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

The home is run by a private provider and offers care for up to 11 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, eight children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is on a site that is shared by the provider’s school. The inspectors 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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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

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: 5 September 2023

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/09/2023 Full Good 01/11/2022 Full Good 16/11/2021 Full Outstanding 21/11/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Since the last inspection, four children have moved out of the home and two children have moved in. All eight children were given the opportunity to share their views during the inspection. Eight children were seen and five were spoken with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children flourish living at this home. A parent said, ‘I honestly believe that [name of child] could not be at a better place.’ The parent said that they have seen a massive improvement in their child. Another parent said of the staff, ‘I can clearly see that you put a lot of effort into taking care of my child.’ Professionals speak positively about children’s experiences and progress and the support provided by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have imaginative and exciting experiences. Staff work with local activity providers to offer children new experiences in the home. This has included visits from musicians, gaming events, science fairs, externally led sports courses and petting zoos. These activities take place across the year and involve all the children, with adjustments made to meet children’s needs as necessary. These tailor-made experiences help children to develop their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have had an exceptionally well-planned summer, which included various daily activities and a holiday and a camping trip that were both attended by all the adults and children. In addition, staff helped children to set up a summer fair and invited children’s social workers and other people who are important to the children. Children worked on their own stalls and donated the proceeds to charity. Around 100 people attended this event. The manager is committed to developing children’s sense of belonging and the sense of the community that is created through such events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Seven children are receiving education that is suitable to meet their needs. Three of these children attend the school on the same site. All children are making good educational progress. One child is enrolled with a local school but has not been attending since September 2024. Instead, this child is being well supported by staff at home with a structured routine of learning opportunities throughout the day. This is in line with changes to this child’s care plans. When children struggle to attend school, staff are creative in the ways that they support them to access more bespoke learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children and all staff have dedicated time together when children can share their experiences during children’s meetings. The sense of community created in these meetings shows the commitment that staff have to children. Children grow in confidence to share their views, including their views about their care plans. In addition, children have opportunities to interact during ‘show and tell’ sessions as part of these meetings. Staff have also developed smaller focused groups to help to support children’s individual needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 4 The home is furnished to an exceptionally high standard. Children have access to a range of play equipment outside, including a climbing tower, trampoline and interactive electronic games. Inside the home, numerous play and living spaces, which are adaptable to children’s ages and needs, have been created. Children have access to a

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

wide variety of toys to support imaginative play and their overall development. All children’s bedrooms are personalised to their individual tastes, and each child chooses graffiti style artwork to be displayed outside their bedroom. This helps the children to feel a sense of belonging.

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

Children have excellent relationships with staff. Staff offer individualised responses according to each child’s needs, age and stage of development. Children receive warmth, nurture and unconditional positive regard from staff.

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

Children can access therapeutic support from two trained therapists employed at the home. In addition to weekly therapy sessions, children access life-story work to help them understand their experiences. Staff receive additional specific training in this therapeutic approach to support this work with children. A professional said of staff at the home, ‘Therapeutically, I think that they really understand the children. I think the manager really understands the children too.’

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

Staff write care plans for children in a child-friendly format that is suitable for their age and understanding. This helps children to understand decisions made for them. Records illustrate a dynamic understanding of children and the complexity of their lives. Staff support children to understand past experiences and to think about their wishes and feelings. Research-informed practices, such as the use of specific life-story work and other trauma assessment tools, are making a significant difference to children’s lives.

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

There has only been one episode of missing from care since the last inspection. This was well managed by staff. They found the child quickly, and the child returned safely to the home. After this event, the child was helped to understand how they might be at risk when spending time in the community. There are detailed directions for staff if children go missing from the home. Proactive planning like this ensures that children receive well- thought-out care.

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

Sometimes, staff need to physically hold children. These holds with children are extensively reviewed and analysed to monitor trends. Staff talk to children about these experiences. Staff are playful and curious and help children to repair relationships after challenging events. On one occasion, a physical intervention was not necessary or proportionate. Leaders and managers took immediate action and followed their own procedures to ensure that children were kept safe. This was appropriately reported to other relevant professionals. Learning from this event was shared with the whole staff team, and further individual meetings and comprehensive supervision sessions supported staff’s learning and development. Leaders have created an open culture of learning that helps to review staff practice and keep children safer. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is a qualified social worker and is working towards a relevant management qualification. He is experienced and established and has provided consistency to staff and children for many years. Children actively seek out the manager for comfort and positive interactions. He is described as a ‘highly valued’ person by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers have high aspirations for children. The manager is supported by a range of senior leaders who have specialisms in different aspects of children’s care planning. An effective multi-skilled team contributes to the therapeutic care, family work and community connections that children receive at this home. This support extends to children who have moved on but frequently return to visit. Children experience a continued sense of belonging.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive regular and purposeful supervision sessions. Supervision records are detailed and there is evidence of effective challenge if concerns have been raised. Staff have dedicated time and space to reflect on their practice or their own personal experiences. Leaders and managers offer group meetings with the home’s therapists to help staff to reflect on children’s experiences. This therapeutic oversight helps to ensure that children’s needs are central to staff’s learning and discussions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers use organised internal monitoring systems to track children’s behaviour, experiences and overall progress. Leaders and managers identify practice learning points from this close monitoring of records and through the range of staff meetings. An example of identified learning led to a systemic review of physical interventions with children and the application of a new practice model at the home. This has been effective in reducing incidents. Staff said that it has been successful in helping children to settle before they felt further distress. Improving children’s experiences is a consistent priority for everyone.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff training offer is exceptional. All staff are trained in the therapeutic model used by the home. This is a university accredited course. In addition, staff can take on learning and training courses to train and qualify as therapists. Leaders have supported individual staff requests for training outside their usual training programme when this will improve experiences for children. There is a persistent focus on personal development for the staff team and, overall, on expanding staff’s learning. Despite a thorough training and induction package, leaders and managers have not recently mapped their accredited training programme to the most recent national residential qualifications. Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the required qualification. When this is an equivalent qualification, the registered person should show the equivalency to the QCF Diploma qualification. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.14)

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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 7

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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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Inspectors

Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Mary Costello, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC025700 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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