Birchbrook House
4-bed all girls home / 2021 Ofsted rating: ‘Outstanding’
This Essex Registered Children’s Home is a spacious rural detached modern brick-built house standing in its own grounds of 2 acres. The nearest town is Colchester with good rail connections to London (Liverpool Street). The journey time is 50 minutes. On site education is provided (including GCSE).
Birchbrook house is registered for 4 girls aged between 9-17 and benefits from one to one staffing with a night-awake staff member supported by a staff sleep in.
The Home provides a safe, homely and nurturing environment where young people are supported as they try to turn their lives around and resume self-control and responsibility for their own behaviour. The young people are helped to develop their own sense of identity and individuality as they try new experiences and express their own opinions and feelings safely supported by an enthusiastic and well-trained staff team.
This is a therapeutic home, run according to the principles of Social Pedagogy. Maintaining boundaries, and ensuring established routines are followed, are an essential part of the day.
The staff at the home are encouraged to make their decisions in the spirit of “good parents”. In particular they are reminded that as a “good parent” they should take appropriate action to prevent young people in their care from running into danger, should they have reason to believe that this is being considered.
Placement at Birchbrook can be a stepping stone in breaking negative cycles of behaviour. The relative seclusion of the Home allows the young people the space to address their past and deal with unresolved feelings. The level of staff support allows for consistency of care and clear boundary setting, and also containment of any especially difficult behaviour. However, proximity to Colchester and Ipswich ensures access to a wide range of recreational activities.
Young people are encouraged to access the extensive range of hobbies and activities that are available in the local area, this includes horse riding, gym membership, voluntary work, dance classes, singing lessons, skiing lessons, sailing, the Air Training Corps, rollerskating and many other of the enjoyable pursuits that we are fortunate to have available in the Essex and Suffolk regions.
This is a therapeutic home, run according to the principles of Social Pedagogy. Maintaining boundaries, and ensuring established routines are followed, are an essential part of the day.
The staff at the home are encouraged to make their decisions in the spirit of “good parents”. In particular they are reminded that as a “good parent” they should take appropriate action to prevent young people in their care from running into danger, should they have reason to believe that this is being considered.
To protect the safety and welfare of our young people, we do not publish our Statement of Purpose and Function on our website, but a copy is available by request.
Download our Ofsted Report
Statement of purpose available to local authority (by request).