She is suitably qualified and has extensive experience of working with young people in residential settings. She has been the Registered Manager of this home since 2010 and has achieved good inspection outcomes throughout that time. The local authority provide her with regular, appropriate supervision and ongoing professional development. The manager is also active in the local authority multiagency safeguarding panel, the child sexual exploitation sub group, access to resources panel and other non-local authority groups relevant to the home. The manager’s positive engagement in these meetings evidences the value the local authority give to the service and ensure she has appropriate influence within the council’s services for looked after children. The manager ensures that staff have agreed areas of responsibility and that they

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Good

have the means to enable them to carry out these responsibilities. This includes supervision, resources and training. There is a succession plan in place and the assistant head of the home is currently completing an appropriate level 5 course. Staff value the manager and say she is warm and nurturing. One of the young people says, ‘She is really, really nice she is amazing.’ The manager has a good understanding of the children’s home and any areas for development. She maintains an active development plan for the home and one for ensuring staff are aware of changes in regulations, the Quality Standards and expectations from the regulator on evidencing progress. The home have made significant progress in meeting development targets and ensuing staff all understand the changes made so far. The manager has supplied HMCI with a six monthly report on the conduct of the home. The manager linked the report directly

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Good

to the quality standards and identifies actions for the following six months. Some areas of the report contain a lot of background detail and minimal analysis of this. The manager has a clear agenda for improvement in the home stemming from these monitors and plans. The manager has worked with the independent visitor to improve the quality of her reports and the effectiveness of her visits as an additional safeguard for young people. These visits now produce reports which are very detailed and analytical. The independent visitor highlights the progress made in the home in meeting regulations and achieving the aims and objectives as detailed in the statement of purpose. The Registered Manager revised the statement of purpose following the last inspection.. It is comprehensive and staff are aware of the aims and objectives and work in line with the positive ethos established in the statement. Staff training is comprehensive with a strong focus on providing staff the skills and

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Good

knowledge necessary for working with the particular young people accommodated. Staff have excellent support from the local authority training section and safeguarding team, ensuring staff have continuous training on a broad range of highly relevant safeguarding issues. The manager ensures that all staff have regular reflective supervision which they value. Staff appraisals incorporate feedback from young people, enhancing their ownership of the home and influence on the development of the staff. However, there is no training plan or workforce development plan to aid the continuous professional development of staff.

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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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