Children's home run by Area Camden Limited in Haringey

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 feel a deep sense of pride and camaraderie in their home and make outstanding progress.  Safeguarding practice is excellent. Staff are proactive and inventive, and are prompt in liaising with key partner agencies.  Young people benefit from a committed, professional and very motivated staff team that is child centred and strives to support them.  Young people enjoy a multitude of activities, including a recent holiday and corporate hospitality at a premiership football ground.  The home has successfully expanded into a second satellite unit, offering more stability to the older, more settled young people.  Consultation with young people is of high quality. They recently assisted staff in drafting a new independence skills planning book.  Managers are very ambitious and consistently seeking to improve the service. A bid for specialist training for staff is under consideration by the

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The children’s home provision is outstanding because:

local authority.  Risk assessments are consistently of high quality and reviewed regularly. They offer clear guidance for key professionals and support the care planning process very well.  Staff work hard to build warm and trusting relationships with young people and their wider families.

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Information about this children’s home

Registration is for this privately owned children’s home to care for up to ten young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties. Agreement to extend registration from seven to ten young people occurred in May 2016.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

25/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

04/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

Young people are extremely happy and settled in their home. One commented, ‘This is the best home in the world. Staff are excellent.’ Laughter, joking and humorous banter are heard consistently. It is a warm and friendly family atmosphere where positive and trusting relationships are developed. Staff take clear and obvious pleasure in the progress and achievements of young people. These are celebrated together in events such as ‘house birthdays’.

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Outstanding

The service has been successfully expanded from seven to ten placements by the purchase of a smaller building within a short distance of the main building. This offers a number of different areas for socialising with friends or enjoying quieter moments. Young people advised on the furniture and colour scheme for the new building. They say they are extremely proud of it.

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Outstanding

Staff are inventive and aspirational. Young people benefit from a rich and varied choice of activities. Several holidays to the seaside are planned for the summer period and young people spoke excitedly of attending a recent Premiership football match in a corporate box. Staff persistently seek multiple means of engaging young people. Hair braiding is done regularly and an impromptu piano-based singalong occurred during the inspection, led by young people. This promotes a broad range of experiences that allow young people to enjoy close peer relationships and learn to support each other, some for the first time.

p.5

Outstanding

Young people benefit from the care and intervention provided by a multi-talented and committed permanent staff team. A former teacher offers excellent and informed support for education. All young people are in education. Attendance levels remain extremely high. Staff liaise superbly with the local authority to offer a variety of educational placements and training programmes to meet the specific needs of young people. Progress and attainment are monitored very closely. Staff create a culture where learning and achievement in education are important. As a result, young people are motivated and make excellent progress from their starting points.

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Outstanding

Staff consistently push for specialist assessments of young people to ensure that they receive the correct amount of support, for example recently obtaining extra specialist support for one young person in school. Staff advocate for mainstream school provision whenever appropriate. Young people receive financial incentives and benefit from very inventive techniques, such as the writing of motivational letters and cards. They engage very well and make progress. Key work is regular and effective, and links closely to the aims and objectives of the care plan. Young people develop resilience and an understanding of the consequences of their actions. Careful planned analysis of incidents during key work sessions supports this. Young people learn new strategies to avoid risky situations or to remove themselves from environments when they feel angry or upset.

p.5

Outstanding

Managers issue smartphones to each young person. These support key-worker sessions via skype and the internet on the rare occasion when young people are not present. Staff have introduced internet photo accounts, which allow young people to record their progress and memories safely and privately. This inventive approach enables young people to capture important milestones as they progress and develop during their stay at the home. This supports their personal development and improves their sense of wellbeing and self-esteem.

p.6

Outstanding

Young people receive excellent support and guidance to maintain relationships with family members and those they deem important. Staff strive to involve relatives and friends to support young people and they manage contact very effectively. Staff invite placing authorities to consider placement with family members if considered appropriate. Managers provide leisure passes to support regular contact with brothers and sisters. This helps young people to sustain relationships with their wider families. Support continues on leaving the home. Young people continue to write letters and visit, clearly stating how happy and content they were in the home.

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Outstanding

Staff emphasise the importance of healthy living and skilfully incorporate this into the development of independence skills. Young people make excellent progress with learning to cook and understanding the value of healthy eating. One young person proudly informed the inspector that he had succeeded in making his own sweet and sour sauce from scratch to feed his friends, as this was healthier than using premade sauces.

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Outstanding

Staff use the strength of the relationships they share with young people to encourage engagement with health services for the first time. Consequently, young people understand that counselling and access to therapeutic services are effective and important.

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Outstanding

Safeguarding practice is excellent. Strong relationships with family, friends, peers and the local community support close monitoring of young people when they are absent from the home. On return, staff ensure that independent return-to-care interviews occur regularly, and they act quickly on any themes and information that emerge.

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Outstanding

Staff recently engaged with local police to obtain statutory orders restricting access to known high-risk addresses. This dramatically reduced absconding behaviour. Staff supported this with clear and reasoned explanations that were understood by young people. Staff urge placing authorities to hold regular strategy meetings, and to be open and reflective in the care planning process. Recently, this enabled one young person to have regular overnight contact with a parent while maintaining their placement, and it also alleviated any anxieties regarding their family. Consequently, they avoided criminalisation and maintained a stable placement for the first time.

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Outstanding

Risk assessments are clear and extremely concise. Up-to-date chronologies allow staff to assess patterns of behaviour precisely. Areas of concern are identified quickly and support mechanisms are accessed. Staff have an in-depth and close understanding of key trigger behaviours and share these observations effectively with placing professionals.

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Outstanding

Very effective work on independence skills links to the development of trusting relationships. Young people engage very quickly and take a large amount of pleasure and pride in the progress they make.

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Outstanding

Young people significantly reduce their risk-taking behaviour. One young person has not offended in 13 months, despite arriving at the home with a concerning criminal history. This stemmed largely from drug and alcohol use. Careful key- worker sessions educate young people as to the disinhibiting effects of using substances. This reduced violent episodes accordingly.

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Outstanding

Multi-agency work is deeply entrenched and communication is described as ‘first- rate’. Staff have an established relationship with the local authority’s child sexual exploitation risk analyst. This ensures a consistent stream of information regarding social media and areas of risk within the local community. This supports a high level of care and extremely effective, holistic risk assessments. The local community police and trading standards authority have worked in partnership with the home to educate young people about the dangers of the recently criminalised ‘legal highs’.

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Outstanding

Behaviour is excellent in the home and there is no use of restraint or sanctions. It remains enforced by high staffing levels. Young people understand expectations clearly; one comments ‘you know where you stand with staff.’ Staff work on the simple principle of young people earning privileges and celebrating progress and achievement. This supports young people developing resilience and close relationships with staff.

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Outstanding

Advocacy and consultation are exceptionally strong. Managers recently commissioned an independent advocacy service for the young people. Young people contributed towards the drafting of the recent independence skills planning book, which enhances its effectiveness. Staff empathise very effectively and are guided by the simple principle of ‘Would I be happy with this in my house?’ Managers regularly challenge placing authorities for the swift allocation of crucial support services, such as therapy and addressing issues of drift and delay.

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Outstanding

Staff celebrate culture and difference. Young people recently tried Albanian cooking for the first time, and take obvious pleasure in preparing meals for others with recipes from their home countries.

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Outstanding

Young people benefit from living in a home that is managed by highly effective professionals. Staff place the individual needs of young people at the heart of practice and strive for excellence. The home benefits from an experienced and dedicated management team. It is supported by extremely clear and effective policies and procedures. The registered manager has been in post since the opening of the home, and she recently completed her level 5 qualification. She is extremely well supported by two deputy managers.

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Outstanding

Managers have very close and positive relationships with the local children’s social care network and sit on the corporate parenting board. Managers display clear oversight of risk assessments and target setting for young people. Young people, the staff team and key partner professionals universally respect the management team.

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Outstanding

Feedback from partner professionals is consistently positive. They point to clear, precise and focused reports, and the extreme drive and proactivity of staff members. One placing social worker commented, ‘They genuinely love and engage with a challenge, and forge a relationship where others have failed.’ Recent admissions indicate that the home has admitted a number of high-risk young people and managed to support them extremely effectively. Professionals outline a rigorous admission and matching process that helps to ensure the ongoing stability of the home and improves outcomes for young people.

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Outstanding

Staff morale is extremely high. They respond very well to clear and visible leadership. The team is long-standing and permanent, ensuring consistency and a shared sense of purpose. Managers have recruited safely to support the enlargement of the home. Young people know all agency staff. If established staffing provision is not possible, managers will cover a shift themselves to ensure stability and high levels of care. Supervision and appraisals are regular and highly valued by staff members. Developmental objectives are linked to the statement of purpose, and they provide inspiration and a high level of focus for staff. Staff benefit from sessions facilitated by the home’s training consultant. These sessions are linked to the needs of the young people and offer a unique insight on presenting behaviours of young people and effective behavioural management strategies.

p.8

Outstanding

Managers are very ambitious and have an exciting service development plan. They are anxious ‘not to rest on our laurels’. Each significant incident is analysed critically to pinpoint areas for development. Professional consultants are advising on streamlining case recording to allow staff to spend more time with young people.

p.9

Outstanding

Managers ensure that the home is in a good state of repair, with all the necessary risk assessments and checks undertaken. A high level of financial expenditure is evidenced throughout the home. Staff remove potential hazards quickly to ensure that young people are safe.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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

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 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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