Children's home run by St Christopher’s Fellowship in Wandsworth

Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 1 Registered provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four children. The home’s statement of purpose specifies that it will look after females aged between 12 and 17 who are at risk of sexual exploitation, gang affiliation, trafficking or a combination of these factors.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2021, and has worked at the home since its opening in 2015.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

This inspection was conducted on site and involved meetings with children and several staff and a telephone discussion with a parent. Email and telephone contact took place with placing authority social workers and other professionals, including a therapist and police officer attached to the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 2 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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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 2 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: 26 November 2019

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/11/2019 Full Outstanding 08/05/2018 Full Outstanding 11/07/2017 Full Good 16/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 4

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outstanding

Children make exceptional progress in a fun-filled home, where laughter and humour are commonplace. Children and staff are motivated by a culture of empowerment and collaborative working. The home is guided by motivational phrases such as ‘I can’ not ‘I can’t’ and ‘do with’ and not ‘do to’.

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outstanding

Children form very strong attachments with staff and benefit from a specialist intervention which is highly effective. Children continue to remain in contact with staff after they move on from the home, and for many children the home is considered their ‘base’. Staff continue to provide support to children under the home’s ‘staying close’ programme of ongoing support.

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outstanding

Children are rightly proud of their achievements and value the help and support offered to them by staff. One child recently spoke to a group of government officials about her pride at learning how to manage her own behaviour and achieve stability for the first time in her life. This was an outstanding achievement for the child concerned.

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outstanding

Extremely positive outcomes for children are evidence of the strong progress they have made. Since the last inspection, each child has enjoyed a planned move on from the home. There is evidence of this in the highly positive feedback from parents and social workers. One parent commented, ‘I can’t praise the home enough for what they have done.’ And a placing social worker stated that she was ‘amazed’ by the improvement in her allocated child’s behaviour.

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outstanding

Staff have worked very hard to minimise the impact of COVID-19, and they have used the lockdown period as a means of developing relationships in the home. Children enjoyed a huge range of activities, such as baking and pampering sessions with staff. The recent reduction in restrictions has allowed staff to further broaden the range of activities, which included a first trip to a concert and a camping trip for one child.

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outstanding

Educational achievement is highly valued by both children and staff. Children benefit from a specialist education and life skills worker who matches children’s abilities to an educational programme in a timely manner. This ensures that children engage with a range of educational programmes suited to their individual needs, from mainstream provision to bespoke courses in animal care.

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outstanding

Children’s wishes and feelings are highly prioritised. Staff encourage participation with the skilful use of open-ended questions such as ‘What does trust look like to you?’ or inventive techniques such as the use of colour coded beads to indicate Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 5 feelings and emotions. These strategies work very well and help children to develop their self-esteem and confidence.

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outstanding

The manager and staff help to build children’s resilience after establishing close and trusting relationships with them. This helps children to feel safe and secure in their home.

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outstanding

Staff have access to children’s social media accounts in order to complete regular checks, and they respond well to prompts regarding the risk posed by the internet.

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outstanding

Staff are extremely proactive when considering risk, and they use the principles of ‘contextual safeguarding.’ Recently, this included raising concerns regarding the safety of a local cark park with the owners. This helped to ensure the safety of the children living at the home and all members of the local community.

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outstanding

Children benefit from intervention of an allocated psychotherapist. This helped one child to reduce incidents of self-harming behaviour by using kinetic sand. Prompt access to therapeutic support helps to ensure that children access specialist help at the right time.

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outstanding

Key-work sessions with children are highly effective and are completed using a range of resources. For example, staff use board games adapted to the key themes of child sexual exploitation in order to convey a serious message in a fun manner. Children engage well and can discuss issues that were previously very difficult for them to address.

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outstanding

Safeguarding practice is creative and inventive. Children benefit from a ‘comfort kit’ which includes a range of sensory items, including a squeezy ball and colouring book that children access in their own time when they are feeling unsettled. This helps children to manage their own behaviour.

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outstanding

Children going missing from the home is extremely rare. The most recent incident when a child was missing from home occurred in July 2021. This remains testament to the high levels of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leadership and management of the home is exceptional. Both the registered manager and her deputy have been working in the home since its opening. They are supported by two ‘team leaders’. The consistency in leadership and management is of enormous benefit to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers value their staff team immensely and have a strong focus on nurturing and developing staff. Leaders and managers have negotiated an improved pay scale for staff in recognition of their specialist role and exemplary performance. Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 6 The has helped to improve staff retention and has promoted greater consistency for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All staff are highly committed and skilled in their role. Leaders and managers motivate staff by encouraging career progression, delegating key tasks and encouraging them to pursue their own learning and interests. An example of how this has impacted on children is that children now benefit from developing new mindfulness techniques.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff morale is very high and positive. One staff member commented, ‘I love my job.’ Staff are fully engaged in their roles and value regular supervision. However, the quality of performance appraisal is limited by the lack of feedback from children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

New admissions to the home are managed exceptionally well. Each new referral is screened by the host local authority multi-agency safeguarding panel. This ensures that key professionals, such as the local police, share information regarding possible risk of gang membership or criminal exploitation prior to any new admission to the home. This helps to safeguard children in the home and preserves placement stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers are inventive and highly ambitious. Specialist training on sensitive issues, such as sexuality, is sourced from a nationally recognised charity. In addition, the home received formal accreditation from a national body for its work with children. The resulting cash prize is due to pay for a forthcoming holiday for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The management review of quality of care report completed under regulation 45 does not include feedback from parents, which is a deficit. This limits an assessment of the home’s development and the impact of the care offered to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers have addressed the two recommendations raised at the last inspection. This has resulted in improved supervision and training for agency members of staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 7

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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’s family/carers where appropriate. In particular, feedback from parents/carers to be recorded in the management monitoring report. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure that performance appraisals consider the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and the views of the young people in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 60, paragraph 13.5)

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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 for children’s home: 1159755 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Putney High Street, London, Wandsworth SW15 1SZ

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Inspectors

Barnaby Dowell, Social Care Inspector Colin Bent, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1159755 9 regulates and inspects 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

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