Children's home run by Holibrook House Limited in Waltham Forest

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 home has a strong, positive impact on young people’s lives. The young people have made good progress across different aspects of their welfare and development.  Young people have a positive experience of being in residential care. They feel heard, valued and enabled to lead normal teenage lives. They have access to a wide range of sporting and relaxing activities. They enjoy going on holidays abroad.  Young people have a strong voice. They make meaningful contributions to their care plans. They participate in shaping their own future and in the decision making within the home.  Staff advocate for young people with tenacity and determination, as they would for their own children. They do not shy away from showing young people that they genuinely care for them.  Young people receive high-quality, individualised care and support that meets their needs. They receive comprehensive and effective support in relation to

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The children's home provision is good because:

their health, education, emotional, social and psychological well-being.  The young people have developed close and trusting relationships with staff members. The strong emotional bonds underpin the effective safeguarding practice. The young people have developed feelings of safety and belonging.  The young people have high aspirations. They have grown in confidence. They seek to learn and engage in education and achieve good educational outcomes.  Risk management practice is proactive, collaborative and dynamic. It protects young people effectively.  Staff work in close and effective partnership with parents and professionals. The home has built a good reputation.  The home is effectively and efficiently managed. The registered manager is experienced, qualified and competent. She inspires staff and enables them to effectively fulfil the organisation’s vision and the statement of purpose.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

35. Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

3(b) within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)— (i) has spoken to the user about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

The measure relates to any measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. (Regulation 35(3)(b)(i)) 01/10/2016

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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 and 17 years. Staff use a therapeutic approach to caring for young people who may experience behavioural 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

11/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

13/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people describe this service as a good home. Living in a safe, highly supportive and well-managed environment provides them with a positive experience of being in care. Many professionals commented positively on the atmosphere and ‘feel’ of the home. The physical environment is comfortably furnished and consistent with a ‘normal home, not an institution’.

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Good

Young people have developed close and trusting relationships with staff members. They highly appreciate the support that they receive. Staff always show interest in young people and pay attention to what they have to say. Staff want to know about young people’s personal histories, how they come to be who they are, what is important for them and what would help them to have a positive future. Staff do not shy away from showing to young people that they genuinely care for them.

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Good

Young people’s positive engagement with the staff members has in some cases led to strong emotional bonds. The positive experience of the relationships within the home has enabled young people to develop feelings of safety, belonging and trust. As a result, their anxiety has subsided. They engage better with the staff and with other professionals and services. An independent reviewing officer commented how, after living in this home for many years, the young person has done so much better than the professionals had initially predicted. This is a clear example of the exceptionally positive impact that the home has had on some young people.

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Good

Staff warmly welcome new young people to the home. They provide young people with clear verbal and written information about the expectations and the community ethos of the home. Admissions are risk assessment-based and managed well. When making any decisions, the manager takes into account the existing dynamics in the home and the needs of young people who already live there. Endings of the placements are well managed. Regardless of the reasons for the move, staff support young people to have positive experiences and end their placements on positive terms.

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Good

The manager and staff are highly committed to the young people in their care. They go out of their way to promote stability in the young people’s lives. An example of this is by continuing to provide care to the young person who exhibited high levels of violence towards staff. The manager and staff are able to see the young people’s vulnerabilities and chances for development, through their challenging behaviours. They help young people to develop better awareness, self- control and resilience. Their consistent underlying message to young people is: ‘You can change your life for better and we will do everything we can to help you.’ They give young people confidence to make positive changes, and provide them with competent professional support to make these changes and increase their life chances.

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Good

Young people receive highly individualised care that meets their wide-ranging needs. They receive extensive support in relation to their health, education, emotional, social and psychological well-being. They are registered with a local surgery and have easy access to specialist health services when they need it. They have access to the home’s psychotherapist, as well as expert support from the local child and adolescent mental health services. Staff help young people to manage any health conditions that they might have. A social worker gave an example of a young person with highly complex health needs. This home was the only place where a young person stayed and never had to be taken to the hospital. Staff managed his needs very well. A thorough risk management process safeguards young people who self-administer their medication and aids their independence.

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Good

Young people receive good support to develop healthy lifestyles. Staff provide them with nutritious, tasty meals of their choice. They also teach them how they can prepare good food themselves.

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Good

Staff encourage young people to access a wide range of sporting and relaxing activities. Go-karting is particularly popular. A young person highlighted boxing as one of his main achievements. There is a punchbag in the conservatory to help young people exercise. Punching also helps them to expend extra energy and, at times, release feelings of frustration and anger, in a constructive way.

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Good

Young people understand the role that activities play in keeping fit and healthy, both physically and mentally. They have recently chosen a holiday destination abroad. They will be staying in a hotel, with a swimming pool and near the sea. On the day of the inspection, they were preparing for their flight with great excitement. They have good opportunities to have positive experiences, develop friendships and learn about different cultures and ways of life.

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Good

Leaders, the manager and staff place great value on young people’s education and learning. They work closely with schools, social services and parents to effectively promote young people’s educational outcomes. The majority of young people attend their schools regularly and attain well. The young people in alternative provisions are keen to work towards being able to return to mainstream education. They know that education is important. Young people have internalised high aspirations that staff have for them. One young person has been taking steps to achieve his long-term goal: to study a subject of his choice at the university of his choice.

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Good

Young people take active part in the decisions made in the home. They are aware of the home’s complaints procedure and are able to use it effectively. They feel listened to and taken seriously. Their views and feelings are valued and given due consideration. They feel appreciated and respected for who they are, and have developed respectful attitudes towards others and a more positive outlook on life. Their confidence and social skills have increased. They have opportunities to take a leadership role within the home; they choose a president for each month.

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Good

Staff effectively promote young people’s independence skills. They prepare young people well for adulthood, on a practical level and emotionally.

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Good

Safeguarding practice is effective at promoting young people’s safety, welfare and development.

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Good

Young people report feeling very safe at the home. They live in a physically safe and emotionally supportive environment, and know that staff are always there to help them with anything they need. They are aware of their right to be safe and respected at all times. They identify staff members as trusting adults who they can talk safely with, about any concerns that they might have. They feel listened to, heard and helped.

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Good

The manager and staff enable open communication within the home. They effectively model and promote positive and protective interactions. They make sure that young people’s views are heard and that their welfare is always the number- one priority.

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Good

The manager and staff effectively enforce the home’s policy of zero tolerance to bullying. A young person gave an example of the manager’s uncompromising protection of young people from any form of bullying. This has included name- calling that the young person did not like.

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Good

The culture of honesty, trust and respect underpins the young people’s increased sense of security, safety and belonging. The strong emotional bonds between the young people and the staff members have enabled young people to adopt safer behaviours.

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Good

Staff efficiently follow local protocols for safeguarding young people who go missing. When young people go missing, they stay in telephone contact with staff members. Staff make an effort to locate them and persuade them to come back home. Staff always welcome young people back warmly, offering tasty food and refreshing drinks, a thoroughly cleaned bedroom with fresh bed linen and a listening ear. They talk with young people about the reasons for going missing. The records of these discussions clearly show that the young people do not run away from the home. They are ‘pulled towards’, what they see as, exciting opportunities outside the home. A young person talked about a birthday party that extended to five days of celebration.

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Good

Staff help young people to understand the risks associated with going missing and spending time with people who they do not know much about. They discuss with young people what would help them to minimise the risks. For the sake of the positive relationships with the staff members, the young people have become more willing to make an effort to keep to the house rules and individual curfews. Nobody who currently lives at the home is at identified risk of child sexual exploitation. None of the young people has displayed self-harming behaviours since living in this home. There are no concerns about radicalisation.

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Good

Risk management practice is proactive, collaborative and dynamic. In partnership with the placing authorities, staff complete comprehensive risk assessments and risk management plans on admission of any young person to the home. This includes an assessment of the impact of the potential admission on the current residents and the home’s dynamics. To strengthen the evidence base for pre- admission decisions, the registered manager asks police to share any information they have on the young person’s level of going missing and any risks to their safety. Staff continue to update young people’s risk management assessments. In an effort to reduce the risks of harm, they regularly review the effectiveness of the plans that are in place.

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Good

Staff provide young people with consistent boundaries, wide-ranging support and advice on how to keep themselves safe. A young person said that the staff members’ advice was stuck in his brain and would always be there. Some young people had to move from the home, as they continued to place themselves at risk.

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Good

The behaviour management practice is effective. Each young person has a comprehensive behaviour management plan that staff consistently follow. The plans list clear strategies to de-escalate negative behaviours at different levels of challenge. Staff are usually effective in safely managing conflicts, at a low level of challenge. Sanctions are used sparingly and with a positive impact. Promotion of constructive behaviours through rewards and praise is good. However, there have been some situations when staff members had to intervene physically to protect the young people involved. The records clearly demonstrate that the restraints were used appropriately and effectively. Afterwards, the manager and staff spoke to the young people about being restrained and the reasons for it. However, records of the manager’s conversations with the staff members regarding the use of physical intervention are not consistently kept. Staff report feeling supported

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Good

and having good opportunities for reflection on the practice, but the records do not fully demonstrate this. This is an area for improvement. Staff work in effective partnership with parents and professionals. From the point of referral to transition to a different service, reuniting with the family or independence, young people experience well-coordinated and consistent responses from caring and skilled professionals. The manager and staff play a crucial and proactive role in contributing to effective ‘working together’ with other agencies. Both parents and professionals commented that communication with the home was excellent. Thoroughly vetted and well-trained staff consistently follow any agreed multi-agency protocols. Any concerns about professional conduct or allegations made against staff members are swiftly referred to the local authority’s designated officer for child protection. The links between the home and the local safeguarding

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Good

The service is young person-centred. Other main characteristics of the service are: focus on the emotional well-being and provision of a therapeutic environment; a culture of respect, honesty and transparency; partnerships with parents and a collaborative way of working with professionals. The home has a strong positive impact on the young people’s positive outcomes.

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Good

In their respective roles, leaders, the manager and staff make a strong contribution to the effective fulfilment of the home’s statement of purpose. They are passionate about improving young people’s experiences and promoting their life chances. They inspire each other and work collaboratively to realise the shared vision of a service. They believe in the power of genuine and skilled professional care to change young people’s lives. They have high aspirations for young people and do not give up on them. A parent wrote in the Ofsted online survey: ‘They were simply amazing how they worked with us. It was lovely to have that kind of working relationship with them.’

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Good

The home is effectively and efficiently led and managed, at every level of its functioning. A qualified and experienced registered manager has been in post for approximately five years. She leads a dedicated, stable, well-trained, qualified and resilient staff team. Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision and annual appraisals of their individual performance. They have good opportunities for reflection on practice, training and professional development. On a regular basis, they also discuss any interventions and programmes for the young people with a visiting consultant psychotherapist. They receive additional support to be aware of their own emotional responses to the young people and the dynamics within the home. This enables them to focus more clearly on the young people’s needs and effective interventions. To ensure that young people receive individual attention and have their needs met, staffing levels are maintained at an appropriate level.

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Good

The manager carefully monitors the quality of service and the outcomes for young people. She and staff make meaningful contributions to the care planning process. They work closely with other professionals and services to address any barriers to young people’s progress and secure positive outcomes. They effectively champion young people’s needs and a social care practice of a high professional standard. They challenge any delayed or insufficient responses from other services. A social worker gave an example of a staff member writing to a school to raise concerns about the quality of education that a young person received. The staff member advocated for the young person as if he was her own child. Another young person said that he trusted the staff members at the home more than his own social worker.

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Good

The manager and staff work closely with other professionals to prevent disruptions of placements. A young person with over 20 placements receives specialist support to help him achieve more stability and consistency in his life. A professional from a community psychology service commented positively about the staff’s commitment to promoting stability in the young person’s life. The young person appreciates the support that the staff have continued to provide to him.

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Good

The young people’s files are well organised. They contain a wealth of information about the young people’s histories, experiences, current working ground and plans for the future. The records clearly demonstrate that young people receive high- quality, comprehensive care that leads to their good progress and positive outcomes. The high standard of professional practice results in improvement in young people’s lives.

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Good

Good record-keeping facilitates good monitoring. The leaders and manager understand the strengths of the service and areas for further improvement. They involve young people and their parents in quality reviews of the service and improvement plans. Young people have recently redesigned the satisfaction questionnaires. A parent wrote in the Ofsted online survey: ‘Manager and staff were willing to listen and accept any advice we could offer. They would always speak to me and ask if they could improve in any way.’

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Good

The leaders and manager meet regularly with managers from other homes to discuss practice, share knowledge and explore improvement opportunities. External scrutiny from an independent visitor adds to the comprehensive internal quality assurance processes. Through membership of the Community of Communities, the manager, staff and young people receive peer reviews. They also contribute to peer reviews of other services that emphasise the importance of the therapeutic approach to residential care.

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Good

The registered persons attend Ofsted providers’ meetings to network and keep up to date with the interpretation of regulations and standards. They send notifications of any significant events to Ofsted, as required.

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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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