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

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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 young people. The home’s statement of purpose notes that the home will care for young people who may have emotional or social difficulties. The director of the company is also the registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

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: 20 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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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

20/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/08/2018 Full Good 19/12/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/03/2017 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 registered person must notify, without delay, the local authority for the area in which the children’s home is located of every admission of a child into the home and every discharge of a child from the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person is not required to notify the local authority in paragraph (1) if that local authority is also the placing authority for the child in question.

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Requirement Due date

A notification under this regulation must be in writing and must state—

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Requirement Due date

whether the child is provided with accommodation under section 20 or 21 of the Children Act 1989(a);

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Requirement Due date

whether the child is subject to a care or supervision order under section 31 of the Children Act 1989(b);

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Requirement Due date

the contact details for— the child’s placing authority; and the independent reviewing officer appointed for the child’s case; and

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Requirement Due date

whether the child has an EHC plan or a statement of special educational needs and, if so, details of the local authority with responsibility for the EHC plan or for maintaining the statement of special educational needs. (Regulation 41 (1)(2)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 01/04/2020

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 4  Homes must also meet children’s basic day to day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.07) Specifically, the registered person should make sure that the refrigerator is maintained well or replaced.  The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose. They should also play a key role in shaping the

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Recommendations

ethos of the home through developing a culture of high aspiration for children which is demonstrated through the care, resources and opportunities offered to the children . (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4) Specifically, the registered person should make policies and procedures more comprehensive, so that the child protection policy includes reference to safeguarding young people from the risk of radicalisation, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, so-called honour-based violence and all forms of exploitation, including sexual and criminal exploitation. The policy on behaviour management must set out how appropriate behaviour is promoted in the home.  All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that young people’s risk assessments are updated after they have been expelled from education.  Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the locality risk assessment considers the most recent crime data for the area.

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Inspection judgements

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have a positive experience of living in this home. They receive good care and have constructive relationships with staff members. A young person said that staff’s respect for her personal space was the best thing about the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at promoting stability in young people’s lives. Two young people had their longest placements in this home. Their social workers were particularly pleased with how staff met these young people’s cultural and ethnic needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people settle quickly in the home. This includes young people who come to the home in an emergency. These young people experienced safety and continued with their education until they went either back to live with their families or to different kinds of placements that suited them better long term.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in close partnership with other professionals to plan and deliver effective care that meets young people’s needs. Staff received bespoke training from mental health professionals on how to best support a young person, in relation to her self-harming behaviours, in readiness before she came to this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s understanding of the importance of having a healthy lifestyle is increasing. Staff help young people to have regular health checks and access universal and specialist health services. Staff support young people at the sexual health clinic and liaise with the substance misuse workers to enable young people’s better engagement with these services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff advocate strongly for young people to receive education. Young people’s learning attitudes, commitment and confidence have improved considerably.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the home is safe, clean, tidy and comfortable. The kitchen has new worktops and new flooring has recently been fitted throughout. However, the refrigerator has been without any shelves for many months and this undermines the quality of the otherwise well-maintained environment.

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

The risk-assessment practices in the home are sound. Young people’s risk assessments carefully consider their histories and identify their vulnerabilities. This approach assists staff to help young people to develop their own awareness of risks and the knowledge about what makes them safer.

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

The management of risks is effective. Young people’s risk management plans contain comprehensive strategies to minimise any risks to their safety. Young people are safer as a result of these strategies being followed by staff in practice.

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

Staff review young people’s individual risk assessments on a regular basis. However, on one occasion, the risk assessment was not updated when a young person was Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 6 permanently excluded from a school. Staff have a good understanding of the increased risks to young people who are not in education and the weakness in the document has not had a negative impact on the support provided to the young person concerned.

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

Staff follow an effective safeguarding procedure when young people are absent without authority or are missing from care. Staff appropriately share information with the police, placing authorities and, where relevant, young people’s families, to enhance young people’s safety and secure their safe return. A young person who used to go missing almost every day from previous placements, went missing overnight from this home only once in three months.

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

The home has clear house rules for young people to follow and staff keep firm boundaries. Routines and structure help young people to develop better behaviours. A young person who was involved in three incidents in November 2019 has not been involved in any incidents since.

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

Staff carefully monitor young people’s relationships in the home. Staff respond robustly to any incidents of intimidation or a suspicion of negative influence between young people. Bullying and any form of discriminatory behaviours are not tolerated.

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

Young people contribute to the annual reviews of the locality risk assessment. Staff also seek the views of safeguarding partners to build a realistic picture of the risks in the locality. However, the analysis of the crimes in the area and their impact on the locality is limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is highly experienced and appropriately qualified. The home is managed effectively and efficiently. The management and staff team deliver the home’s statement of purpose to a high standard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager regularly reviews policies and procedures to make sure that staff have written guidance that reflects any changes in legislation. However, some important policies and procedures are limited in their scope. For example, the child protection policy does not include safeguarding young people from a wide range of specific risks to their safety, such as radicalisation, exploitation or self-harm. Furthermore, the behaviour management policy does not set out how appropriate behaviour is promoted in the home, although the actual practices are strong.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager carefully monitors young people’s progress and outcomes. He advocates for young people within the network of professionals to make sure that young people receive the all-round support that they need. Professionals talked highly about the quality of the home and the focus on what is best for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager’s six-monthly reviews of the quality of care consider the views of young people and professionals. Good quality assurance includes regular visits by an experienced independent visitor. These visits support the home’s development by Inspection report children’s home: SC406638 7 identifying areas for improvement and offering guidance on how improvement can be achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has responded positively to all recommendations from the previous inspection. Room searches and assessments of the impact that prospective new young people may have on the existing group dynamics in the home are now better recorded. The registered manager has also informed Ofsted of notifiable events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The standard of record-keeping is generally good. The register of admissions and discharges is maintained in the detail required. However, the registered manager has not informed the local authority in which the home is situated of admissions of young people, who came from different local authorities, on four occasions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff are appropriately qualified and interested in learning to further their knowledge and skills. They receive regular supervision and annual reviews of their performance. A comprehensive training programme contributes to their continued professional development.

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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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Inspector

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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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