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

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people enjoy excellent access to specialist services. Meetings occur in the home to support good levels of engagement.  Risk assessments are comprehensive and are reviewed regularly. These include good involvement by relevant professionals.  Behaviour is excellent in the home. When young people struggle, they respond well to sanctioning and an inventive approach from staff.  Young people benefit from a strong and stable permanent staff team. This ensures good consistency and an understanding of behavioural expectations.  Staff access a regular programme of training on issues such as child sexual exploitation. This ensures that staff are fully informed and understand the needs and vulnerabilities of young people.  There is a strong and managed response when young people go missing. Recently, this included an advertisement campaign to secure the return of one young person successfully.  Staff work hard to build warm and trusting relationships with young people.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

Extensive and effective work with immediate family members supports this.  Record keeping is thorough and is of a consistently high standard. Information is shared with key professionals via the local authority’s computer system. This ensures that any decisions made concerning young people are fully informed and reviewed.

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority managed children’s home. Registration is for up to six young people with emotional and/or behavioural issues.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

22 February 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

16 February 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Outstanding

Young people are extremely happy in the home. Placement by the host local authority ensures close access to family, friends and school provision. Young people feel highly valued and recognise the enormous progress they make from their own separate starting points. Staff value their relationships with young people and enjoy their company. A recent pool tournament was a success during the school holidays. One young person comments, ‘I love it here, it’s really good.’ Young people respond very well to planned and regular key work sessions and value the trust and support offered by staff. Staff are creative and innovative in seeking to build self-esteem for young people. Staff recently secured a provisional driving licence for one young person as a means of motivating him to access employment. This worked well. Staff promote excellent relationships with families. They work hard to ensure safe contact, recently offering the support of the Red Cross family tracing service. One

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Outstanding

staff member recently received an award for her support for a young person’s family following a bereavement. Staff assisted in the writing of the eulogy, provided photos of the funeral and cooked a traditional meal for the family. Feedback from parents is highly positive. One parent comments, ‘They are absolutely amazing there, they could not do enough for him, I am really impressed.’ Young people are regularly encouraged to be open and honest with staff. Staff understand that safeguarding can only be effective with trust established. They work tirelessly with young people to explain their need to safeguard them and behavioural expectations. Young people engage well and reduce risk-taking behaviour. Staff prioritise educational achievement consistently and effectively. A close and positive relationship with the local authority’s education department enables effective educational arrangements. Staff strive to support, incentivise and

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Outstanding

maintain attendance, with positive results for young people. Staff consistently push for specialist assessments of young people to make sure that they receive the correct amount of support. This ensures full support for young people as they move into adulthood. Young people receive the support of numerous specialist services. A child and adolescent mental health worker visits the home weekly and informal conversations help to avoid any stigma and support engagement. This is extremely effective. Staff emphasise the importance of healthy living. Effective medication procedures ensure the safe handling and administration of medication. The help of a dietician, gym membership and sports such as boxing are routinely offered. Extremely helpful key work supported one young person in safeguarding her sexual health and reducing the risk of pregnancy. Outcomes for young people remain very positive. On leaving the home, each

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Outstanding

young person receives a personalised painting and a photo album of experiences. Staff consistently offer support to former young people who have reached adulthood. They use their deep-rooted knowledge of local semi-independent provision to ensure that future placements are fully equipped to meet the needs of young people.

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Outstanding

There is a high-quality and deep-rooted safeguarding culture in the home. Staff make excellent use of the local authority’s information system to communicate with key professionals and record concerns. Staff recently responded to concerns over possible radicalisation by commissioning their own specialist assessment. All relevant agencies supported this assessment and offered invaluable insight into the care planning process. There is a very effective response when young people go missing. Staff use their close relationships to discuss social circles and visit the addresses concerned. Young people are motivated to engage, as they understand that this may preclude the need for a police visit. The home has a Facebook page, which permits the consensual monitoring of social media interaction. Staff frequently initiate key work conversations about the dangers of social media and safe use of the internet. Local police describe the home as ‘very effective, always on the ball and one of the

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Outstanding

best’. Staff recently tracked one young person by social media and Oyster card use, prior to initiating an advertising campaign, which secured his safe return. On return home, young people consistently receive independent return to care interviews from a named individual. This continuity promotes good relationships. Any concerns are shared with professionals. Information gained from a recent interview helped secure a change to curfew arrangements and a reduction in episodes of going missing for one young person. Behaviour is extremely positive in the home and the use of restraint is limited. When young people experience behavioural difficulties, staff offer a clear and reasoned explanation as to why a sanction has occurred. Consequently, young people learn trigger behaviours and learn how to manage their own behaviours. Sanctions are effective, for example supervised spending of pocket money, and young people respond well.

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Outstanding

Behavioural management techniques are extremely effective, with good examples of achieving significant reductions in risky behaviour. Risk assessments are in depth and of extremely good quality. Staff have the confidence and skills to record and risk assess daily; this supports constant evaluation of progress and high levels of care. Young people receive excellent advocacy support and consultation is consistent. One young person comments, ‘If I have a problem we talk about it; that helps get things out.’ Staff act on themes outlined in regular questionnaires and via the complaints system. In addition, regular visits from an independent advocate, coupled with bi-weekly residents’ meetings, ensure that young people’s views are acted upon swiftly. Young people learn new independence skills. For example, they have engaged well with a new incentivised skills programme which includes money management, enabling young people to benefit from specialist tax-free accounts.

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Outstanding

The home celebrates culture and difference regularly and there is a culture of tolerance and acceptance. On arrival at the home, staff accompanied one young person to the local mosque to facilitate introductions. Staff and young people supported him in his observation of Ramadan, by ensuring access to food prior to sunrise each morning and advising on health implications. This has helped sustain him during the hours of fasting.

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Outstanding

The home benefits from a committed, professional, permanent management team. The registered manager is a qualified social worker with over 21 years of experience of working with young people. She receives excellent support from a deputy manager and three assistant managers, all of whom are well respected by colleagues and the young people. The long-standing permanent staff team has a very positive morale. The team is diverse in terms of age and ethnic origin and supports the needs of young people effectively and consistently. One staff member comments, ‘We are like a big family here, everyone looks out for each other, this helps us keep together where we are all reading from the same song sheet.’ Case files evidence very effective management audit and regular review of care plans and risk assessments. Managers use established procedures to challenge any delay in care planning for young people. This means that managers have an

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Outstanding

extremely clear idea of the needs and issues affecting young people in the home. Managers rigorously control admissions to the home. Their in-depth knowledge of policies and procedures helps support this process. Managers liaise very effectively with colleagues in the local authority to produce excellent risk assessments and effective introduction plans. This helps young people to settle quickly in the home. Supervision and appraisals are regular and of high quality. Staff feel supported and empowered by managers and are hungry to learn and develop. Staff have ‘champion’ roles within the team. This ensures the sharing of specialist information on key issues such as child sexual exploitation. Staff benefit from an excellent training programme. Managers see staff development as integral to the home’s future. A recent package of training has encouraged staff to reflect on their own childhood experiences and its effect on

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Outstanding

their behaviour. Staff are now able to reflect on their presentation and communication with young people. Relationships and interactions have improved as a result. In the absence of managers, staff are able to make key decisions such as those regarding admissions. This helps to support staff retention and joint ownership by the staff team. Staff meetings are regular. They are a key forum for information sharing, assessing and reviewing progress made by young people. Each week, staff prepare a presentation on linking theory to practice; this helps to support a culture of learning within the home. Managers have acted quickly to address concerns expressed in previous inspections. Staff have successfully introduced an excellent plan for independence work. The independent visitor now enjoys access to the local authority’s computer information system. This supports her ongoing scrutiny and support for the development of the home.

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Outstanding

Managers are continually seeking to develop and improve the home. In place of the allocated social worker, staff now make referrals for tutorial support for young people on arrival. This helps to reduce drift and delay, and improves education provision. Managers ensure that the home is in a good state of repair with all of the necessary risk assessments and checks undertaken in respect of the building.

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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 that 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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