Children's Home run by Woodford Children's Services Ltd in Redbridge

Inspection report for children’s home: 2559019 1 Registered provider: Woodford Children’s Services Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered with Ofsted in November 2019 and is privately owned. It provides care for up to five children who experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2025.

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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: 13 November 2024

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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: 2559019 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/11/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/02/2024 Full Good 21/03/2023 Full Good 09/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2559019 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity and respect. They receive care and support that is sensitive and responsive to their individual needs, culture and identity. This support helps them develop a positive sense of self-worth. It also enhances their ability to form and sustain positive attachments, to build emotional resilience and a strong sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of suitability assessments before children move into the home is mixed. In some cases, leaders and managers ensure that careful consideration is given to the children who are already living in the home, the needs of the new child and the skill set of staff. However, on occasions the matching of children has not been completed in the same careful manner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work with the virtual school team when planning for children’s education. Currently, one child is refusing to attend school to sit their exams. During this period of non- attendance, staff have not been creative in finding ways to engage the child in a daily routine. However, leaders and managers have worked closely with the wider network and have successfully secured a college placement for the child that is due to start in September.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage children to attend health appointments. The registered manager and staff are advocating for one child to access mentoring support. Sometimes, staff get confused about how to record when a child refuses their prescribed medication. Managers have introduced a plan to address this issue, but staff are struggling to understand and implement it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carry out regular key-work sessions, focusing on children’s risks, needs, previous experiences and worries. These sessions help children in understanding their past experiences, build their social skills and improve their self-awareness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered exciting and wide-ranging activities that reflect their interests and hobbies, for example going paintballing and trips to theme parks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built positive relationships with family members. This helps children to stay in touch with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children well when they move out of the home. For example, when a child recently moved out, arrangements were made for the staff to accompany the child to their new placement and staff have continued to stay in touch.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home have significantly reduced. When children do go missing, staff make efforts to stay in touch with them and report them Inspection report for children’s home: 2559019 4 missing in accordance with the missing-from-home protocol. Managers request independent return home interviews.

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

Staff receive regular support from the in-house therapist. These opportunities enable staff to broaden their learning, reflect on their practice and support children’s emotional well-being.

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

When there are concerns for children’s safety, staff carry out bedroom searches and remove anything that could be harmful to a child. Children are informed and their social workers notified. Leaders and managers manage incidents when they occur. However, children do not always receive a debrief following an incident.

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

Staff work with the wider network to help children to become safer. They create detailed risk assessments that reflect individual risk factors and outline actions for the staff to take to minimise the risks. However, for one child, their risk assessment has not been updated to reflect the change in the level of risk for substance misuse and damage to property. This means that not every member of staff has access to current information that can help them to respond appropriately to the risk of harm.

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

Safer recruitment is good. This prevents unsuitable people from working at the home and helps to promote the children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is enthusiastic and keen to ensure that the standards of care are good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported in their roles and speak warmly of the manager and leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive formal supervision sessions. However, one member of staff’s records indicate that they have a gap in the frequency of their supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are clear on the whistle-blowing procedure and their responsibilities to report concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a wide range of training that is delivered either online or face to face. Some staff’s training is out of date. Furthermore, training records do not indicate that staff receive training on topics such as substance misuse and criminal exploitation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has ensured that there is a workforce development plan in place. However, it has not been updated to consider the needs of staff in their understanding of specific issues, such as substance misuse and exploitation. Inspection report for children’s home: 2559019 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, 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

Understand the children’s homes’ overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for Children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff must ensure that routines are in place for children when they are not attending school. 3 September 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should oversee the welfare of the children in their care through engagement with the home’s staff. In particular, a debrief with children should take place following every serious incident. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23) Inspection report for children’s home: 2559019 6  The registered person should ensure that supervision takes place in line with the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a record is kept when children refuse their medication and that shortfalls in relation to medication are addressed in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied after their assessment that the staff can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs. In particular, ensure that staff complete training in a timely manner and support staff to access additional training to support staff’s understanding around substance misuse and criminal exploitation. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s workforce plan includes any training required for staff to enable them to meet the needs of children in their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2559019 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Woodford Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 37B Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, Croydon CR5 2RB

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Inspector

Ruth Okezie, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2559019 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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