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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 1 SC007284 Registered provider: Horizon Residential Children‟s Home

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides long-term placements for up to six young people. The home‟s statement of purpose states that care will be provided to young people who may present with challenging and offending behaviours. The home is privately owned and is one of three children‟s homes run by the same company. The company also provides a range of other services for children and adults, including residential family centres, supported living provisions, outreach support, family support in the community and community-based parenting assessments. The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2000.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 December 2018

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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 good

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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: 14 November 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/11/2017 Full Outstanding 23/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/11/2016 Full Outstanding 23/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 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

A person may only manage a children‟s home if—

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

by the relevant date, attained— the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 5 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered provider considers to be equivalent to the Level 5 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is— in the case of a person who was managing a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2017. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)(2)(c)(3)(b)) 01/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person 01/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 4 must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must review and improve the current system for analysing and overseeing the quality of records of young people being absent without authority and going missing, and of the log of complaints, and ensure that the quality review reports capture feedback from all stakeholders more clearly and that the reports are sent to Ofsted in a more timely manner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home provides an outstanding level of stability and permanence to young people. Staff are highly skilled at meeting the needs of a wide range of young people. These include young people with very complex needs and, in several cases, young people whose needs other care professionals had previously been unsuccessful in meeting. For instance, one young person had moved 14 times within the residential care system, and another young person had moved 10 times, before they both moved into this home and settled. Both young people have subsequently made excellent progress. Young people consistently receive high-quality care. For this reason, young people have positive experiences, lead productive lives and make exceptional progress in their learning. They are well supported to build relationships and make appropriate choices to ensure their safety. All young people make excellent progress in education. Young people currently living at

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

the home are all working towards gaining qualifications that had seemed highly unlikely before their move to this home. For example, one young person, who previously had not attended any education for seven months, is now studying for a qualification in public services and has a high level of attendance at school. Another young person has made significant progress from having a very poor education history, which included several school exclusions and periods of non-attendance, to achieving an outstanding level of Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 5 attendance and becoming the school‟s star pupil. Living together with the same young people and being cared for by a stable staff team have enabled young people to develop strong relationships and a deep sense of security, belonging and comradery. One young person said that they now have a „true home‟. Young people‟s needs are assessed excellently, with comprehensive care plans guiding

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

staff in how to provide young people with highly effective care, support and interventions. Care plans are compiled with input from other professionals and the young people themselves. Young people report that staff always ask them questions, listen to them and respect their views. One young person said that being respected by staff had helped him the most in his progress, as he had not experienced this from adults previously. Staff have an in-depth knowledge of young people and the issues that impact on their behaviour, attitude and well-being. Staff‟s awareness of relevant theories and up-to-date research findings relating to neglect and trauma enhances their excellent understanding of how young people‟s past experiences affect them. Staff show great levels of empathy and sensitivity towards young people, and young people respond positively. One young person said that staff seem to know if a young person is upset even before the young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

person says anything about it. Strong relationships between young people and staff members underpin young people‟s significantly increased safety. Young people have substituted their negative behaviours with positive activities, such as learning mutual respect and being kind to others. Young people have either stopped or significantly reduced the behaviours that increased risks to their safety, such as self-harming, going missing, engaging in exploitative relationships, offending and being physically and verbally aggressive. Young people‟s personal confidence and communication skills have improved significantly. Staff work creatively with young people to help them to develop their interests and get more involved in the communities around them. For example, staff engaged in computer games with one young person to lead him to gradually expand his interests outside the virtual world. Staff then provided the young person with the

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

practical support that he needed to overcome his insecurities around meeting people. All young people now enjoy going to places of interest and on holidays of their choice. For example, some talked positively about the activities holiday they went on, which included kayaking, canoeing, wall-climbing and zip-wire experiences, while others enjoyed calm and relaxing spa days. Staff contribute to young people‟s life-story work by supporting them to keep lovely and meaningful memorabilia of their lives. Young people who have successfully transitioned to adulthood have stayed in touch with the home. Their occasional visits, messages and cards show that they have continued to value and draw strength from the attachments that they made with the staff members who helped them to turn their lives around.

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

Excellent safeguarding practices are embedded throughout the home. Young people spoken to by the inspector reported feeling much safer and that their safety had Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 6 improved significantly since they moved into the home. Comprehensive safeguarding policies, procedures and structures help staff to keep young people safe. Staff receive training on a wide range of safeguarding topics and engage in ongoing case-management discussions that focus sharply on safeguarding. Such an approach enables staff to reflect on how the current thinking in social care impacts on their direct work with young people. Examples include how conduct disorders affect young people‟s concentration and behaviours and how to identify and support young people who are vulnerable to criminal exploitation. The home‟s risk management practices are proactive, holistic and collaborative. Staff help young people to develop a better understanding of their own vulnerabilities and

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

risks to their own safety. Key-working sessions focus on enabling young people to develop their resilience. Young people have access to online training that was specifically designed for young people to help them to understand the risks of being groomed and the potential for child sexual exploitation. Young people said that they find it easy to approach staff with any concerns that they have about their own or other people‟s safety. Being able to talk openly and feeling heard have helped the young people who came to the home with a risk of taking their own life or engaging in self-harming behaviours to stop these behaviours. Staff work closely with mental health professionals to promote young people‟s emotional well-being and ensure that young people receive specialist support when they need it. Episodes of young people going missing from care have significantly reduced, and in some instances ceased completely. One young person who was missing for 30 days

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

before coming to live in this home has stopped running away altogether. Another young person, who used to go missing regularly and who would not be in contact with any professionals for several days, now keeps in contact with staff when running late in getting back to the home. Staff model positive behaviours and caring relationships. They consistently provide young people with a nurturing, affirmative and non-judgemental environment. With the involvement of young people, they have created an effective system for rewarding young people for their constructive behaviours. Incidents of challenging behaviour in the home are rare. This is particularly impressive given that most young people have histories of highly challenging behaviours. Several young people said that they can now manage their anger and other emotions better, and stated that this was the best thing that they had learned since coming to live in the

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

home. One social worker said that their young person‟s behaviours and social presentation have improved beyond recognition. The young people with a history of offending are engaging well with the youth offending services. Having developed a better understanding of risks, the young people have disengaged from people who used to influence them negatively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders, managers and staff share an ambitious vision to help young people to thrive, in the same way good parents do for their own children. The home is young person- Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 7 centred and highly effective in making a significant difference in young people‟s lives. Young people‟s files are meticulously kept and evidence the approach taken by leaders and managers to provide young people with well-planned and highly effective care. Leaders, managers and staff continually assess the impact of the support provided to young people and the progress that they make. They use their findings effectively to fine-tune their own support and proactively seek any additional support needed from the network of professionals to meet the changing needs of young people. Leaders and managers from different services across the company meet regularly to share good practice, reflect on how incidents and concerns have been managed and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

learn from each other. The responsible individual provides staff with summaries of current research to ensure that they are up to date with the latest developments in social care. For example, research about the impact of parental rejection on young people has helped staff to develop a better understanding of young people‟s emotional well-being and has led to more effective work with parents. The stability of the leadership and management team has had a positive impact on the overall stability of the home. The registered manager has been in his role for 18 years. He is a qualified social worker and is working towards obtaining an appropriate qualification in management; due to extenuating circumstances, the registered manager has not yet completed this qualification. Staff have access to an excellent training programme that cultivates their professional development and curiosity. One staff member said that the training on gangs was very

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

interesting and inspired them to read more on this topic and learn more about how young people are exploited by gangs. The minutes of individual supervisions and team meetings show that staff strive to find effective ways of helping each individual young person. Although case notes are of an excellent quality, some other records are of a variable quality. For instance, the logs of complaints and of incidents when young people were absent without authority or went missing are not always maintained consistently and on occasion do not match other records. The few deficits in the home‟s record-keeping have not had a negative impact on the excellent progress and outcomes for young people. The registered person‟s last six-monthly quality review report lacks in-depth analysis and does not fully reflect the feedback that young people‟s parents and professionals have provided to the home. The most recent report was not sent to Ofsted in a timely

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

manner. Not receiving the report within a month after the reporting period has ended has a negative impact on Ofsted‟s ability to monitor the home effectively. During the inspection, the young people‟s social workers gave very positive feedback about the home and talked highly about the quality of the service and its impact on young people‟s lives. Several professionals said that this was one of the best services that they have come across. The provider is fully aware of the strengths and areas for development of the home and is working towards rectifying the shortfalls. Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 8

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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 considered 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: SC007284 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Residential Children‟s Home

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 46 The Ridgeway, North Harrow, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 7QN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Mehnaaz Chaudhary

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Inspector

Seka Graovac, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC007284 10 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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