Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Cannock Chase

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Two children have lived here together for almost one year and this feels like home to them. They are happy and settled.  A small, consistent and skilled staff team work together very well, provide high quality, homely care that meets children’s needs very well.  Children benefit from taking a full part in a wide range of experiences and a healthy, active and interesting lifestyle. They are accumulating good memories.  Staff and the registered manager have high expectations of what children can achieve. They practice innovatively and sensitively, enabling children to make good progress.  Children are very safe here and get good, individualised help to keep themselves safe in their everyday lives.  Staff work well with local authorities and other providers to get children good help and support. This improves their health, education and sense of belonging to their families and to the wider community.  The home’s registered manager is a warm, well-organised, respected and

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The children's home provision is good because:

effective leader who ensures that children are well matched to live together. He gets the best out of staff and children like him.  The registered manager retains, trains and develops the staff team very well, making good use of psychological advice about attachment difficulties, trauma and therapeutic parenting.  The registered manager is aware that management needs more focus on consultation, care planning and analysis of sanctions to address behaviour. These areas for focus will help to ensure that children enjoy further success in overcoming their emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Seek to ensure that the local authority regularly consults the child and the home about the child's relevant plans. This is with particular reference to helping children be clearer about the reasons for their plans and what they need to achieve in order for their plan to become a reality. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards', page 57, paragraph 11.11)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that any sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, and staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person and their staff engage proactively with the placing authority to contribute fully to the relevant plans for the child's care on an ongoing basis. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards', page 56, paragraph 11.3)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person takes responsibility for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home's care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed.

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Recommendations

The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards', page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this children's home

This home is privately owned and is registered to provide care for up to two young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 15 March 2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 30 June 2015 Full Good 28 August 2014 Full Good 14 April 2014 Registration visit

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Good

Both children like it here. One of them said, ‘It’s good.’ They want to stay until they are ready to be independent or until they can live in a family ‘without it going wrong.’ The manager ensured, before agreeing to the placements, that both boys were well matched by age, family circumstances and need. Good matching, good quality care and good leadership underpin the boys’ success and progress. The registered manager says that he and staff provide ‘massive stability’ and both boys have made ‘phenomenal progress’ over the past year.

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Good

Children receive a consistently good standard of individualised care. The small staff team work very well together so that children feel confident with all of them. Staff create a homely atmosphere and provide a good balance of healthy routines and fun activities. When children first moved in, staff devised helpful, individual ways to present their daytime and evening routines in pictorial and poster form. Children do not need these now because they are used to what happens and when. Staff and children still plan each week together. This ensures that each child knows who is taking them to appointments and where the cars are. This is important to them.

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Good

Children benefit from a wide range of good support with all aspects of their emotional and physical health. Staff keep them active in a variety of ways, for example, an adventure ‘survival’ hike and an activity camping holiday where they took part in paddle boarding and rock climbing. Children and staff use bicycles regularly and one child is now able to walk home from school by himself. Staff are sensitive and creative in the help that they give to improve children’s health. They do not ‘nag’ but will use more creative ways to engage with them. For example, staff obtained timers for the children to encourage them to brush their teeth properly and for long enough. Staff use photos if children need help to see what has gone wrong with the way that they have put on their uniform. This helps them put it right without feeling ‘nagged’ or embarrassed. Staff explain to children about puberty. They plan conversations well and give practical tips that help children to

p.6

Good

understand and manage their changing bodies and feelings.

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Good

Staff always cook and eat together with children so that children have consistently good role models and regular conversations about balanced and healthy eating. Staff notice and address physical and emotional health issues and are proactive in getting children the right medical and specialist help. For example, children have received specialist assessment and treatment in relation to walking gait, breathing, speech and enuresis. Children have also gone on a course run by the NHS on teen friendships. They receive life story work commissioned by the local authority. This means that children enjoy much improved physical and emotional health. Children consistently attend at two different mainstream schools. This is excellent progress, given their starting points and behavioural difficulties. Staff support children’s education particularly well. They weave opportunities to learn into their everyday conversations with children. They are skilled at identifying gaps in what

p.6

Good

children know and finding ways to help them learn. For example, they devise individual workbooks using simple language, pictures, quizzes and puzzles to help children prepare for safely walking to and from school. Staff help children with homework by ensuring that time, space and encouragement are routinely given. Staff read to children and listen to them reading.

p.7

Good

Staff work particularly well with teachers, classroom assistants and professionals from the virtual school, to ensure that children’s educational needs are kept under review and met. For example, they advise the teaching assistants on the underlying reasons for children’s controlling and attention seeking behaviour in school. Staff are adding to this by suggesting that their in-house clinician provides an advice session to teaching assistants about how to interpret and de-escalate children’s difficult behaviour in school. As a result of staff’s advocacy, one child has progressed enormously in his levels of attainment, thanks to the provision of a ‘scribe’ for school tests. Education staff have changed their assessment of the child’s needs, enabling him to stay in his present school. Staff advocacy and creative practice have been key in children’s educational progress.

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Good

In school holidays, staff encourage and help children to get up, dressed, washed, have breakfast and ensure that rooms are tidy and laundry underway, before going out to parks and places of interest. Staff take a more leisurely approach in the holidays. They allow children plenty of time to play in the garden or on their electronic games, but make sure that they get to their clubs, like karate and scouts, on time. Staff ensure that children are prepared for the start of the new school term and have all their uniforms and equipment ready. Staff talk to children about the upcoming start of term, in order to help them prepare emotionally and psychologically for school. Children’s good progress and experiences are underpinned by this well organised lifestyle and staff’s nurturing, parental style of care. Staff also make sure that children get good help to capture and remember their time here: they take photos and collect memorabilia to create memory books

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Good

for children that they enjoy looking at.

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Good

Children’s views are understood well and are taken into account. This is because staff spend as much time as possible with children, listening to them and working to understand how they see and feel things. Children respond and engage well because of the conducive atmosphere that staff maintain. There are also regular meetings when children talk about what they think and want. After these meetings, staff and the manager follow through quickly with decisions and action. They encourage children to contact their social workers and to take a full part in their own review meetings. Children understand their rights and entitlements but are less clear about how they will achieve their future plans. This is because children do not get enough clear help and advice from staff and social workers about what they need to do in order to overcome their emotional and behavioural difficulties.

p.7

Good

Children are included in their community and enjoy increasing amounts of time with their relatives, where this is good for them. Staff and the manager have a full understanding of each child’s history and difficulties, but also have high expectations that, with help, each one can improve their social links and sense of belonging. Staff support and help both children to have more regular, enjoyable and active time with their brothers, parents and grandparents even if they live at a distance. Local friends from clubs and school are always welcome at the home too. Staff foster positive links with friends’ parents, neighbours, shop owners and community police. Children’s stability, social confidence and behaviour have all improved because of their participation, inclusion and social contacts. This is good preparation for their future.

p.8

Good

Children are very well engaged and enjoy their lives here. They feel safe, secure, and cared for. They do not go missing or harm themselves. Anxious behaviour, such as difficulties going to bed, feeling scared to come out of the bedroom to get adult help and overeating have all disappeared. In April 2016, the home’s independent visitor noted that accidents, incidents and sanctions were all down to virtually none. This is because staff work well as a team and are proactive and creative in the ways that they help children to become increasingly safe. For example, a member of staff has written ‘e safety’ workbooks to help both boys prepare for using on-line games where they play live with others. These workbooks have quizzes to check children’s understanding of the issues. Staff refer back to the content of the workbooks to help reinforce the learning and help children apply it. One child wrote, ‘I should not give a picture to somebody I don’t know.’

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Good

Children also know that they must tell a trusted adult if they are worried about anything. Overall, children trust staff to help and protect them in all aspects of their lives.

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Good

Staff give children good support and care that helps them become increasingly safe. For example, staff write child-friendly placement plans that tell children what things are not safe such as, ‘leaving the house without telling someone or not being where I should be if I am not with staff.’ The plans tell children what they should do and what staff will do to help them be safe for example, ‘If I go missing or staff are not able to find me, they may phone the police to help find me’. Children know how to make complaint but have not made any complaints or allegations about staff. This indicates that they feel safe and secure with them. Staff anticipate and identify children’s risks well. They provide necessary education and help that address each child’s risks in a timely way. For example, children who need help to behave safely and manage their emerging sexual feelings, get this straightaway. Simple, understandable rules and information are given that helps

p.8

Good

children remember what they have learnt. Similarly, staff address children’s road safety and stranger danger knowledge before allowing them to walk home from school without staff. Staff make sure that there is an agreed safe route and that times to be home are clear. Staff get extra materials and input from the local road safety officer to reinforce children’s learning. One child’s answers on his work book show that he understands what he needs to do to be safe by the roads for example ‘don’t be distracted – stop look and listen.’ The staff team’s good practice reduces the risk that children will behave unsafely and inappropriately. It enables children to recognise and avoid abusive situations.

p.9

Good

Children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties mean that there are often issues between them. Staff work on this dynamic constantly, in an effort to prevent them from harming each another. Staff are proactive and invest time and effort in helping children understand and overcome their difficulties. They support and advise children about what is expected, keep children busy, reward good behaviour and provide good routines.

p.9

Good

Staff are empathic. They know that each child’s difficulties stem from the trauma and disorganised attachments that they have experienced. They work with local police to protect children from unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system. They also discuss children’s behaviour regularly and in detail with the home’s psychologist. This enhances the base of therapeutic care from which staff work and helps them devise positive strategies that provide children with the best help. Staff also repeatedly use the same ‘consequences’ in response to bullying and violence between the children. Children accept these sanctions and believe that they are fair. However, the sanctions are not restorative. Furthermore, the manager has not analysed whether they actually help the behaviour to stop. This is a minor shortfall and children get good help with their behaviour overall.

p.9

Good

The registered manager has worked at the home for over three years and retains a skilled and highly effective staff team. Children make good progress across all areas of their development because of good management and good care by staff. Staff and children alike find the manager very supportive. Staff say that he prioritises the needs of children well and motivates them all to do the same. The manager said, ‘I don’t want to go on up the ladder, but I offer a lot to my staff and to managers.’

p.9

Good

The organisation recognises the manager’s considerable organisational and mentoring skills. Therefore, he has additional responsibility to provide managerial support and advice to a cluster of children’s homes in the area. This work does not detract from his effectiveness as manager in day-to-day charge of this home.

p.10

Good

The manager’s care and leadership qualifications are suitable and were obtained some years ago. Nevertheless, he keeps abreast of current thinking on therapeutic parenting approaches. He references books that inform staff on management of children’s behaviour, based on therapeutic approaches. The manager and staff also make good use of other professionals to develop practice. In particular, they use the home psychologist’s advice. The manager said, ‘We go to the clinician perplexed, but come out with the light on!’ For example, the clinician suggested to staff a strategy that they call, ‘I wonder if…’ Staff verbalise to the child how they think he might be seeing things and why he might be feeling and doing the things that he is doing. The aim is for the child to feel understood and begin to realise that others may see and feel things differently. The manager also organised for staff to have a session with a social worker that provides life story work to one of

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Good

the children. The session provided them all with valuable insights into the child’s difficulties and the social worker’s way of working through therapeutic play. The manager develops staff skills and morale well in ways like these. As a result, children get the right help and make good progress.

p.10

Good

The manager has put together a staff group that is diverse in age, gender, skills, academic ability and experience. Most of them are qualified in residential childcare and those that are training now are within timescales to complete it within two years of starting work. The manager involves children in meeting and choosing new staff. He is confident that children’s progress across all areas is promoted well by the mix of staff that he has. For example, some staff are very skilled at supporting children to try new outdoor challenges and learn about the countryside. Staff use their skills to devise child-friendly paper and electronic workbooks in order to deliver specific teaching to children. Some staff organise celebrations such as special meals or theme nights and parties using their excellent organisational and creative skills. Some staff are particularly nurturing and approachable, making sure that children feel special and cared for. Most of all, the manager leads the staff

p.10

Good

group well, providing good induction, supervision, appraisal and training. This means that all staff meet the specific needs of these two children well.

p.10

Good

The manager communicates well with children. Children know that he listens to them and responds to their wishes. He writes to them after their weekly meeting and thanks them for feeding back to him about what they think of the home. Children discuss things with him in his office and he writes responses to confirm what they have discussed. For example, he wrote to one boy saying, ‘We just need to get you a watch so you can walk home but there will be rules for you walking back alone – glad you enjoyed your birthday…I know school is difficult and we will help you with this – oh and well done for sitting through that long meeting at school last week. The manager’s communications help children feel valued and shows them that he and his staff all work together with their best interests at heart.

p.10

Good

The manager has a strong track record over many years managing children’s homes. He leads and manages the home so that the aims and objectives of its statement of purpose are clearly achieved. The staff team work well with other professionals, but are able to challenge them, when necessary, on behalf of the children.

p.11

Good

There were no recommendations or requirements made at the last inspection, but the manager remains well motivated to continuously develop and improve the quality of care and leadership. He is keen to improve his review and monitoring of the home by focusing more on particular areas of concern and using consultation in a more meaningful way. He says that he sees the benefits of more proactive engagement with social workers and children about their plans. He believes that clearer planning addressing children’s most pressing difficulties will help children to progress in the areas that they most need to and will show local authorities the quality and impact of staff’s work.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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