Children's home run by Holibrook House Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 1 SC377702 Registered provider: Holibrook House Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to six children. The home cares for children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were four children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2022 Full Good 20/04/2021 Full Good 26/02/2020 Full Good 11/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children mostly have good relationships with staff. They enjoy spending time with staff, help to cook meals with them and engage in day-to-day conversations. These conversations also take place in regular ‘children’s chat’ meetings. Children contribute to the home’s activity planner. They are encouraged to develop new interests, including joining boxing and horse-riding clubs, and they help to plan the home’s annual summer holiday. A member of staff said, ‘When I see the children making progress it makes me happy.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children do not fully engage with the home’s routines and expectations, despite the efforts and creativity of staff. As a result, the progress for some children is limited. Some children choose not to participate in mealtimes or take part in planned community activities. This limits the opportunities for staff to develop trusting relationships with these children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are given opportunities to learn about taking responsibility for their home. For example, the home has a nominated child ‘house champion’. They enjoy their role, which includes showing new children around the home and mentoring other children. They are particularly proud of their ‘trainee fire marshal’ responsibilities. This inclusion supports children’s self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children attend their education placements. When children are not in school or face barriers to their learning, the manager liaises with other professionals to ensure that children can access short-term learning alternatives, such as tutoring. The success of these alternatives varies. Some children struggle with their daily routines or the suitability of alternative forms of education. This results in some children showing little motivation to sustain their attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This large home welcomes children’s families and friends. The children each have a budget to spend on personalising their bedrooms. However, the home’s regime of locking the lounge and kitchen doors at 9pm detracts from the homely atmosphere.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans. This helps them understand what actions they should take to manage and reduce potential risks to children’s safety and welfare. However, new and emerging risks are not always recorded in detail in children’s risk assessments. Furthermore, staff do not consistently follow the agreed strategies aimed at keeping children safe in the community. For example, staff have not completed one child’s ‘police information pack’ or followed the agreed strategies to follow when the child is away from the home. This does not help to keep children safe and may limit and delay police responses to any episodes of children going missing from the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 4 Staff offer children regular one-to-one sessions to help them understand their behaviours, vulnerabilities, risks to their safety and emotions, and how to keep

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improvement to be good

themselves safer. These targeted sessions include learning on sexual health matters and how to stay safe online. As a result of this work, some children’s risks reduce.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers take children’s complaints seriously. However, one child reported that they do not know how to make a complaint. Since the last inspection, children have, on occasion, had cause to complain about the practice and conduct of some staff. Issues are quickly addressed by the manager, who liaises with other relevant professionals and holds formal meetings with relevant staff to address any concerns and identify further training and support required for staff. This shows children that they are listened to and that their concerns are addressed. However, the expectations of staff practice and conduct are not always clearly communicated and the manager confirmed that further work is required to address issues between the staff team and staff practice and conduct. work is required to address issues between the staff team and staff conduct.

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improvement to be good

The manager works in partnership with other agencies to promote children’s safety and welfare. One professional said that the manager is proactive when it comes to safeguarding children. Another reported that staff communication is good and that they are always kept up to date with changes to children’s behaviours, or incidents or causes for concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home benefits from a strong leadership team. The manager is supported by the responsible individual, a service manager, a trainee manager and a business operations manager. This senior leadership team has a shared ethos of continually reviewing and improving the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager monitors the quality of care in the home and staff practice and performance. However, some children’s records contain spelling mistakes and are not signed and dated. Although these shortfalls do not impact on children’s safety or progress, it means that their case files lack attention to detail.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they feel supported in their roles, although recent staff changes have resulted in some instability across the team. The manager recognises this dynamic and has arranged team-building events to support team development and ensure that children continue to receive good care and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The service continues to evolve to meet children’s changing needs. The responsible individual has plans in place to develop the home further and is recruiting an in- house psychotherapist. Since the last inspection, the manager has continued to develop her skills. She has visited other children’s homes to help inform a proposed new software program and has completed a recognised training programme to enhance her skills in managing challenging conversations with children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 5 Staff recruitment is safe. All staff enrol on a suitable children’s home qualification when they pass their probation. Staff training is comprehensive, to meet the needs of the children living in the home. New and refresher training is identified and booked in advance. This helps staff to meet children’s changing needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recently, the home has made the decision to move away from a particular therapeutic model of care. However, the home’s statement of purpose does not reflect this change. This does not provide other professionals with an accurate overview of the aims and objectives of the service. Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 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, The 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— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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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; 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments are kept up to date to reflect any new or emerging risks and that staff follow the measures identified to help reduce risks to children’s safety. 31 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 31 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 7 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 31 August 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that expectations of standards of behaviour should be high for all staff. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. In particular, the registered person should ensure that any concerns regarding staff conduct, including complaints and allegations, continue to be robustly addressed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of children. In particular, the registered person should review the locking of internal doors, which prevents children moving freely around the home after 9pm. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC377702 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Holibrook House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Floor, 172 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 4QH

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Inspector

Victoria Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC377702 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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