Children's home run by Heartwood Residential Services Ltd in Barnet

Inspection report children's home: SC423959 1 SC423959 Registered provider: Heartwood Residential Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home which provides care and accommodation for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is currently no registered manager for the home. The provider is in the process of recruiting a 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

We last visited this setting on 11 March 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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: 16 September 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC423959 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/09/2019 Full Good 13/08/2018 Full Good 07/11/2017 Full Good 14/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC423959 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, there was one child living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individualised care that meets their needs. This means that children have good experiences and make steady progress. Children and staff have positive relationships with each other. A child said, ‘Staff are alright here. They made an effort to get to know me and what I like.’ Children are at ease with the staff team and feel that staff invest in helping them to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good opportunities to share their wishes and feelings about the home and how it is run. Staff encourage children to make day-to-day choices. For example, children choose the meals that they prefer and their leisure activities, and they are consulted about how the home is furnished and decorated. Children’s meetings and key-work sessions ensure that children contribute to shaping the service.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity and respect. However, the current practice of limiting children’s use of the kitchen during late evenings and the use of CCTV in communal areas of the home require review. These protocols are not in the best interests of the children currently living at the home and are based on the behaviour of former residents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s identity needs are not well explored. For example, support plans do not routinely cover issues of gender, race, disability or sexuality. This is identified as an area for improvement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When new children move into the home, staff manage the transition sensitively. Introductions are conducted at the child’s pace and can include number of visits if this is in the child’s best interest. As appropriate, parents are involved, and children keenly contribute to the plans for their move. New impact assessment tools have been implemented to help staff to appropriately match new children with those children already living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to live healthily. This has been the case throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff are proactive in ensuring effective action is taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that children follow preventative measures. Staff encourage children to take responsibility for their own health care and support their attendance at health appointments. Health care plans identify children’s health and medical needs and how these are to be addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s learning outcomes are variable. In recent months, some children have engaged in their education, while others have not. Staff have supported children’s learning, particularly when schools have been closed due to the COVID-19 Inspection report children's home: SC423959 4 pandemic. This is to promote children’s academic success. Children enjoy celebrating their achievements and staff encourage this ethos.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good opportunities to develop their daily living skills and enhance their independence. Typically, these are focused on children helping with daily chores, shopping for themselves and preparing meals independently of others. Staff invite children to attend workshops focused on promoting their personal safety and strategies to help keep themselves safe.

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

Children’s safety and well-being are at the centre of practice at the home. Children feel safe, and staff protect them from neglect, harm and abuse. They benefit from the organisation’s clear and comprehensive child protection policies and procedures. This helps to keep children safe.

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

Staff team meetings, staff supervision and staff training have a strong focus on child protection. For example, staff and children have jointly participated in workshops focused on gang and knife crime. Staff have received training in managing self-harm and challenging behaviour.

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

Staff help children to understand the possible safety risks posed by some of the choices they make. Staff use key-work sessions, children’s meetings and safeguarding workshops to have discussions and to help children reflect on the potential risks they face.

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

Staff set clear and consistent boundaries for children. Behaviour management support plans are individualised. These plans provide staff with effective strategies to help to manage children’s complex behaviour and promote appropriate behaviour. However, in a recent volatile incident, staff did not adhere to an agreed behaviour management plan.

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

Children’s risk-taking behaviour is understood and managed by staff well. However, children’s risk assessments do not consistently provide staff with detailed guidance about the strategies required to help to reduce children’s risky behaviour.

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

In recent months, incidents of children going missing, or being absent from the home without permission, have been extraordinarily high. Managers have reviewed their missing policies and practice and amended relevant recording tools. Consequently, there has been a significant decline in the number children who have been missing from home.

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

Further improvement is needed to the documents shared with the police when children are missing from home. This includes full details of any learning disability and information about children’s previous use of weapons. This is to ensure that the police are aware of known risks and children’s vulnerabilities as they search for children. Inspection report children's home: SC423959 5 Children know how to complain and do so occasionally when they feel it necessary. Complaints against staff are taken seriously by managers, and investigations into allegations against staff are comprehensive. Managers ensure that their communication with external safeguarding professionals is consistent and that they contribute to multi-agency child protection strategy meetings as required.

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

Staff recruitment and vetting practices are thorough, and all required checks are in place. This is to confirm that all staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has not had a registered manager for a significant length of time. Senior managers are in the process of appointing a new manager. Despite the absence of a manager, the leadership of the home remains strong. Senior managers have an increased presence in the home, and this contributes to safe and good-quality care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s monitoring and review systems are robust. Managers undertake regular monitoring exercises. These explore most aspects of the running of the home and offer some insight into the quality of the service. Areas identified for improvement are highlighted in the development plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of recording has significantly improved since the last inspection. The provider has invested in, and implemented, a new electronic recording system. However, some records, such as risk assessments, police ‘Grab Bag Pack’ information and monthly progress summaries, require further attention.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide good support to the staff team. A member of staff said, ‘Support here has been first rate. I can’t fault it.’ The induction of new staff is effective, and staff receive regular, meaningful supervision and annual appraisals. These systems support the effective development of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training opportunities are very good and cover a range of issues. This allows staff to provide children with safe care that meets their specific needs. Recent staff training workshops have focused on managing challenging behaviour, self-harm, report writing, and gangs and youth violence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff share good working relationships with other professionals and parents. This ensures that all parties are aware of placement issues and developments. The home is meeting the aims and objectives as stated in the statement of purpose. Most of the shortfalls identified at the home’s last inspection and two subsequent monitoring visits have been resolved. Consequently, children make steady progress and have positive experiences. Inspection report children's home: SC423959 6

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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 provider must appoint a person to manage the children s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 1 November 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. In particular, this relates to risk assessments, information shared with the police when children are missing from home and monthly progress summaries. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child. In particular, risk assessments must include detailed information about strategies staff should use that help reduce risks. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that children are provided with a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive and which provides appropriate

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Recommendations

boundaries in relation to their behaviour. In particular, children should have access to the kitchen at night, and the home’s current use of CCTV in communal areas should be reviewed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7) Inspection report children's home: SC423959 7  The registered person should provide care which meets each child’s needs and promotes their welfare, taking into account the child’s gender, religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity, mental health, any disability, their assessed needs, previous experiences and any relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)  The registered person should ensure that children’s behaviour management strategies are understood and applied at all times by staff. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph

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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: SC423959 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Heartwood Residential Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 416 Green Lane, Iford, Essex IG3 9TH

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC423959 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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