Children's home run by London Borough of Barnet

Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 1 Registered provider: London Borough of Barnet Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides planned therapeutic residential care for up to six children between the ages of 11 and 16 years. Residential support is short- to medium-term therapeutic care for children who are looked after by the local authority.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted in June 2022. The manager achieved her level 5 qualification in leadership and management in 2012.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home opened in June 2022 and this is its first inspection. At the time of the inspection, four children were living in the home. No children have moved on from the home since it opened.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like living in the home. One child said that staff are ‘cool and helpful’. Children engage in activities that they have not had the opportunity to experience before, for example, going for a meal in a restaurant. One child likes to keep fit and attends a local martial arts club.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the integrated therapeutic model of care provided by two in- house therapists. The clinical team provides individual sessions to children. When necessary, clinicians have brought in external professionals to complete specialist assessments. This ensures that drift and delay are minimised and children receive the correct support for their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social workers report good communication from staff. Children’s records are held as live documents on a shared electronic system, which ensures that social workers can read updates immediately. A social worker said that she can see a positive improvement in her child’s progress since living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious, clean and tidy. Children’s bedrooms are personalised with family photos and posters. One room is a dedicated gym area and is adequately equipped for children to use with staff supervision. The home has a resident cook and the kitchen area is an is a homely space where children and staff share meals together. Damaged furniture, such as wardrobe doors in two children’s bedrooms, has not been repaired or replaced. The bathroom and kitchen doors are kept locked which restricts children’s movement in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with primary care services. Children are referred to and attend support sessions with the substance misuse service. A specialist health nurse completes a health report for each child. However, for one child, staff have not followed the recommendations from the action plan to help the child maintain healthy daily routines that would have a positive impact on their sleep and weight.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Younger children attend full-time education. Older children access online education provided by a tutor. Managers were unable to evidence that children engage in additional activities to ensure that they have the full required hours of education. The lack of structure has an impact on children’s daily routines, particularly those children who are at risk of criminal exploitation. Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 3

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

Children who are frequently missing from the home and considered to be at risk of criminal exploitation are discussed at several multi-agency safeguarding panels organised by the local authority. This ensures robust monitoring of children’s safety.

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

Children have therapeutic care plans which track their progress and development over a three-month cycle. The plans provide a comprehensive and holistic overview of care to children. The documents are shared with children to help them gain a better understanding of their own progress. Pictorial care plans are provided for those children who struggle to read a lot of information.

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

Clinicians attend multi-agency planning meetings, such as education meetings. This ensures that they can identify any concerns, in the best interests of children. However, care plans do not include the views of children.

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

Managers thoroughly assess the needs of new children coming into the home to consider if staff can meet their needs and if all children can live together safely. The assessments include the views of the therapy team, to help provide a broader understanding of group interaction.

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

There have been some incidents of bullying between children. There are records of discussions held with children to address bullying concerns. A child told the inspector, ‘Staff sorted it really quickly and I am okay now.’ Children do not have targeted work on bullying to help them understand the wider concerns.

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

Currently, there is no effective monitoring of mobile devices for older children who are considered at risk of child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation. One child is frequently missing from the home. Although staff follow the child’s protocol and report the child missing to the police and their social worker, there is insufficient detail in records. This does not reassure leaders and managers that staff are vigilant and that they have liaised with police in different cities as required by the child’s protocol.

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

Physical intervention strategies are only used as a last resort and there is evidence of management overview and discussions with children after the event. Following one incident, a child made an allegation and this was reported to the local authority designated officer. However, the manager did not inform Ofsted of this serious incident as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is knowledgeable and experienced. She is calm and measured in her approach. Staff respect and value her and the children also speak highly of her. She is also the registered manager for a sister home. She has acknowledged the challenges of managing two homes and is in discussion with senior leaders about recruiting a new manager for the other home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 4 The home has made good progress since it opened. The clinical team is a strength and a good resource for children living at the home. The manager has reflected that pressure from senior leaders to admit children referred to the home has had an impact on the care plans and interactions of some children. Learning from this has resulted in the clinicians now providing therapeutic guidance before new children move into the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff form a diverse and vibrant team. Children are carefully matched to their key workers, although they can talk to all staff. Weekly staff meetings are held to discuss the ongoing progress and development of children. The clinical team provides additional support to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision records demonstrate in-depth discussions of the children, including actions that staff should take. The manager actively challenges staff in these sessions to help improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The safeguarding lead from the local authority has delivered training to the team. Staff have completed child exploitation training, but not specific to county lines and criminal exploitation. Some staff do not fully understand peer-on-peer influences and safeguarding concerns in relation to county lines. The training matrix is out of date and does not reflect all the training that staff have completed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager was unable to locate some information to assist the inspection. There were some gaps in recording of information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes effective use of independent monitoring reports. However, one report was not sent to Ofsted in a timely manner. Additionally, the manager did not submit the report of her review of the quality of care until this was requested during the inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 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 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iv)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to addressing bullying between children and completing targeted work with children on positive relationships. Also, to ensuring that staff record serious safeguarding incidents and complete missing-from-home reports in detail. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 6 that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that children’s needs are thoroughly assessed and considered before they move into the home and reviewed throughout the time that they live there. These assessments should consider how children can be supported to live together safely.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have access to specialist training to help them provide additional support to children at risk of child criminal exploitation and county lines. All training should be recorded on the training matrix. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that internal door locks are removed so that children can move freely within the home. Internal door locks that restrict a child’s liberty of movement are classed as a restraint and should be recorded as such and constantly reviewed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.42)  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. Where children have specific health needs or conditions, they should be supported to

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Recommendations

manage these, subject to their age and understanding, and in accordance with the recommendations from their health plan. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The registered person should notify Ofsted and other relevant persons when allegations are made against staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  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, they should record evidence of good practice with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that proactive and proportionate measures are in place to safeguard children who are at risk of injury by leaving the home to

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Recommendations

take part in gang-related activities, be involved in substance misuse, or to meet someone who is sexually exploiting them or intends to do so. Any measure of restraint must be proportionate and in place for no longer than is necessary to Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 7 manage the immediate risk. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 48, paragraph 9.52)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. The manager should ensure that internal and external monitoring reports are provided to Ofsted as required. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that the home maintains a nurturing and

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Recommendations

supportive environment that meet the needs of the children. This includes replacing broken furniture in children’s bedrooms. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations’, including the quality standards.’ page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff work closely with the placing authority so that children who are not in full-time education are supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, children should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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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: 2677723 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: London Borough of Barnet

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale NW9 4EW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nichola Gallagher

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Inspector

Kamal Bhamra, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2677723 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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