Children's home run by London Borough of Barnet

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 registered manager is a passionate advocate for children accommodated in the home, appropriately challenging other services to provide education, housing or ongoing care for them.  The registered manager has created a culture of valuing and championing the education, training and employment of children.  The virtual headteacher and caseworker provide excellent support to the children in the home, aiding them to engage with appropriately challenging education programmes.  The child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) provide regular high-quality support and guidance to staff and direct assistance to children in the home.  Children benefit from a stable staff team. Staff are knowledgeable, caring and very resilient. They work well as a team, providing consistent messages to the children.  The local authority involves staff in relevant meetings within social services, ensuring that they remain aware of emerging trends in

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The children's home provision is good because:

safeguarding.  Staff have made an unattractive building into a homely and welcoming environment.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that must be taken so that the registered person/s meet(s) 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

8: The education standard (2)(a)(i) The registered person must ensure that staff help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans. In particular, they must ensure that the personal education plans are of a good quality and clearly outline plans to support young people’s educational progress. 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard (1) The care planning standard is that children (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and (b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure (a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must (b) provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire. (Regulation 25(1)(a)(b)) 31/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person (a) if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, 30/11/2016 their parents, relatives and persons working in the home as the independent person requires. (4) The independent person must produce a report about a visit which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether (a) children are effectively safeguarded; and (b) the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)(4)(a)(b))

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure effective care planning with the placing authority by maintaining a more detailed internal care plan. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)  Ensure that the use of sanctions is regularly scrutinised and, in particular, analyse their effectiveness in reducing undesirable behaviours. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  Ensure that when a child is missing from the home staff follow appropriate procedures. In particular, ensure that if a young person does not return staff check all known contacts and locations even if they have had telephone contact with the young person. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered manager employed in the home has sufficient capacity to ensure that the quality standards are met for each child in the home. In particular, ensure that there is effective succession planning to provide management support to staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.7)  Ensure that at least one person on duty at any given time in a children's home has a suitable first aid qualification (regulation 31(2)(a)). (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.13)  Ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and, in particular, that staff providing supervision can access appropriate training and that there is a record of all online training completed. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Recommendations

53, paragraph 10.11)  Use professional judgement to decide what factors to focus on in the review of the quality of the care provided by the home. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next six months of delivery in the home and how these actions will be addressed. Support this information with relevant data to support the analysis and conclusions. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this children's home

This local authority children's home can provide care and accommodation for no more than six young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

7/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

29/01/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

Children build effective relationships with staff in the home. Those who have recently left welcome ongoing support from staff, which aids them in maintaining their education, work and placements. Due to planned moves for established children, there is a new group of children in the home that is developing these relationships. When an individual is not forming attachments, the manager has involved other professionals, including, when necessary, CAMHS. One resident said, ‘I do not get on with all of the staff but I really like some of them. They do meet with me and give me advice.’ The professionals working with the home stress the need for stringent gatekeeping and ensuring that the home receives support from the home authority to only accept children who are compatible with the current residents. The registered manager employs a risk assessment process to maintain these strict boundaries on admissions, which the local authority generally supports.

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Good

When social workers have not suitably assessed new placements, there have been situations in which the manager has had to challenge the placement decisions, to ensure the safety of all children. The manager has created an environment where educational progression is not just valued but is understood, promoted and seen as essential for all children. She has an excellent and effective working relationship with the virtual school, which aids in her promotion of educational engagement for all children. She is tenacious in promoting and encouraging children to take up and succeed on courses and in school. The virtual school provides excellent support, including tutoring for children not attending school. It aids staff in identifying appropriate courses for children, which staff support them in successfully achieving. The manager has an excellent understanding of key stages in education and ensures that children consider and

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Good

apply for appropriately challenging post-16 courses, which reflect their ability and interests. In addition, she provides outreach support for children who have left the home, aiding them in maintaining college placements. However, personal education plans completed by the placing authority are not easily accessible and, in some cases, are poorly constructed, lack appropriate detail and bear little resemblance to the successful strategies employed by the home. The school has inadequately constructed these, rendering them unhelpful and, consequently, unused by staff. Despite this, all children are engaged in some form of education and, over time, children make adequate to good progress. Young people make good progress against a range of targets agreed in their care plans. Staff complete internal care plans, risk assessments and healthcare plans on the same document, which they regularly review and update. This system is similar

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Good

to that used by the CAHMS team and provides a dynamic ongoing plan of action for children. The manager uses the local authority care plan to guide staff actions. However, there is no overall internal care plan to summarise and coordinate planned staff actions in education, health and care, to provide staff and young people with a clear picture of progress over time. Children preparing to leave the home work on pathway plans and complete a preparation for independence programme designed with staff. Those who left the home in the summer made good progress in developing a wide range of self-help skills, including budgeting, cooking and understanding how to use local resources positively. The manager has invited children previously accommodated in the home to aid in the further development of this package and other service developments. She has formed a leavers’ group, which is already providing invaluable guidance to

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Good

staff. Members have given positive advice on the development of the planned new setting for the home and on the preparation for independence programme. One of these children commented on the programme, saying, ‘Semi-independence has helped me with budgeting, knowing my finances and helping me learn vital life skills. Take your time and learn what you must.’ Children are gaining a sense of responsibility and self-worth through this meaningful engagement. The service is benefiting from this imaginative input. Children develop, maintain or improve relationships with family and friends. Staff closely follow care plan targets, to aid children in successfully improving positive social contacts. When children have restrictions on contact, staff provide good support to aid them to meet safely with family or friends. Staff encourage contacts in the home and ensure that these are positive experiences for all parties. The

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Good

manager has addressed individual staff competency in these situations, to enhance the experience and ensure that there is good communication and positive outcomes for children. Children maintain contact with their home communities and culture, with this support. They are also learning how to make and sustain positive relationships. Children increase their understanding of their cultural and religious backgrounds with skilled assistance and support from staff. Staff support children in following their religions and celebrating their individual cultural events. They are sensitive to subtle changes in children as well as extreme statements and take appropriate action when necessary. Staff immediately address all forms of extremism in children, challenging inappropriate attitudes and views. The children live in a warm and welcoming environment, which meets their personal and cultural needs. Children make good progress in their emotional and psychological well-being, with

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Good

good support from staff. The manager has developed an excellent working relationship with the CAMHS team, which attends a staff meeting once a month. It provides direct assistance to children and enhances this with guidance to the staff team. The systemic therapist is in weekly contact with the registered manager and receives detailed feedback on children presenting historical or current concerns. When there are increased concerns about a young person’s health or well-being, or risk to others, CAMHS provide prompt access to assessments and direct work. Children show improvements in social engagement and reduced risk to themselves and others, with these excellent supports. Children reduce aggression and learn appropriate ways to resolve disagreements with support from staff and other professionals. Due to significant changes in the children accommodated during the past three months, the home has been

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Good

unsettled, with hostile and aggressive behaviour from a small number of residents. The staff team is working with children to positively engage them in productive activities, in particular education, to provide them with more structure and positive activity. When behaviours are extremely concerning, CAMHS are providing advice on ways of working and are offering forensic assessment to aid the construction of effective risk assessments and behaviour management strategies. A CAMHS worker praised the staff team’s hard work in continuing to try to engage children and addressing this extreme, threatening behaviour. Over time, children make significant progress in anger management and develop positive, healthy relationships with others. Children and ex-residents are involved in planning the ongoing development of this home and the planned move to a new, improved location. Staff and children have made this location a comfortable and welcoming environment. Children personalise

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Good

their rooms and have a real say in the decor and furnishing of the communal areas. Children feel valued and welcomed through this engagement.

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Requires improvement

Children feel safe in the home and enjoy the company of staff. One young person said, ‘Staff are good. I do not get on with them all, but there are some I can trust and who give me advice about staying safe. The manager is strict but fair and she will always listen to me.’ Following a significant change in the young people accommodated, some young people are not following staff guidance and are placing themselves at risk. The staff made significant progress in embedding a respect for others and awareness of risks in those long-term residents who have successfully moved on since the last inspection. Staff recruitment records were not examined at this inspection as inspectors have previously judged them to be thorough, providing safe selection of appropriate staff. The manager has invited members of the leavers’ group, children who previously lived in the home, to join the next recruitment panel to enhance this

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Requires improvement

safe selection of appropriate people. Staff work in a consistent manner, to encourage positive behaviour in children. This approach reinforced by the use of rewards and sanctions, has resulted in a stable home, where children make good progress in managing difficult behaviours. Recent major changes in the children accommodated in the home have resulted in an unsettled period, with some children not responding appropriately to staff. However, there have been only two restraints since the last inspection. The manager carefully monitors these and takes appropriate action to maintain good standards in the staff team. However, when sanctions are used, the manager has not yet reviewed their effectiveness. As previously mentioned, the CAMHS worker praised the work of the team in containing the dangerous and threatening behaviours exhibited in the home. When necessary, she has expedited referrals for forensic assessments in high-risk cases. Staff are providing a structured

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Requires improvement

environment with appropriate supports to contain and reduce violent and aggressive behaviours. Children benefit from these well-coordinated and structured interventions. The manager ensures that staff work closely with police and the local authority to seek to reduce instances of children going absent or missing. Staff from the police missing-persons service said that the staff are helpful and receptive to advice from them. There was a slight communication issue linked to telephone contact, which the manager resolved during the inspection. The police missing persons unit mentioned the limited attempts to contact family members, when staff have made contact with the young person by mobile telephone, as a slight shortfall. The manager and staff team analyse information on absences from the home, identifying patterns or reasons for these, and modify risk assessments and actions, seeking a reduction or resolution of the underlying issue. Previously, this has

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Requires improvement

effectively reduced the frequency and duration of absences. Some new admissions to the home have not yet responded to staff interventions to reduce their absences. Staff discuss strategies with the police missing persons unit and with the CAMHS worker. To ensure that all parties address the risks to children if they fail to respond appropriately, the registered manager reviews plans with the placing authority to plan next steps for them. The manager ensures that the staff team and placing authority take action to address children’s patterns of absence from the home. Good joint working with social workers, CAMHS, police and families aids in reducing children’s absences and the risks associated with that. The manager has an excellent relationship with the local CAMHS. The systemic therapist attends the staff meeting on a monthly basis. Staff use this contact to address individual cases and gain a wider understanding of mental health issues.

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Requires improvement

The manager has a weekly dialogue with CAMHS, providing excellent ongoing monitoring of any children who present concerns to the staff team. This link with the CAHMS team enables a rapid response to staff concerns about changed, high- risk or dangerous behaviours. Staff have positively used training to develop a good working knowledge of the threats and risks that children are subject to. The registered manager supports their comprehensive training with ongoing information, research papers and through discussion in team meetings. Staff apply this in their practice with children in the home and have worked closely with other professionals to enhance the safety of children. Staff are sensitive to emerging threats to children and have worked closely with other agencies, such as Channel, to aid the safe care of children. The fire risk assessment for the home does not specify the frequency of testing of portable appliances, smoke detectors or emergency lighting. A professionally

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Requires improvement

completed fire safety audit lists the frequency of tests and assesses the tests conducted as adequate. Staff conduct fire drills every month or when a new young person or member of staff comes into the home, ensuring that they are all familiar with emergency evacuation procedures. When there are difficulties in the fire drills, staff conduct follow-up discussions with children, enhancing their safety. The fire safety audit completed in 2015 identifies a risk, requiring immediate action, to fit intumescent strips on doorways on the fire exit route, including the kitchen door. The registered manager says that the local authority health and safety officer advised that this action was not required, due to the fire retardant doors in place. During the inspection, the health and safety team supplied evidence that a previous risk assessment, from before 2015, judged the doors to be safe. However, there is no adjustment to the most current fire risk assessment to explain how this

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Requires improvement

risk is managed, leaving staff and children vulnerable.

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Good

The registered manager encourages staff to be ambitious for every child and to strive to bring about positive changes in their lives. She is caring and knowledgeable and provides dynamic leadership to the staff and children. She has a degree in psychology, a postgraduate certificate in leadership and management, a level 5 leadership and management award, as well as the national vocational qualification (NVQ) level 3 in caring for children. She has over fifteen years’ experience in childcare and has been the registered manager since 2013. All staff describe her positively and experience support, guidance and control from her. One member of staff said, ‘She is very, very supportive and drives me forward in performance. She encourages me to look at things always in a nurturing, gentle, positive way. She is not my friend. She is a manager who cares.’ The home has a suitably vetted and stable staff team. All shifts have a minimum of

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Good

two members of staff on shift. Staff are highly dependent on the manager for leadership and guidance, which they experience as excellent. However, the deputy manager post has remained vacant for several years, and there is no clear succession planning in the home. The registered manager requires additional management support to aid her to meet all quality standards for children and to ensure long-term stability in the management of the home. The registered manager has completed a skilfully constructed, detailed and effective workforce development plan. This structures the support and development of staff, outlining a clear process for staff induction, supervision and appraisal. The manager uses supervision and appraisal effectively, providing consistent support and development to staff. One member of staff said, ‘She and her assistant managers are very good at listening. They are intuitive and encouraging and provide regular supervision.’ The manager maintains a training

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Good

matrix, which identifies training completed and planned for staff in the home. Staff have completed a wide range of appropriate training, including comprehensive safeguarding courses. Staff enhance this with further online courses. However, there is no monitoring of this training, which staff often completed outside the home. All staff have a basic first aid course. However, there is not a member of staff with a suitable first aid qualification on every shift. Not all staff who provide supervision to staff have completed training in supervision. The good support provided by the manager and comprehensive training related to the job have aided in maintaining a stable, confident and skilled workforce. The independent visitor completes monthly visits to the home and simultaneously supplies reports on her visits to HMCI and to the registered manager. The reports provide a helpful evaluation of the functioning of the home over the preceding

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Good

month but lack direct commentary on whether the conduct of the home is promoting the well-being of children and whether staff are effectively safeguarding them. In addition, the independent visitor is not interviewing parents or relatives during her visits, weakening the effective safeguarding of children. The registered manager responds appropriately to issues raised by the visitor, enhancing the care provided to children. The registered manager has supplied a detailed report on the conduct of the home to HMCI. She has helpfully formatted the report to the quality standards and commented on all of these. The report contains detailed information on the functioning of the home and progress with targeted areas over this period. However, it currently lacks an action plan to identify actions over the following six months and has varied evaluation of information presented. The registered manager produces a regularly reviewed development plan for the home, evidencing

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Good

her understanding of the areas for development and providing an effective plan of action for the year. The registered manager successfully agrees planned admissions to the home in close collaboration with the home authority. However, when the local authority makes emergency admissions, these do not always give priority to the safety and stability of the group in the home. The registered manager risk assesses these placements. However, there is no evidence that the placing authority completes a similar process, leading to some unsafe placements. The registered manager recognises the need for an emergency admissions process. However, the local authority occasionally does not consider the impact that a child may have on the group in the home. In one case, the local authority did not action concerns about the age of one resident, potentially placing other children at risk. The registered person accepts placements when the home cannot respond effectively to the child’s

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Good

assessed needs and the impact that they are having on the other children in the home. Successful challenges from the registered manager ensure that the home remains a safe environment for children. The registered manager is a strong advocate for children in the home and those who have recently left and to whom staff in the home are providing outreach support. She has stridently challenged schools in relation to exclusions and the need for appropriate education for children. The excellent relationships with the police, CAMHS and the virtual school ensure that children receive appropriate support and access to services to aid their progress. The local authority involves her in relevant internal meetings about child sexual exploitation, gangs and the children at high risk panel, enhancing the home’s effectiveness as a local resource for children. The manager has reviewed and updated the review of the suitability of the location

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Good

of the premises. She has incorporated comments from key partners and uses these and data about the area to inform her comments about the suitability of the location. In reviewing the risk assessment, the manager has enhanced this by including feedback from children living in the home and from previous residents. The manager reinforces how important it is for placing social workers and the placement team to consider the child’s pre-admission risk assessments and the risks identified for the young person or for the group. This is an essential factor in determining that the home remains a safe and appropriate location for children.

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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 whom 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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