Children's home run by Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy in Southwark

Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 1 SC025700 Registered provider: Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a charitable organisation. The home specialises in the treatment of children who present with severe emotional and behavioural problems as a result of attachment difficulties that are usually rooted in early life trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since 10 April 2007.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 17 October 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 2 17/10/2017 Full Outstanding 09/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/09/2016 Full Outstanding 02/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A stable, long-serving, knowledgeable and well-trained staff team provides a consistently excellent standard of therapeutic care based on a systemic therapy model. Children arrive at the home having had many/extremely traumatic experiences involving adults. Over time, the children build very strong bonds, lasting relationships and good levels of trust with staff. A parent said, when discussing the care provided, ‘They [the staff] are loving towards [my child] and treat her as though she is their own child.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make outstanding progress. Staff show empathy and excellent understanding of children’s needs. Consequently, children settle in quickly and become confident and happy in their surroundings. Children who presented with significantly challenging behaviour at the start of their placements, because of their previous experiences, benefit enormously from living at the home. The entire staff team has the ability to transform children’s lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff have an excellent record in re-engaging children with their education. All of the children are in full-time education in the local area, although previously many of them were not in full-time education or, in some cases, were not in any education. Attendance levels in education are exceptional; genuine illness or anxieties are the only factors that lead to absence. The continuous progress that the children make in their education is evident in the education reports that are provided by their schools, in their certificates of achievement and in the reports that the staff prepare for the children’s reviews.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The arrangements for supporting children’s emotional health are excellent. Children’s everyday health needs are addressed through community-based services that are well established, and work on emotional health is undertaken by staff at the home. Children and staff are supported by a range of specialist services that are provided by the organisation that operates the home. Child Psychotherapeutic Counsellors contribute to all staff meetings. Currently, all children are receiving therapeutic care packages.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Strong and positive relationships between the staff and children underpin the excellent communication and consultation between them. This is an area of strength for the home. Formal weekly meetings are attended by all staff and children. The meetings provide a forum that enables children to make active choices about their care, activities, food, and toy swaps. The consultative approach that staff use with the children was observed throughout the inspection. Children are at ease when approaching staff, which contributed greatly to the happy and relaxed atmosphere that prevailed at the home throughout the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

External professionals who work with and have regular contact with the home agreed that the care provided for children is excellent. An education professional said, ‘All of the team at [the home] offer a good sense of community. We can see through the children’s behaviour that the children feel loved and safe. They [the staff and children] are all so close – like a family should be.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 4 Children live in a house that is indistinguishable from others around it. The house provides a warm, cosy, homely and child-friendly environment. There is space for children to play in, or be on their own if they wish. Children’s bedrooms are individually personalised to suit their tastes and their needs. The overall presentation of the home and the quality of decor, furnishings, fixtures and equipment are outstanding. Children feel valued because of their environment.

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

The management of children’s behaviour is outstanding. Challenging, disruptive and sometimes aggressive behaviour is well managed by a confident and professional staff team. Behaviour management is positive rather than punitive. Staff have a full understanding of why each child behaves in a certain way, and can equate the behaviour with what the child is trying to communicate. Staff use their training and the advice that they receive from other professionals to identify triggers for specific behaviour, and to manage it safely and effectively.

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

The oversight and scrutiny of staff intervention to de-escalate behaviour are excellent. Behavioural incidents that require physical intervention are managed sensitively and in a way that enables children to retain their dignity, supports their emotional well-being and enables them to actively comment and raise any concerns. Incident records are monitored and evaluated by senior staff. Debriefing sessions and dedicated meetings with the children and staff concerned provide opportunities to explore each incident comprehensively to see if lessons can be learned, and whether an incident could have been handled differently. This reflection is invaluable and informs future strategies. It also serves to safeguard children.

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

No children have gone missing from this home in many years. This reflects how safe children are and feel, and is testament to the strong relationships that exist between them and the staff.

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

Excellent systems underpin the safety of the children and staff. The staff are guided by detailed risk assessments that identify risks both at the home and in the local community. These assessments are reviewed and updated regularly so that they always reflect children’s presenting needs.

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

The progress that children make in managing their behaviour, frustration and anxiety is evident in the comprehensive planning, reporting and safeguarding records – all of which are of high quality. Children can move on successfully to foster care or reintegrate successfully into their family homes because of the progress that they make in managing their behaviour.

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

Children settle well and thrive because of the home’s structured environment and the clearly defined boundaries. This provides them with a sense of security. Children live in a home that is warm and nurturing, and with staff who provide them with appropriate Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 5 affection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is exceptionally well managed by an experienced and fully committed registered manager who leads by example. His aspirations for children and staff are high and he demands high standards. The manager’s approach has earned him the full respect of the staff team and goes some way to explaining the home’s high staff- retention rate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The whole staff team and all the managers are totally child focused. The staff willingly work flexibly, and work very well together as a team. The staff all buy into the ethos, culture and working practices that they have helped to create at the home over the years. The children’s needs are put first and staff are prepared to work hard so that those needs can be met. For example, during a recent transition period for a child, senior managers intervened as they felt that a proposed placement for the child, who was due to move on, was not suitable for him to flourish and grow. Due to organisation’s commitment to ensuring that this child moved into the right family, the social worker stopped the proposed placement move and is continuing their search for a more appropriate placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel well supported by senior staff. The formal programme of supervision and appraisal takes place consistently. Staff recruitment is another area in which children are consulted giving them a voice and some input into the way that the home operates. Communication between staff is very good, which aids the general organisation of the home and the excellent way that staff deploy themselves so that children receive individual attention. Staff morale is high and visitors immediately experience the happiness and warmth that abounds throughout the home and creates a happy and positive environment for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The highly effective training programme for all staff is closely monitored by senior staff so that all refresher training is actioned in good time. Weekly staff meetings are pre- planned and well organised. For example, during one week there may be a full staff- team meeting, including attendance by all of the children, and during another week there may be a relevant training element to the meeting, with attendance by the therapists who provide advice and support. Aligning theoretical models alongside the current practical needs of children is an area of excellence, giving staff greater insight into why they work in a certain way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The monitoring of the home, both internally and externally, is of a consistently high standard. Records are monitored regularly by senior staff, who inject meaningful evaluation and comment. The manager is adept at taking on these external observations, linking them with his own critical analysis and then translating them into development plans. These plans identify strengths and areas for improvement at the home. The staff’s contribution is an important feature in making sure that they understand their roles, support children consistently and work as a cohesive and Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 6 effective team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This home replicates the feeling of a genuinely loving family home. Management and staff are child focused and fully committed to improving the lives of the children they look after. Children who have had unhappy experiences can experience a positive childhood and adopt a more fulfilling lifestyle.

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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: SC025700 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 210 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JX

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Inspector

Cathy Russell: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025700 8 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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