Strathaven House
- Registered: 2001
- Registered Places: 3
- DfE Education: Yes
- Assessment/Therapy: Yes
- Step Down Placements: Yes
- Staff Ratio: 2:3
Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (Girls)
Strathaven House - A 'Good' Children's Home
What Ofsted Say:
"Staff have an in-depth knowledge of the children’s needs and their backgrounds. The individual uniqueness of each child living in the home is fully recognised, with staff tailoring the support provided to reflect this understanding.
Staff give careful thought to how they support children who move into the home. This includes meetings, telephone discussions and visual tools to aid introductions. One social worker praised the planning from staff to support a child to move in. They highlighted how the support that staff provided extended to significant others in the child’s life. It is because of this thoughtfulness and attention to detail that children settle in and begin to form relationships quickly.
Two children have moved out of the home since the last inspection. Staff ensure a careful and planned approach when supporting children to move on from the home. This includes joint working with partner agencies to encourage positive endings for children. Some children who have moved on from the home have remained in touch with staff for some time afterwards. This is testament to the relationships children and staff develop with each other.
Children say they feel safe. They attribute this to both the home environment and the support they receive from staff. Children say the staff are helpful and that they feel confident to seek support from them whenever needed.
Staff consistently keep relevant partner agencies up to date. This sharing of information ensures relevant professionals have a clear understanding of what is happening for the children. This joint working promotes a coordinated approach to supporting and improving outcomes for the children.
Children regularly spend time with the people who are important to them. Staff support the children in both the practical and emotional elements surrounding family time. This helps the children to maintain meaningful relationships regardless of distance.
Staff help children to identify and be involved in hobbies and activities that reflect their individual interests. The children also attend a range of activities with staff. There is a strong focus on making positive memories in the home, with staff helping children to celebrate birthdays and special events
Staff work closely with schools and education services. Staff have strong aspirations for the children and place an importance on learning. Staff advocate on children’s behalf to ensure they receive services that both meet their needs and further their learning."
Ofsted Inspection - December 2024 - Full report available by request
Residential Care
Strathaven House provides a nurturing and inviting environment for children that have emotional, behavioural and mild learning difficulties.
We ensure a safe environment in which children may explore past experiences emotionally and physically, with the care and support of dedicated staff and other professionals this enables the children to process and develop emotionally, hopefully coming to terms for their reasoning of being looked after outside the family environment.
The home has, for a number of years, provided care and support for girls exhibiting a wide range of emotional and behavioural issues which, subject to assessment, includes offending behaviour, sexual exploitation and associated risk taking behaviour, drug and alcohol misuse, absconding behaviour , potential mental health difficulties and mild to moderate learning difficulties. Strathaven House prides itself on its ethos of caring and looking after the children in a child centred manner and a broader thinking as to their care.
The home aims to provide a caring, nurturing ‘family’ environment. The staff team provide a parental approach to the children with rules and expectations similar to that of a traditional home.
To support developing relationships between the staff team and the children, the meeting of primary needs is paramount. Strong emphasis is put on the role of keyworkers within the home from these relationships the children experience adults who hold them in mind allowing them to grow, develop achieve and flourish.
The management and staff team understand that behaviour is s form of communication and recognise behaviour reflects the thoughts, feeling and needs of our children.
By developing strong relationships and trust, the children are supported to develop and understanding of their emotions and how to communicate and express their emotions and feeling in a healthier way.
The home has a ‘thinking’ culture from which the staff team are supported to develop and understanding of attachment theory through additional support sessions and how this can be put into practice.
Through the relationship staff aim to provide the children with a positive experience of adults and develop the children’s ability to move into adulthood with an experience of being cared about, looked after and kept safe.
Achievements for children will be as individual and diverse as they are and every child placed has different starting points from which to progress and develop within the home. For some children rehabilitation into a fostering environment may be a possible goal, for others a successful transition back to the family environment may be possible and for some older children, preparation planning and transition into independent accommodation may be a realistic achievement and success. The aim of the home is that the children feel happy, safe and able to maximise their potential.
Education
The home is directly affiliated to both our DfE registered, specialist SEMH schools: The Davenport Primary School and The Old Priory Secondary School.
The respective school and the home work in close partnership to ensure continuity in respect of learning support, achieving developmental goals and behaviour management.
The Davenport School (Key Stage 2: 7-11yrs) offers a differentiated curriculum in order to meet the individual learning needs of each young person. The school operates with small group settings where children are closely supported and supervised by a qualified teacher and learning support assistants.
The Old Priory School (Key Stages 3 & 4: 11 – 16yrs) offers the national curriculum allowing for GCSE study in essential subject areas, alongside alternative, differentiated curriculums, including ASDAN and City & Guilds NPTC vocational awards, both of which lead to nationally recognised qualifications.
Assessment & Therapy
Children and young people residing in our care have access to a range of assessment and therapy services including:
- Psychological Assessment
- Psychotherapy
- Systemic Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Speech & Language Therapy
- Equine Therapy
- Music Therapy
- Drama Therapy
- Art Therapy
- Play Therapy
All therapy referrals are overseen by the organisation’s dedicated Therapy Services Manager in consultation with the allocated social worker and other key stakeholders as appropriate.
Our assessment and therapy services are an inclusive element of our residential care provision and attract no additional funding requirement.
Health Support
In addition to our therapy services and panel of consultants, each of our homes have direct access to a health promotions worker and, in the event of any significant health concerns arising, oversight from a registered, dual diagnosis nurse. This ensures effective, professional guidance in respect of health profiling, together with the immediate and ongoing health needs of each individual child and young person placed in our care.
Statement of Purpose
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