Children's home run by Oak House Children's Home Limited in Redbridge

Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 1 SC467847 Registered provider: Oak house Children’s Home Ltd

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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 privately owned home provides care for up to five young people. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it aims to provide residential care with a therapeutic emphasis and multi-agency involvement. This home is also registered as a school. The provider has another children’s home in the area and there are close links between the homes.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2018. The registered manager is also the headteacher for the on-site school.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 November 2019

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/01/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/08/2018 Full Good 31/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must monitor the use of physical interventions in the home rigorously and ensure that the records are detailed enough to enable a meaningful analysis. 01/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation. (Regulation 33 (1)(b)) 01/03/2020

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 4 Specifically, the registered person should complete risk assessments of the security of the home and the garden to ensure that the environment is in keeping with the ethos of a children’s home.  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the

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Recommendations

impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) Specifically, the registered person should consider and record the impact that any prospective new young person’s placement may have on the existing group of young people and vice versa.  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that records demonstrate that all staff have their professional performance appraised on at least an annual basis and that they receive regular supervision.

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Recommendations

 The processes the registered person puts in place to enable such a review to take place, should allow for a report to be generated at least once every six months. The generated report should be sent to Ofsted and the placing local authority of all children in the home who are looked-after children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.3) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the quality of care review reports are completed in a timely manner and sent to Ofsted within a month after the end of the review period.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive a high standard of individualised care from skilled and caring staff. Young people develop close relationships with staff members and have positive experiences of being in care. Staff support young people to engage in developmental opportunities and to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s therapeutic provision enhances the quality of support that young people receive. The young people’s emotional well-being and ability to manage their emotions have improved since moving in. They have developed better self-awareness and are more open to asking for and accepting help. Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 5 Staff listen carefully to young people’s views, wishes and feelings. One young person said: ‘Staff are all supportive. Anything that you want to do, they will help you with.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy taking part in a wide range of learning and recreational activities. Staff help young people to develop their interests and talents, such as in music, gaming and chess. Staff encourage young people to be ambitious and to apply themselves studiously to achieve their goals, such as through being a member of a scheme for emerging artists.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are good pupils and make good progress in their learning. They enjoy reading and learning about new things and their educational attainments are considerable. This is true both for the young people who attend the on-site school and those who attend local mainstream schools.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have their own personal trainer, who provides them with individual support to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. They also receive advice on nutrition and healthy eating habits. They enjoy learning to cook dishes from different cuisines and developing their life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people develop friendships within the home and with other peers. Their social skills and understanding of social etiquette improve over time. Young people learn about the importance of helping others by being involved in charity events, such as preparing food for homeless people in the area or raising money for refugees abroad.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with other professionals and young people’s parents to achieve what is best for the young people. When young people are placed out of their home area, staff make extra efforts to ensure that the physical distance is not a barrier to the young people’s positive relationships with their families. Young people understand their rights and each young person has an advocate.

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

Young people receive good help and support to be safe. Professionals reported that the young people’s negative behaviours have significantly reduced since they moved to this home. The examples include stopping self-harming and misusing substances.

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

The home’s risk management practices are robust and safeguard young people effectively. Risk assessments are comprehensive and up to date. Staff work closely with other professionals to agree and implement young people’s safety plans.

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

Staff use a wide range of strategies for minimising any identified risks. They enable young people to have a better understanding of the risks to their safety and to learn how to keep themselves safe. Young people have attended workshops on gangs, criminal exploitation, substance misuse and fire safety.

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

Young people also complete e-safety training with staff and sign contracts regarding online access. Staff monitor young people’s online activity on a regular basis. Staff have Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 6 frank conversations with young people when issues arise, such as after occasions when young people have tried to access pornography.

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

Staff do all they can to avoid the criminalisation of young people. They work closely with the local youth offending service to enable young people to understand the importance of behaving within the law. A young person who came to the home with a history of offending behaviour has completed their court orders and has not reoffended.

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

Staff use a restorative approach to helping young people to adopt more constructive behaviours. Staff use physical interventions as a last resort, and only when it is necessary to protect young people or adults from harm. One social worker commented how a young person who used to be restrained daily due to their negative behaviour now rarely requires physical intervention.

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

Staff follow effective procedures when young people go missing from the home. Staff understand the ‘pull factors’, such as young people wanting to be closer to their family. Staff do everything they can to keep young people positively engaged to prevent them from going missing. Although the frequency of missing-from-home episodes has increased in recent months for some young people, overall this is at a lower level than it used to be before they came to live at this home.

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

Health and safety checks ensure that any environmental hazards are removed and risks minimised. However, risk assessments regarding the garden and the security of the premises have not been completed. Barbed wire on the buildings in the garden was removed during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers ensure that the home is resourced to fulfil its statement of purpose. The therapeutic and educational ethos of the home is fully embedded. Leaders, managers and staff have high aspirations for young people and are effective at helping them to improve their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff access a comprehensive training programme and continue to develop their care practices. Team spirit is high, and staff reported that they felt well supported by their colleagues and therapists. Staff members were also highly appreciative of the support and guidance that they received from the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Young people’s files contain a wealth of insightful information and demonstrate the good progress that they have made. Social workers said that they receive monitoring reports about their young people’s progress on a regular basis.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

While leaders and managers closely monitor the progress of individual young people, some other aspects of their monitoring are less effective. In particular, monitoring of the use of physical interventions in the home is not rigorous enough. The registered manager has countersigned some reports that have a poor level of detail and, also, when she herself was directly involved in the physical intervention. Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 7 The six-monthly review of the quality of care is overdue. It should have been completed and forwarded to Ofsted in the previous month. The delay affects Ofsted’s ability to monitor the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home does not have a system in place for ensuring that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation. The annual appraisals of staff performance are in progress but some have been long overdue. Some records of staff supervision meetings were not available, and it was unclear how the registered manager oversees staff supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers ensure that staff have the necessary skills to meet the needs of the young people. The contribution from the home’s psychologist and the psychotherapist strengthens the home’s decision-making process. However, the home’s written impact assessment regarding a new young person moving in failed to consider the potential impact on the young people who already live in the home, and vice versa.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Weaknesses identified in the leadership and management have not had a negative impact on young people’s experiences, progress and outcomes. Many aspects of leadership and management are strong. Leaders and managers are considering introducing a new online recording system with the aim of making monitoring more efficient and effective.

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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: SC467847 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oak house Children’s Home Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: ABC Care Solutions, 249 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, Essex IG1 4TG

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Inspector(s)

Seka Graovac, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC467847 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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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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