Children's Home run by Horizon Residential Children's Home in Waltham Forest

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged outstanding at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has improved effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The leaders and managers have addressed the two recommendations made at the last inspection, showing that they can use constructive criticism to improve and develop the service for young people.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home continues to offer an extremely high standard of care and support to young people. They benefit from stable and consistent placements, which last and provide high levels of support and encouragement. An experienced and committed staff team, dedicated to improving young people’s opportunities and experiences, works well together to provide safe and consistent care. A strength of this staff team is the effort that its members put into ensuring that they build positive and nurturing relationships with all of the young people they care for. This approach, combined with clear boundaries and regular routines, helps young people to feel safe, valued and cared for. Young people made the following comments about their home:

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

 The staff help me a lot with my relationships.  I like the home and get on with the staff OK.  I have more contact with my family; this is good and something the home has helped me with.  I like my key worker and can go to her for advice if I need to.  Perfect with all the staff and young people, I give it 10 out of 10.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

All of the young people are on roll in school or college. They are encouraged and supported to attend education and receive help to ensure that they are organised and in regular routines to get up and go on time. Young people have made exceptional progress from their starting points in education. For example, one young person has returned to mainstream education after a long period of absence, and another has impressed teachers with how quickly he has completed a level 1 qualification. One young person told me, ‘I have pride in my work, I’ve got very neat writing.’ A social worker said about a young person’s education, ‘School attendance has been brilliant; previously it was 7% and now it is 60–70%, with no unauthorised absences.’ Young people are also progressing well in other aspects of their lives; for example, improving personal hygiene, decreasing the incidents of being missing from care, accepting boundaries in the home, and staying out of trouble with the police. One

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

social worker said, ‘This time last year, this was a pipe dream; he has made really good progress. He is well monitored and supported at this placement.’

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff place high importance on building and strengthening relationships with families. One young person has returned home to the care of his parents since the last key inspection. The parents felt that previous difficult behaviours had significantly reduced to the point that they felt able to resume care. Current work is ongoing with two other young people with a view to a return home. Work with one young person has allowed a set date for a reunification home imminently. In addition, positive interactions with another family who have been fully engaged in working with the home and the young person are supporting a possible return home in the near future. The social worker reported how appreciative the family were of the work the home had completed and provided excellent feedback about their experience.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Only one young person has left the home since the full inspection last November, and they returned home to their family successfully. One young person was admitted to the home as an emergency over the Christmas period. Unfortunately, this young person had an extensive history of being missing from care and only stayed at the placement for just the one day, never fully engaging or committing to being at the home. The staff team tracked and recorded his episodes of going missing while this placement was open, and took appropriate steps to locate him and support his return. The placement was closed at the end of January 2017, as it was clear that the young person was not going to return.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection, there has been a low number of recorded incidents. There have been no incidents requiring restraint, no complaints, and no notifications of serious incidents to Ofsted. The home has given nine sanctions during this time frame. These are appropriate and the recording is a helpful learning process for young people, who are expected to make comments and sign the restraint record. General comments from young people showed that they felt that consequences given were fair and that they were helped to understand why they were given.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Both external and internal monitoring is good and ensures that leaders and managers understand how the home is running and where changes are needed to improve the quality of care. An independent person visits the home every month and provides a report, which is sent to Ofsted. This report takes into account the views and feedback of young people, their families and other professionals involved in their care and provides a report to the leaders and managers. The recommendations made in these regular monitoring reports have been minimal, but where made, leaders and managers have acted upon them promptly.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Leaders and managers have worked hard to continue to improve this already outstanding service. The registered manager provides a six-monthly review of the quality of care and accurately identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the service. This report informs a detailed development plan, which is ambitious in continuing to grow and develop practice. Examples of new initiatives are as follows: further development of the placement matching information and initial placement planning meeting documents; development of the structure of the staff meetings; measuring outcomes in education; better links in the local community; developing risk management planning tools; reflective supervision; revised induction booklets for young people; and independent living skills work.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Members of the staff team are all offered excellent support and training opportunities to help them to do their jobs effectively. All staff hold the NVQ level 3 qualification and are offered mandatory training in key areas. There is a plan to provide training on attachment, loss and bereavement, and ensuring that training focuses on the needs of the young people in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home accommodates up to six young people. The home offers care to young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/11/2016 Full Outstanding 23/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/12/2015 Full Outstanding 18/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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 children looked after 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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