Children's home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Birmingham

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:

 Young people make good progress while living in the home. They have excellent relationships with staff who have a strong understanding of their individual needs.  Staff work effectively with partner agencies to ensure that all young people’s needs are met. Staff attend specialist training in communication methods and in relation to young people’s diagnosed conditions.  Young people’s actions and demeanour suggest that they are confident in the home, and will approach staff when they are worried or upset, or to help meet their needs.  Managers within the home have an excellent understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service and make continuous strides to improve the care of young people.  The physical environment is homely and welcoming, with many photographs of young people on the walls. Communication boards are non-obtrusive and help young people to understand who will be supporting them that day.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff do not regard disability as a barrier to young people engaging in activities and clubs in the community. Young people access a wide range of physically and emotionally stimulating activities and engage in residential trips through groups that they access comparable to their non-disabled peers.  The home needs to make some improvements. These include: ensuring that written consent is gained from medical professionals if physical restraint may be used when young people have specific medical conditions; ensuring that the reports in relation to Regulation 44 are rigorous and provide an evaluation of the service; updating the child protection policy to include child sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation; for staff to receiving more in-depth training in safeguarding and child protection; and in addition, young people’s reviews should be recorded, including adapting organisation- wide forms in order to more easily capture the detail.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

7: The children's views, wishes and feelings standard The children's views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who— (1)(c) take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children's care and welfare and their lives. (2)(a) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— (i) ascertain and consider each child's views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child's best interests when making decisions about the child's care and welfare; and (ii) help each child to express views, wishes and feelings. 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all staff undertake continuing professional development. Specifically, provide good-quality safeguarding and child protection training. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 16/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 The registered person has specific responsibilities to prepare and implement policies setting out arrangements for the safeguarding of children from abuse or neglect, including female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.19)  Any use of restraint carries risks. These include causing physical injury, psychological trauma or emotional disturbance. When considering whether restraint is warranted, staff in children's homes need to take into account the relevance of any disability, health problem or medication to the behaviour in question and the action that might be taken as a result. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.55)  Any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home's

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Recommendations

arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home's care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. There are four other homes within the Southampton area. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children and young people with learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 03/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 03/12/2015 Full Good 22/01/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/07/2014 Full Adequate

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Good

Young people make good progress as a result of living in the home. They form positive relationships with staff, who have a strong understanding of each young person’s needs and anxieties. Young people are nurtured in a homely environment. There have been recent changes to make their day less challenging. For example, each young person has a bus in the hallway with their picture and a photograph of the member of staff who will support them that day. Young people have responded well to this and incidents of distress on return from school, in particular, have significantly reduced. Staff are keen to gain young people’s views. A young person who has recently moved on to adult services was actively engaged in recording his daily observations with staff, and other young people in the home who are able to are now being encouraged to follow this approach. For other young people, there is good anecdotal evidence that staff respond to their requests and choices. However, the

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Good

organisation’s formal records do not meet the needs of the home and communication styles of the young people who live there. Consequently, they fail to capture young people’s views effectively. All young people attend formal education and staff have some excellent links with schools and colleges. Teachers are complimentary of the home, stating ‘communication between myself, the manager and his staff team is exceptional’ and ‘staff think of situations from the young person’s point of view’. Staff ensure that they have an excellent knowledge of each young person’s communication style and a specialist teacher for hearing impairment was particularly impressed with staff’s ‘dedication and commitment’ in attending a training day, which she had never known care staff to do before. Information is shared among the staff team to ensure that all are able to communicate effectively with each young person. In addition to formal education, all young people enjoy a range of emotionally and

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Good

physically stimulating activities. They access clubs and activities in the community, including cubs, swimming and visiting local parks. Staff do not allow disability to be a barrier to accessing the community. For example, one young person attends sessions organised by a national charity for young people. He was excitedly talking of an upcoming residential trip that he will be attending with them. The organisation involved felt that the home had challenged their thinking, as they had never supported a young person with a learning disability before. Young people learn skills for independence and adulthood while living in the home. Programmes are tailored to individual needs and abilities, and include cooking, personal care and eating using appropriate cutlery. When able, young people learn to use public transport with staff assistance and pay for goods in shops. During the inspection, one young person was proud to have helped make dinner for the

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Good

group. A young person moving on to adult services was supported by staff to access an advocate to ensure that his views were considered, and to highlight his concerns over delays in his move. Young people are supported to understand healthy lifestyles and what this means for them. They engage in exercise and healthy eating, as well as attending all routine and specialist medical appointments. Staff note any changes in young people’s behaviour or demeanour and seek help from an emotional well-being specialist if they are concerned. Young people are encouraged to understand their emotions and channel their distress or anxiety into positive or more socially acceptable behaviours. One young person has particularly progressed in this area, and his demeanour around the home is notably calmer, with staff redirecting him to calming activities with much greater effect. Young people are encouraged to form positive relationships with peers in the

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Good

community through clubs and activities. They also see their families as agreed and staff facilitate family contact within the home and in the local community in line with their placement plans.

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Good

Young people’s demeanour and actions show that they feel safe in the home and are comfortable approaching staff to spend time with, or to meet their needs. Staff know the procedures to follow should they be concerned for a young person’s safety or welfare and feel that they are listened to in these circumstances. The home’s local policy does not include specific guidance on countering child sexual exploitation or female genital mutilation. Young people do not go missing from the home. A recent incident where a young person ran from staff has been thoroughly investigated and new safety measures put in place. Staff responded swiftly to ensure that the young person was returned to staff care immediately. Staff are acutely aware of the relationships between young people in the home and ensure that bullying does not happen in the form of power imbalances in relationships. All young people have allocated staff, who

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Good

monitor interactions closely. Young people are encouraged to take appropriate risk in line with their abilities. The home is not risk-averse and often pushes the boundaries to ensure that young people have the opportunities that others their age might have. Positive behaviour is consistently promoted within the home and young people know what is expected of them. Staff work as a team to support young people through varying behaviours and there is a significant improvement in young people’s well-being as a result. Joint working with school and behaviour support teams ensures consistency across all settings and allows for smoother transitions. Restraint is used only as a last resort in order to keep young people safe. Records and behaviour management plans are clear. However, written consent to use certain holds for a young person with a medical condition has not been obtained. Young people are protected from avoidable risks and hazards through regular

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Good

monitoring of the firefighting equipment and other health and safety matters within the home. Additionally, the organisation diligently follows safer recruitment practices when employing new staff to the home.

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Good

The home is effectively run by a suitably experienced registered manager who holds qualifications relevant to the role. He is keen to constantly improve the quality of care for young people and has high expectations of the staff team. The registered manager uses a range of resources to monitor the quality of the home, including six-monthly evaluations, which inform the regularly reviewed development plan. Monthly monitoring by the independent visitor produces acceptable reports, but they lack rigour and often describe only what has happened during the reporting period with very little actual evaluation of the service. The statement of purpose is reflective of the service provided and reviewed regularly. Staff are aware of their role in meeting the ethos as set out in the document. Staff are confident in their roles and say that they are well supported by their supervisors and that they can approach senior staff and managers with any

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Good

new ideas, or worries and concerns. They feel that these will be acted on swiftly. Staff say that they are able to access a variety of training in order to meet young people’s specific needs, including in autism awareness and specific communication systems. Child protection and safeguarding training is not as robust or of the quality it could be, with staff only accessing online training after their initial induction period. Staff either hold or are currently undertaking a suitable level 3 qualification, and are due to complete these within the timeframe stated in regulations. Young people’s plans are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain relevant and that they are reflective of the placing authority’s plans. Strong joint working between the home and social workers ensures clear focus and agreement on what the anticipated outcomes should be for each young person. The management team and staff challenge external services if it is felt that they are not supporting the

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Good

young person as they should. They also recognise if they feel that a young person is not progressing and will work with statutory and voluntary agencies to consider how best to support the individual to progress. There have been no new young people move into the home since the last inspection, and the manager ensures that only those young people who the staff have the skills to support will be placed in the home. Those young people who have moved on have benefited from a smooth transition with joint working between the home, the social worker and staff in the new placement. All relevant information is shared with partner agencies, including significant events to Ofsted. Young people’s records are clear and reflect the young people’s experiences.

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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 that 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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