Children's home run by Raise House Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 1 Registered provider: Raise House Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. In its statement of purpose, the provider states that it provides care to children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted on 27 April 2020 with its current manager.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

This inspection was conducted on site and involved meetings with children and staff. Feedback was received from social work and educational professionals, the youth offending service and parents. A staff questionnaire was also shared for those staff who were not on site but wished to contribute their views.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in the home at the time of this inspection. This was the home’s first inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account Good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected Good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide individualised and consistent care for each child. The children have complex histories with concerns about criminal and sexual exploitation. Staff remain focused on the child beneath the outward appearance of self-sufficiency. This perseverance shows children that they are important and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Daily planners are not robust enough. Managers are not ensuring that there is sufficient daily structure and routine for the children. This is particularly relevant for children who are not actively engaged in education and wish to remain distant and isolated. Children are not incentivised to participate in opportunities to build on their self-esteem and confidence. Consequently, children have limited reasons to interact productively with staff or remain in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff advocate well on behalf of children. They support children to improve relationships with professionals and family members. Staff have facilitated family time in the home and in the community. This allows children to create more stable and productive relationships with those around them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer children access to well-rounded and contextual discussions. Everyday opportunities are used to discuss such topics as African and world history, gender stereotypes, culture, diversity, safe relationships and consent. This allows children to safely consider their own views, reasoning and decision-making. Consequently, children are being equipped with the necessary skills to build safer futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are forming trusting relationships with staff. Children know how to complain and have regular formal keywork sessions, debriefs and resident meetings to share their views and wishes. Given their complex histories, progress is slow and is not always linear. However, staff remain welcoming and non-judgemental, while offering constructive challenge. Consequently, children are being helped to understand the impact of their behaviours on themselves and those around them.

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

Children’s risk assessments are extremely detailed and thorough. There is a robust response to episodes of children going missing from the home which involves the child’s network, although the reporting of these to Ofsted via notifications has been less consistent. This does not allow Ofsted to have a clear understanding of what is happening at the home.

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

Staff attempt to keep in regular touch with children while they are missing from the home, and they reiterate their worry for the child. Staff ensure that they and social workers complete return home interviews when children return home. Regular safe and well checks are completed by police when children return home after being Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 3 missing. Thus, children are supported by their network to reduce the times they go missing from home and their risk of exposure to harmful incidents.

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

The evidence of children’s participation in the home is inconsistent. Records do not fully reflect the voice of the child and comments are sometimes written by staff for children. Keywork sessions demonstrate that children are discussing difficult topics and that staff are addressing the areas of concern for them. However, not all keywork sessions include clarity of children’s views, children’s signatures or demonstrate follow up of targets. This does not allow children to always be active participants in their plans, progress and development.

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

Staff have clear behaviour management plans which the child has participated in constructing. Individualised documents refer to each child’s strengths, triggers and strategies to manage distressed behaviours. Children’s behaviours are understood in the context of their histories, and documents balance risks with positive comments about each child. Rewards and sanctions are discussed in the home, but there is an over-reliance on sanctions for unwanted behaviours rather than rewards promoting positive behaviours.

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

Staff are skilled, professional and experienced. The members of the staff team all hold the required qualifications, and many have other relevant and higher qualifications. Some staff have a good grasp of working with children who are at risk of criminal exploitation and gang association and can relate to the children in a manner that is not seen as superficial or patronising. However, contextual safeguarding training has not been completed by all the staff. Consequently, learning and experience are not shared within the entire team, which limits some staff members’ understanding of the risks posed to children.

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

There is clear management oversight of children’s files. Monthly reviews are detailed and outline key areas of work and concerns raised within the preceding month. Although these are not consistent on children’s files, where they are present, they indicate that staff and the manager consider themes and patterns in behaviours. Information from the independent visitor reports are not always incorporated into practice. This means that there is a risk that indicators of harm or risk to children and the strategies to be implemented can be overlooked.

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

Staff and management undertake robust partnership working. Positive feedback was received from professionals and family members about staff interactions and children’s progress since living in the home. Staff offer appropriate challenge and ensure that professionals are sharing information or behaving in a manner which promotes the child’s welfare. Consequently, the welfare and interests of children are promoted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have an ambitious vision for children. Managers are clear from initial information whether children will offer challenge and have recruited staff with a variety of skills and experience to meet their needs. Managers promote Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 4 tolerance and diversity within the team and for the children. However, probationary processes are not consistent. This means that managers are not as effective as they could be in developing the right staff to care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ably leads the team. Staff are offered a thorough induction, monthly reflective supervision, and access to ongoing training. A consultant therapist offers monthly support to staff to help them understand their responses to children with complex needs. Changes in the organisational structure have meant that the timeliness of supervisions suffered for a short period of time, leading to some missed learning opportunities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s own supervision is not as consistent and reflective as it should be. The management team has made changes to the supervision structure, which will ensure that the manager is offered the appropriate development and oversight needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have good oversight of their service and have effective quality assurance processes in place to understand their strengths and areas for development. The manager is clear of their role and maximises opportunities to oversee staff practices to ensure the home is achieving its aims and objectives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers attempt to ensure that there is a prepared and strong staffing team. Rotas ensure that there is consistency of staff and that children know each staff member. This ensures that children are cared for by a competent and able staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that children’s strengths are integral to all work. Careful decisions on who should live in the home are made and the influences that children could have on each other are considered. This was most significant in the areas of education, behaviour management and positive relationships. Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 5

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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 enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to—

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Requirement Due date

develop the child’s interests and hobbies;

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Requirement Due date

participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences; and

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Requirement Due date

make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to a range of activities that enable the child to pursue the child’s interests and hobbies.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 9(1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii) (b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, in relation to having a current daily planner for children that reinforces engagement with the home, routine and structure. 5 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience.

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to offering robust and reflective supervision to the manager. 5 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 6 The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to, the missing child policy, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, in relation to having an up-to-date picture of children on their files and missing- from-home paperwork. 5 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, in relation to notifying Ofsted of patterns of behaviour relating to episodes of children going missing from the home and the strategies the home is implementing. 5 Nov 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they oversee the welfare of the children in their care through observation and engagement with each child. This allows for direct participation from children to be evidenced on their case files. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure they continually and actively assess risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This ensures that evolving information such as risks from social media are understood by children and staff. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’ page 42 paragraph 9.5)  The registered should ensure that the workforce development plan details the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training, such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory

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Recommendations

qualifications. This ensures that the home has the appropriate staff with the necessary skills to care for the children in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure they are responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 7 children in the home and their care. Risk assessments are detailed and thorough, but a shorter paper document outlining key information will aid bank and fresh staff to respond more immediately to children’s requirements. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20) Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 8

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 2592361 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Raise House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3rd Floor, Paternoster House, 65 St Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8AB

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Inspectors

Tolulope Sawyerr, Social Care Inspector Christine Kennet, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report children’s home: 2592361 10 to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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