Children's home run by Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy in Southwark

Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 1 SC025700 Registered provider: Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a charitable organisation. The home specialises in caring for children with severe social and emotional difficulties that are usually rooted in early life trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The home shares the same site as the provider’s educational provision. The inspector only inspected the social care provision on this site.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2008.

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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 November 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/11/2021 Full Outstanding 21/11/2019 Full Outstanding 10/10/2018 Full Outstanding 17/10/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, three children moved into the home and three children have moved on from the home. At the time of this inspection, nine children were living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a therapeutic community. Play therapy sessions encourage children to talk about their feelings and become emotionally aware and resilient. The inspector observed positive relationships between the adults and the children. Children were laughing and playing. Children form secure and stable relationships with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children see their family members when possible. The home’s family liaison worker helps to strengthen relationships between children and their families. This added resource ensures that children have positive family time experiences. Families are invited to visit the home and have enjoyable experiences with their children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Younger children attend the on-site educational provision. This provides a safe learning environment for children who have previously struggled in mainstream education. Bespoke education timetables ensure that children make good progress with their education. Some children are now in full-time education, and older children have made successful transitions to high school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of leisure interests like horse riding, gymnastics, Scouts and football. Children maintain their individual interests and make friends away from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have an opportunity to understand their early childhood experiences through life story work. They gain a deeper understanding about their cultural heritage and family background. Children grow in confidence about who they are and, consequently, build a strong cultural identity. Staff meet children’s cultural needs through food, hair products and celebrating different festivals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A newly formed girls’ group is aimed at older girls who are approaching puberty. Topics that previously may have caused worry or anxiety for the girls are discussed openly in a safe environment. Open discussions in the group enable children to explore their thoughts and emotions and gain a better understanding of their bodies without shame or guilt.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children do not have an age-appropriate and child-friendly version of their care plan or placement plan. This may mean that children do not understand why they are living at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 4 Children live in a beautiful home in a rural location. The surroundings provide a calm and peaceful environment for children to explore, play and have fun. The spacious accommodation means that children can take time out in quieter areas when they need to. Bedrooms are individualised to each child’s unique personality. Two of the children’s bedrooms that were viewed during the inspection were in an unkempt state. This had not been identified by staff.

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

The strong focus of therapeutic care means that children can express their fears, worries and concerns safely. The adults provide therapeutic strategies that help children to work through their trauma and learn new ways to cope. Children learn from staff how to develop healthy relationships.

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

Staff understand and manage risks to children well. Staff followed the agreed procedures and notified the police and social worker when a child did not return from school at the usual time. Children are not normally known to go missing from the home.

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

Staff only use physical interventions as a last resort. Managers have a good overview of incidents for each child. For one child, there has been a significant reduction in incidents. However, records of incidents do not routinely make clear the duration of each hold or how a child is supported after a hold.

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

Staff write detailed incident reports in respect of children with specific risks. The manager evaluates each incident. However, the manager does not routinely follow internal safeguarding procedures. Allegations made by children against staff are not routinely reported to the local authority designated officer or Ofsted. Some children who need them do not have a multi-agency safety plan. Although managers act to safeguard children, at times there has been a lack of external scrutiny of the management of safeguarding concerns.

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

A serious incident between children was not reported to the out-of-hours local authority duty team and the police promptly. This did not ensure that professionals who needed to have oversight were informed.

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

A child was not allowed to attend her friend’s birthday sleepover following an incident. However, there was a lack of evidence or assessment of the risk to justify the decision. This had a negative impact on the child’s emotional and mental well- being.

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

Staff monitor children’s electronic devices and talk to children about how to keep safe online.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is nurturing in his approach towards all the children. He is knowledgeable and knows all the children well. The manager has a social work Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 5 qualification but does not have a relevant residential management qualification. Staff speak highly of the management structure.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff are supported by their supervisors to complete their probation efficiently. Team leaders assisted the inspection with confidence and knowledge of all the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff undertake the organisation’s mandatory training. The internal therapeutic training ensures that staff can progress to senior positions and continue with their development. The provider’s therapeutic model is fully integrated at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A local authority social worker spoke highly of the home. Staff communicate effectively and provide monthly updates with a balanced overview of children’s progress. Family members said that children’s behaviour has improved since living at the home. Staff are caring, and communication between the home and families is good. A grandparent said, ‘Communication is brilliant and that is purely because of the contact that we have. We get to know everything so that we can talk to [name of child] about it. It helps us to know what she is doing and how she is. We are interested in her life, and this helps to build relationships.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The on-site maintenance resource ensures that any repairs are made quickly. A recently installed sensory garden provides an additional space for children to enjoy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent person provides effective scrutiny of the home. Internal monitoring is used effectively to track the overall progress and development of children and the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e)) 30 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must undertake such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the 31 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 7 registered manager has the skills needed for managing the home. (Regulation 29 (4))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the registered manager has the appropriate qualification to manage and lead a children’s home.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they develop a system to ensure that children’s views, wishes and feelings are considered when planning their care. In particular, ensure that children contribute to and have a good understanding of their care plan. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff encourage children to take a proactive role in looking after their day-to-day health and well-being. This includes tidying and organising their bedrooms. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The registered person should ensure the relevant officer or teams in the local authority are informed promptly of all allegations against staff. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 44, paragraph 9.18)  The registered person should ensure that children can have important time with

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Recommendations

their peers. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 47, paragraph 9.42)  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, ensure the recording of conversations with children after incidents of restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.13)

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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: SC025700 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 210 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JX

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Inspector

Kamal Bhamra, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 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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