Horsebridge House

Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 1 SC452713 Registered provider: Greenfields Adolescent Development Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care for up to three children. The provider states in the home’s statement of purpose that care is provided for children who have experienced social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children's home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2023.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/08/2021 Full Good 14/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are happy in this home and that they feel well cared for. There is lots of fun, laughter, and play. Alongside this, children are supported to develop the skills that they need to live happy and successful lives. One child commented that they are ‘really impressed’ by the care and support that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As a result, children are making good progress from their starting points. All children are attending full-time education and are being provided with learning opportunities and experiences to help them to fulfil their future aspirations. Children are helped to increase the amount of time that they spend at school by being supported to feel actively involved in their learning. One child has been elected by their classmates to act as the ‘students’ representative’, and another child is attending a vocational provision for part of their week so that they can learn the skills that they will need to help them to pursue their career ambitions. A third child continues to attend college while they are exploring other educational provisions that may be better suited to their interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s healthcare needs are being met. Children are supported to access the internal and external support services that they need to help them with their physical and emotional health. One child said that they are ‘feeling good at the moment’ and that the staff ‘are the most important people who support [them]…and care about [them]’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views and wishes are at the forefront of their care. Children are regularly asked what they think about the care that they receive. This helps staff to adapt the support that they provide to ensure that it aligns with what the child wants and needs. Furthermore, feedback from children helps staff to identify and avoid nuanced institutionalised practices that would otherwise go unnoticed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to participate in a range of physical activities in line with their interests. One child who is particularly interested in electronic gaming is being supported to use virtual reality technology to keep active. Children are also supported to go trampolining, go to the gym and/or are participating in sports that they have never done before, such as ice skating and golf. Children are supported to spend positive time with the people who are important to them, which is helping them to rebuild their relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is mostly warm and homely and it is clear that this is a home that children live in and play in. Children’s artwork is framed and hung on the walls, boardgames are readily available, and online gaming stations are set up. As well as one child’s pet axolotl, a pet cat and pet rabbits have recently moved into the home. However, children’s bedrooms are not always maintained to a good standard of cleanliness. Some bedrooms are unclean and cluttered and/or lack storage and/or are furnished with broken and damaged items. Staff are not sufficiently supporting all children to ensure that their bedrooms are a nice space for them to spend time in. Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 4

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

Staff are supported to understand children’s individual risks and how they can help children to express themselves in safer ways. As a result, the frequency of risky behaviours that concern others have reduced. Accordingly, the number of incidents that have involved the use of restraint have also reduced. Although rare, when restraint is used, it is proportionate and necessary to avoid the risk of harm. Following the use of restraint, children and staff are supported to reflect on what happened and how they can respond differently in the future. This has led children to being more open to talking about their feelings and using other safe strategies to help them to express themselves.

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

The registered manager evaluates how successful the strategies that staff are using to help children to keep safe have been over time. This allows for the strategies to be amended and focused interventions to be delivered to children to help them understand risk and how to mediate it.

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

Focused interventions are used to support children to increase their understanding of online risk and how to respond to it safely. Regular progress reviews encourage children to demonstrate their increased knowledge and their ability to keep themselves safe, which is recognised and celebrated by staff. As children’s ability to keep themselves safe online increases, so does their access to the internet and social media platforms.

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

Through this collaborative approach towards risk management, children have become more confident and able to seek out staff for advice and guidance when they are worried about the content that they have been exposed to online. Furthermore, one child has used his understanding of online safety to create videos that other children can view to help them to understand how to keep safe as well.

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

Staff help children to make sense of their previous childhood experiences. Children are helped to think about healthy relationships and how to withdraw from harmful relationships, both online and offline. When the relationships between the children in the home become strained, staff help children to reflect on how each other might be feeling. Staff support children to identify reparative ways to repair their fractured relationships. This has led to children offering verbal apologies, writing letters of apology and baking cakes to say ‘sorry’.

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

However, when concerns are raised about staff practices, children are not always provided with an overview of the actions that have been taken to prevent future mistakes or errors of judgement. As a result, children are not always reassured that they have been listened to and protected from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has taken action to address the requirement and recommendation that was raised at the last inspection. Staff speak positively about the changes and developments that have been made by the registered manager who ‘works Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 5 tirelessly to make improvements’. Leaders and managers are exploring alternative therapeutic-parenting approaches, which they hope will further improve the nurturing care that is provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When medication administration errors are made by staff, the registered manager takes action to prevent similar shortfalls from reoccurring. Staff are required to reread the home’s medication policy, retake their medication training, and discuss the medication administration procedures during team meetings and staff supervision sessions. As an additional measure, the registered manager is currently assessing the competency of all members of staff to administer medication before they can do this independently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with relevant training opportunities to support them to meet the individual needs of children and help them to keep safe. Staff training compliance is generally high and future training courses are booked to ensure that staff have an up-to- date understanding of best practice and how to support children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the registered manager and senior leaders. They say that the registered manager’s ‘door is always open’ and that their welfare is a priority. Staff say that they are supported to work well together as a team to help children to ‘reach their goals…and fight for their rights’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Robust safer recruitment checks are in place. The registered manager is professionally curious about the information that is provided by candidates. This allows the registered manager to have clear oversight of recruitment and determine the suitability of staff to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager appropriately challenges external agencies. When children are impacted by delayed and insufficient responses from external services, the registered manager advocates for children to ensure that their voice is heard and that they get the responses that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Several documents and records were written during the inspection. The registered manager reflected that they were not able to evidence some of the support that children had been provided with, as records were not available and/or up to date. Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 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 registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that children's records are available, up to date and reflective of the care that children receive. Children's case records should help staff and children to understand the care that children are provided with. 17 June 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all concerns that are raised about staff practice are addressed in line with the home's child protection policy. In particular, when children or staff raise concerns about the practice of staff, the registered person should ensure that children are provided with a suitable overview of the actions and outcomes that have been taken to address the concerns and prevent them from reoccurring. The registered person should ensure that children are satisfied with the actions taken and feel protected as a result. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph, 9.17)  The registered person should ensure that the home meets children's basic day-to-day needs and provides them with their physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet children's basic needs in the way that a good parent would. In particular, the registered person should ensure that children are provided with suitable storage

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Recommendations

arrangements, that broken furniture is replaced in a timely manner, and that children are supported to maintain their bedrooms to a good level of cleanliness. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph, 3.7)

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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 Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 7 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: SC452713 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Greenfields Adolescent Development Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Caretech Community Service Ltd, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC452713 9 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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