Children's Home run by Winsbeach Children’s Home Limited in Waltham Forest

Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 1 SC406638 Registered provider: Winsbeach Children’s Home Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional or social difficulties. The director of the company is also the registered manager. The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since the home opened in January 2010.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/10/2016 Full Good 04/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must reduce the risk of young people falling through the bedroom windows on the first floor, fix the broken fire door closing mechanisms and keep the storage shed locked. 01/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must keep a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, including the manager, and a record of the actual rosters worked. (Schedule 4.3) 01/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI, at HMCI’s request, a statement containing a summary of any complaints made during the preceding twelve months and the action that was taken in response to each complaint. (Regulation 39 (5))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must maintain an up-to-date log of complaints. 01/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 4

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Recommendations

 Sufficient staff means a home having enough suitably trained staff (including someone in a management role) on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1) Specifically, the registered person should review the number of hours that he spends working at the children’s home with a view of developing strategies to reduce them.  A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people experience stability in their lives. Two young people who currently live at the home are in their longest placements. The longevity of the placements has helped young people to develop positive relationships with staff members and a sense of having a secure base to return to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people stated that they judge this to be a good children’s home. One young person said that the home has given him the chances that the other homes did not. This young person’s mother noted that the home believed in her son and did not give up on him, despite the difficulties that he presented at times.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive good-quality support across all areas of their lives. One young person’s mother said that the staff gave her son support in the areas that the others (previous children’s homes) did not support him with. She said that this home has made a real difference to her son’s life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Taking into account the young people’s starting points, they have made some significant and positive steps in their lives. The areas of good progress include improving their behaviours, social skills, practical life skills and health and education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

With staff’s support, both young people have developed stronger motivation and confidence to engage in education. One young person has secured a place at a college after a long period of not being in any education. The second young person has been engaging more in his personal tuition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both young people have had basic health checks and their immunisations have been brought up to date. One social worker highlighted the significance of this as the young person had previously refused to attend any health appointments. Recently, the young Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 5 people started talking with staff more positively about smoking cessation programmes and learning about the specialist help that is available to help them quit smoking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people understand why they are in care. They are able to express clearly their views and feelings and contribute to the planning of their care. In line with their wishes and the opinions from professionals, one young person is working towards semi-independence and the plan for the second young person is to move closer to his family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both young people receive good support to develop their life skills and to prepare for adulthood. Their cooking skills, cleaning and caring for the home environment have very much improved. Staff are assisting young people to make better budgeting decisions, but this is still an area that the young people require constant support with.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The risk management practices in the home are good. In consultation with partner agencies, staff complete comprehensive risk assessments and management plans for each young person. Staff closely monitor and review the impact of these plans on the young people’s safety and make necessary adjustments when needed.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff talk with young people about the risks to their safety and encourage them to make safer choices. These discussions take place on a regular basis, during usual daily interactions, key-working sessions and house meetings. The examples include staff talking with the young people about the risks arising from missing education, misusing substances, gangs and county lines.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The home uses a restorative justice approach to promoting more positive behaviours. Staff emphasise young people’s strengths and achievements. There have been no physical interventions and the only sanction used in the home is a verbal reprimand.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Both young people have made progress in understanding how their behaviours affect others and the motivation to adapt their behaviours. The examples include shouting less and a willingness to apologise after being unkind. One young person said that feeling that the staff understood him helped him to learn how to calm himself down and to control himself better.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are committed to not criminalising young people. However, staff firmly enforce the zero policy on bullying, racist language, drugs and violence. They share relevant information appropriately with the police and the placing authorities, so that young people get a clear and consistent message about the serious consequences for unacceptable and unlawful behaviours.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When young people are absent without authority, staff follow appropriate reporting procedures. They work in close partnership with the police, social services and young people’s families to facilitate young people’s safe return home. The young people usually stay in telephone contact with the staff members but are classified as missing if staff cannot verify their whereabouts, due to their vulnerabilities. Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 6 When young people return home after a period of absence or going missing, they receive good support to talk about their experiences and to share any worries that they might have. The police complete safe and well checks, while the placing authorities speak to the young people on the phone and offer to visit. The registered manager conducts a separate return to care interview. One young person who used to go missing almost every week has not gone missing since mid-June. He said that he enjoyed going to sleep early and did not

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

All required health and safety checks, including those relating to fire safety, take place regularly. However, the risk control measures in relation to the physical environment are not always maintained. The examples include not having appropriate restrictors on the first floor bedroom windows, the automatic fire door closures being broken and the shed used for storage being unlocked.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed well and the service is child-centred. One young person talked about being heard as the most important thing that had helped him to change his life for the better. The registered manager’s monitoring reports demonstrate the positive impact that the home has had on the young people’s progress and outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Appropriately trained, supervised and supported staff help young people to have positive experiences and to improve their life chances. The small size of the team promotes the consistency of practices and close relationships with young people. However, this has also meant that in the last few months, some staff and, in particular, the registered manager have worked excessive hours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is very much involved in the direct work with young people. He leads by example and provides good support to young people and to the staff team. However, there are no arrangements for him to receive supervision and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a good advocate for young people. One young person said that the registered manager forced the placing authority to give the young person what he needs, for example to have education. Several professionals commented that the registered manager was very proactive and instrumental in organising multi-agency meetings to ensure that the young people received consistent and all-round support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The partnership working with others has improved since the last inspection. Both the local authority in which the home is situated and the police highlighted this. One social worker described the quality of communication and working together with this home as ‘absolutely wonderful’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Ofsted receives regular monthly monitoring reports that are completed by an independent visitor and the registered manager’s six-monthly quality review reports. The quality of record-keeping in the home is good overall and promotes good monitoring. However, the records of the staff duty rosters are not always updated to show the actual hours worked Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 7 by the registered manager, while the central log of complaints has not been maintained consistently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The weaknesses identified in this report have not had a negative impact on the young people. The registered manager has addressed all the requirements from the previous report.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, 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’. Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Winsbeach Children’s Home Limited

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Inspectors

Seka Graovac: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 9 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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