Children's Home run by Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited in Plymouth

Unique reference number SC458811 Inspector Christina Maddison Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Phoenix Learning and Care Limited Registered person address Phoenix Learning & Care Ltd Rolle Quay BARNSTAPLE Devon EX31 1JE Responsible individual Mark Ian Parker Registered manager Simon Uren / POST VACANT Date of last inspection 05/03/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 03/07/2014

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Previous inspection satisfactory progress Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness adequate

Outcomes for children and young people good Quality of care adequate Keeping children and young people safe adequate Leadership and management adequate

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Overall effectiveness

The home is managed by a recently appointed manager who has the respect of the young people and staff team. One young person said, 'I think the manager is awesome and I like him very much.' Staff, although relatively inexperienced, are a committed, enthusiastic and well trained team. Not all staff are currently receiving regular formal supervision from the manager, although all of the team say they feel well supported and are clear about their roles and responsibilities.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are effectively supported by a manager and staff team who are caring and have high aspirations for young people. Young people have made progress through the staff ensuring a consistent and nurturing approach. As a result of consistent and effective behaviour management, young people have made progress in managing their behaviour and have learnt to make positive choices, together with learning about consequences of their behaviour.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people said they felt safe living at the home and trusted staff to keep them safe. Health and safety is generally well managed in the home. However, risk assessments are not in place for staff who are lone working with young people. Therefore staff do not have guidance about how to safely manage any risks that may occur when working alone. 3 of 11 Parents and placing authorities comment positively about the quality of care provided at the home. One parent said, 'staff have achieved excellent results with our child, they are more settled and have matured since they have lived at the home.'

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Overall effectiveness

The home offers a quality environment for people to live in and the house is well maintained. Young people could not think of anything that could be improved. The manager of the home is committed to improving the quality of care provided at the home and ensuring young people achieve positive outcomes. The home's development plan is out of date and does not detail how improvement will be achieved. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

Compton Vale is a 3 bedroom house located in a residential area of Plymouth. The home provides accommodation for 2 young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private provider that has another children's home in close vicinity.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/03/2014 Interim satisfactory progress 04/10/2013 Full adequate

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure there is at all times a regard to the need to safeguard and promote the health and welfare of the children accommodated in the home; in particular where there is only one member of staff on duty at any time, a risk assessment has been carried out and recorded in writing, identifying any likely risks to children, staff and members of the public (Regulation 25(1)). 31/07/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that all persons employed at the home receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal (Regulation 27(4)(a)) 31/07/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that a system is established and maintained for improving the quality of care in the home; in 31/07/2014 5 of 11 particular that a development plan for the home is established (Regulation 34(1)(a)) 12A (2001) ensure that each young person has a placement plan setting out, in particular how, on a day to day basis, the child will be cared for, and his welfare safeguarded and promoted by the home and that the plan contains targets for achievement that are regularly reviewed and monitored to evidence progress (Regulation 12 (1B)(a)) 31/07/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, discipline or restraint in a children's home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose which shall include details of any methods used to avoid the need to use that measure (Regulation 17B(4)(b)). 31/07/2014 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people enjoy good health and benefit from their physical and emotional needs being supported fully by staff at the home. As a result of nurturing and sensitive care, young people are able to make progress in all areas of their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people maintain positive relationships with their family and friends. Staff support them to enjoy regular home visits as part of plans for them to eventually return home to live with their families. Friends and families are welcome to visit the home. One parent said, 'We are always warmly welcomed when we visit the home.'

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people say their views, wishes and opinions are listened to by staff and they are able to have input in to the day-to-day running of the home. For example, staff have set up activities that they have requested and changed menus at their request. This helps the young people develop a sense of belonging and build trusting and open relationships with staff.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Staff support young people to learn independent living skills that young people will need in the future when they leave the home. They encourage young people to learn how to cook, undertake their own laundry and manage their money. They also help young people to save their money in bank savings accounts. As a result, the young people have learned new skills and this has helped to improve their self-esteem and confidence.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

A strength of the home is young people’s progress with their education. For example, young people who previously refused to attend any education are now attending a college course, engaging with education and thinking about their future. Other young people are making plans to gain qualifications and eventually attend university.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Risk taking and unsafe behaviour has reduced and young people are effectively supported to manage their own behaviour and learn to compromise and live with other young people.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people make progress due to a committed and caring manager and staff team who carefully identify individual care needs and effectively support the young people. Placement plans contain the identified care needs and how these will be met at the home. Young people are fully involved in writing their care plans. Plans also contain some relevant information that staff need to inform their care of young people. However, the plans do not contain clear measurable targets to evidence the progress 7 of 11 young people have made, what outcomes are yet to be achieved and how this will be done. This means staff do not have clear guidance and information about what they are trying to achieve with young people and what strategies to use to achieve positive outcomes for young people in what timescales.

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Quality of care adequate

Cultural and religious needs are fully assessed and met at the home. Young people are able to worship at the church of their choice and staff ensure that needs relating to ethnicity and individual culture are understood and met.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people have positive relationships, they support and help each other. For example, one young person said, 'I like living here with other young people, they help me to fix my laptop when it goes wrong.' Young people are encouraged and supported to compromise with each other and learn how to resolve any differences. Young people are able to express their views at house meetings and in key worker sessions. External advocates are available for young people if they need to speak with someone outside of the home.

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Quality of care adequate

Expectations of behaviour are high and staff successfully implement consistent and robust boundaries. As a result, young people's behaviour has improved since arriving at the home. One parent said, 'Since coming to the home, my child's behaviour has improved and they are much calmer now.'

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Quality of care adequate

High staffing ratios offer individualised and nurturing support to each young person. This means young people quickly settle in to the home and begin to make progress. One young person said, 'I like living here, the staff are fun and talk to me all the time so I understand things.'

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Quality of care adequate

The manager and staff at the home have high aspirations for young people and empower them through open and transparent ways of working. These need to be translated in to written documentation, recorded and monitored for progress.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people learn to trust the staff and relationships are built on mutual respect. Young people are fully involved in the day-to-day running of the home. For example, young people regularly cook meals, choose the decoration of the house and are able to display their family photographs around the house. Young people are encouraged to gain independent living skills such as undertaking laundry, personal hygiene skills and animal care.

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Quality of care adequate

Staff promote a healthy lifestyle. Young people benefit from eating healthy and nutritious meals and taking part in physical exercise through sporting activities such as swimming and walking. Staff have successfully supported young people to reduce their smoking and have helped young people to access education regarding sexual health, and use of alcohol and drugs, to enable them to make informed choices. To ensure young people receive the help they need with their emotional and psychological needs, staff have been pro-active in ensuring that relevant health care professionals are involved in their care. Medication is safely managed, stored and 8 of 11 administered. Staff ensure young people are up to date with dental, medical and optician check-ups to ensure young people maintain good health and any problems are spotted at an early stage and treated.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people have made progress with their education. Staff support young people to access education by transporting them to school, helping with homework and ensuring young people have safe access to the internet in the home. Staff have succeeded in supporting young people who previously refused to engage with any education for some years to attend an educational placement and make progress from their starting points. Other young people have achieved school awards for excellent attendance and achievement.

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Quality of care adequate

Staff successfully support young people to remain in contact with their families. This includes transporting young people on home visits, welcoming family members to the home and helping young people to remember birthdays and buy gifts. As a result of this support, young people have improved relationships with their family and are working towards returning to the family home to live.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people are given the opportunity to take part in a wide range of trips and activities. Any interests young people express are noted and supported. For example, young people requested to learn the piano and lessons have been arranged. Young people enjoy swimming, trips to the cinema and trampolining club. These activities help young people engage in the community, keep fit and gain new skills. Young people also benefit from holidays abroad which they choose and arrange themselves within a budget that is given to them. This helps young people to experience another culture, learn how to obtain a passport and use an airport.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people say they like the house and couldn't think of anything that could improve it. Staff have worked hard to ensure it offers a homely appearance, is very clean and well furnished. The garden is a pleasant, well0kept space where young people are able to keep pets and relax.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people report that they feel safe living at the home and are sure staff would keep them safe. Incidents of missing from home have reduced to the point where none have been recorded since the previous inspection. The home has robust protocols in place with the local police and staff have attended training on the prevention of the sexual exploitation of children. Staff are knowledgeable about their responsibilities to safeguard young people and are fully aware of the action they should take if they have child protection concerns.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Behaviour management strategies and risk assessments are comprehensive and informative. The success of behaviour management strategies means there have been minimal incidents of restraint and sanctions given for negative behaviour have 9 of 11 been minimal. However strategies used to de-escalate an incident leading up to a restraint are recorded in incident logs but not recorded in the record of restraints as required in the regulations to evidence that the restraint was only used as a last resort to ensure the safety of a young person or others. This impacts on the homes ability to monitor and inform future practice in this area.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Risk assessment has been undertaken for young people and activities outside of the home. These documents detail possible risks and how staff are to manage them. However, lone working risk assessments are not in place. This means staff do not have clear guidance regarding how to safely manage identified risks when they are working alone with young people.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The home has robust written staff recruitment policies and procedures. Staff report that they are asked to provide two references, proof of identification and explain any gaps in their employment history to ensure they are suitable to work with young people. It was not possible to scrutinise all staff files during this inspection as they are not held in the home but at the company head office. It is planned to transfer staff files to individual homes to ensure they are available for inspection in the future.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people know what to do if there is a fire in the home and there are regular checks of electrical and fire prevention equipment to ensure they are safe and effective to use.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home has had a high turnover of managers. In the 15 months since the home was first registered there have been 4 managers in post. The current manager was registered in May 2014. recently He is an experienced manager and is currently studying to achieve a level 5 diploma. Staff speak highly of him and appreciate his experience, knowledge, support and open door policy.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home succeeds in providing a safe and structured environment for young people. Daily routines run smoothly and staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities. The home's statement of purpose is an informative document. however, it is not clear whether the home provides short term, long term or respite placements for young people.

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Leadership and management adequate

The development plan is out of date and does not demonstrate that the strengths and weaknesses are fully understood and plans in place to address any shortfalls.

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Leadership and management adequate

There is now a consistent and stable staff team in place at the home following a recruitment process. The team now comprises of a more diverse and experienced staff team. Currently two of the team have achieved a level 3 qualification and the other five members of staff are enrolled on the qualification. 10 of 11 Staff report that they are well trained and are given the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge they need to undertake their roles and have attended training in topics such as safeguarding, safe restraint, first aid and food hygiene. Not all staff receive regular supervision though. For instance one newly appointed senior care worker has not received supervision for three months. This means staff are not receiving the support they need to ensure they are effectively undertaking their role.

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Leadership and management adequate

Monthly monitoring visits are undertaken by an independent person and detail any actions required to address identified shortfalls. The manager undertakes regular monitoring of records and systems to improve the quality of care provided at the home. Notifications of significant events are sent to Ofsted and appropriate action has been taken by staff following any incidents. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management adequate

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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Information about this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the framework of inspection for children's homes.

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