Children's Home run by Winsbeach Children’s Home 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:

 A qualified, stable staff team provides children with consistent support. One child said, ‘It’s good. They’re really caring.’  The building provides children with a homely environment which is clean and comfortable.  Staff advocate for the children in their care and want the best for them.  Staff keep children safe in the home and children feel safe.  Children experience relaxed and respectful relationships with staff. Staff give plenty of praise and support so that children can explore their identities safely.  Good leadership and management ensure that the home is child centred and all about giving children a positive experience.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that reviews (under regulation 45) are underpinned by the quality standards, as described in regulations 5 to 14. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)  Make sure that case records are kept up to date. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) This is with specific reference to ensuring that key work and other significant discussions with children are recorded to evidence that they take place and are useful to the child.  Ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) This is with specific reference to ensuring staff training to understand how to

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Recommendations

protect children from and to counter female genital mutilation.  Ensure that if a child’s progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff seek expert advice from educational professionals, such as the virtual school head, special educational needs coordinator, learning mentor or teacher. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)

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Information about this children’s home

A private limited company operates this home. The director is also the registered manager. The home provides accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 04/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/10/2015 Full Good 20/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/10/2014 Full Good

p.5

Good

A parent said that their child has benefited from getting into daily routines so that they experience a more structured day. They appreciate that their child learns skills to improve their independence. They find their child’s emotional health has improved, as they are calmer, with staff to turn to.

p.6

Good

Some children make significant progress by stopping absconding. Staff now know where the children are, so their safety is greatly improved. Some children have not been in the home for long, so their progress is limited, particularly regarding going missing. Nevertheless, there is improvement in them staying in touch with staff when they are away, often advising of their location and ultimately returning to the home.

p.6

Good

Those with a history of self-harm no longer do so, which is a significant improvement in their health and a reduction in risk to their safety. As children settle and feel secure, they make good progress with exploring their individual identity and receiving support services. They gain confidence and acceptance.

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Good

Some children cease offending behaviour. Others, who have not been in the home so long, have been further involved in the criminal justice system. They experience support from the staff to try to address their behaviour.

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Good

Some children attend education placements. Their attendance is a significant improvement on their previous non-attendance and supports their achievement. Others are not being educated, as they do not have an identified school place. The staff rightly challenge the local authority about this. Further challenge to other education professionals is required. For example, seeking expert advice and guidance from the virtual school headteacher would increase the chances of securing appropriate education placements.

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Good

Children receive good support to improve their health. For example, staff attend some appointments to support children when they access emotional and mental health services. Some persist in smoking and cannabis use, but are more aware of the impact that this may have on their health and are more ready to accept cessation support.

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Good

Children develop their independence skills. Some take greater interest in managing their personal hygiene. Cooking skills improve and children enjoy preparing meals. They begin to learn how to manage money and how realistically to live on a limited budget. They manage their own laundry and clean their bedrooms, which helps them to manage their environment.

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Good

Children receive help to re-establish relationships with their family. They benefit from living in a home in the same borough as their families, as this enables easier contact with them. Some family members become more involved in their children’s lives, as a result.

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Good

Children can and do bring friends home. Staff make them welcome and they share meals when visiting the residents. The building is homely and welcoming, appearing non-institutional and non-stigmatising when children bring their visitors home.

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Good

Children feel safe at this home. They know that staff are concerned with their safety. Some start to develop an awareness of the risks to them outside of the home, for example from sexual exploitation. They appreciate that the staff team is small and stable so they are cared for consistently. Staff feel that it is important that ‘happy staff and the same staff’ support children. Children do not report bullying as an issue at the home.

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Good

A robust recruitment system helps to ensure that the home employs suitable people to work with vulnerable children. Ongoing support, supervision and appraisal make sure that staff develop in their role.

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Good

The registered manager and staff take considerable care to scrutinise referrals to consider the impact that a new admission may have on the existing residents. They are mindful of protecting those who have settled and are experiencing stability.

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Good

Staff provide positive role models for children, for example modelling the importance of lifelong learning. They provide strong gender specific role models which children identify with. There is a gender mix but, due to maternity leave, there are currently fewer female staff. Some children say that they would like more female staff and the manager is taking this into consideration when recruiting new staff. One child finds that one staff member sometimes shouts. The manager is exploring this, as it is felt it could be a cultural matter.

p.7

Good

Staff manage behaviour positively. They use plenty of praise and rewards to encourage acceptable behaviour. They persist in managing challenging behaviour and make clear to children when their behaviour is unacceptable. Staff have not used restraint in this inspection period, which is impressive. Staff provide considerable individual support to children, including key-work sessions. However, staff do not keep records of all this work on children’s files to provide a useful reference for them.

p.7

Good

There have been occasions when placement information has failed to highlight all the risks affecting children at the referral stage. As behaviours emerge, staff have worked well to assess and manage risk to promote safety in the home. Similarly, staff do not always receive a positive response from placing authorities when necessary, for example in response to safeguarding incidents. This prevents a coordinated response to concerns such as gang involvement and child sexual exploitation.

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Good

The registered manager is well qualified and experienced, running this service since its registration. Staff describe him as ‘supportive, learned, experienced’. They have met the two recommendations made at the last (interim) inspection, indicating a capacity to improve the service continually.

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Good

There is effective information sharing with professionals and families. A parent describes ‘good care and communication’ which help their child. A medical professional finds staff ‘good at information sharing’ which helps the child’s attendance at medical appointments and interaction.

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Good

There is a culture of learning in the home and respect for education. A high number of staff have achieved the minimum level 3 qualification, with only one working towards achieving this. Some have also achieved a wide range of higher qualifications. Staff receive ongoing and mandatory training, for example on the ‘Prevent’ agenda to understand the vulnerability of children to extremism. However, training has not yet taken place on the issue of female genital mutilation.

p.8

Good

Staff find the independent visitor ‘quite thorough’ and say that they help staff continually to improve as a result of their monthly visits. The manager monitors what goes on and writes reviews of this every six months. However, the review does not reflect the current regulations and quality standards. This does not impact on children’s care.

p.8

Good

Staff describe the building as ‘really nice and homely’. Children like their bedrooms and the rest of the building. They have good computer facilities to support their homework and learning, and a few books.

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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’. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance, ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 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, work- based 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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