Ivory Villa

Ivory Villa is a registered 2-2 home which provides accommodation for 2 young people of both genders with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. The home is located within easy reach of the local amenities within Barnsley town centre and is near to The Metrodome Sport complex and Oakwell, the home of Barnsley Football Club.

Ivory Villa

Manager: Anthony Haigh

Ethos of Ivory Villa

The ethos of the home is underpinned by the organisations model of care. The staff team are committed to the young people who live at Ivory to ensure that they achieve their full potential. Holistic individualised child focussed packages of care are evolved for the young people in conjunction with NSCAP and all professionals who are involved with the young people. Ivory provides a nurturing environment which supports the young people to achieve a sense of permanency.

Age of Young People

Ivory can accommodate young people of any age; however normally they are between 8 and 18 years old. The admission process is robust and includes the completion of a shared living risk assessment which allows the young people’s needs to be carefully matched with co-residents, including age, specific needs and stage of emotional development to ensure that the placement is in the best interests of all young people.

At Ivory we prefer planned placements as this gives new young people the opportunity to visit the home and meet the staff team and the other young person prior to them moving in. However, we recognise that there may be occasions where emergency placements may be required, and we are sometimes in a position to offer this. This decision would only be made after consideration of the suitability of the young person being referred. It would be expected that a review would take place within 7 working days of the young person’s admission in the case of a planned move to ascertain whether it is in the young person’s best interests to remain at the home or to move onto a different placement. In the case of an emergency admission the review should take place never more than 72 hours after admission.

Facilities

The house is a detached property. The building consists of a kitchen, lounge/dining room on the ground floor; bathroom and another lounge/games room that staff use as a sleep-in room, two bedrooms for young people on the second floor and a second sleep room for staff in the loft. The office is on the ground floor; this is the only room to which the young people do not have open access.

Ivory strives to create and maintain a homely environment for the young people to feel safe and secure. The daily routine of the home is centred around the needs of the young people. This is achieved by encouraging the young people to personalise their surroundings by actively involving them in choosing décor and furnishings for the home and personalising their own bedroom. The young people receive an allowance when they first move into the home so that they can purchase items of their choice to personalise their bedrooms. All shared areas of the home are accessible to young people.

Children enjoy good relationships with staff who understand their vulnerabilities and needs. Staff encouraged them to express their views through regular children’s meetings, consultations sessions, and informal and focused one-to-one sessions. This means that they can share their wishes and feelings openly and participate in the running of the home. As a result of this, the children develop a sense of selfworth.

Ofsted, 2021

Children’s education is a priority. Staff encourage them to attend school daily. When barriers to learning occur, staff work with schools and teaching staff to address the issues and overcome the challenges. This means that children benefit from clear plans to support their education.

Ofsted, 2021

Staff support children to develop their self-esteem and confidence by encouraging them to participate in a range of activities. These include trips to theme parks and cinema visits. Importantly, staff take photographs of children enjoying these activities, and this provides them with a positive record of their time in the home

Ofsted, 2021

Children develop life skills as a result of living in this home. They are supported to practice budgeting, shopping, cooking and other general life skills. This means that children are better prepared for later life.

Ofsted, 2021

Children’s well-being and safety are promoted. Relevant policies and procedures are in place, and the manager and staff regularly update children’s risk assessments. Staff have a good understanding of risks to children’s safety and use the individual strategies in place to manage and reduce these. Incidents are reported and appropriately recorded. This approach helps staff to protect children from harm.

Ofsted, 2021

Staff help the children to stay in regular contact with their families and friends by providing both emotional and practical support. They appreciate how important these relationships are to children and how these enhance their positive identity.

Ofsted, 2021

Staff recruitment ensures that all checks and verification processes are completed before new staff are able to work with children. This provides assurance that staff are suitably vetted to provide care for children.

Ofsted, 2021

Our Approach

Consultation with young people is at the heart of all the work we do and the decisions we make about the child’s life are made with their involvement. We provide a nurturing and supportive environment which engages positively with young people and makes every effort to involve the wider system around them to ensure their needs are met.

We work hard to build constructive and warm relationships with young people and have a strong culture surrounding safeguarding issues where staff feel empowered and confident in risk management.

Girl Smiling

Our Homes

Interested in finding out more?