Children's Home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Somerset

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 say that this is a good home. They are able to approach staff readily, and recognise that the manager and staff team care about them. There is fun and laughter as they are enabled and encouraged to play and be children.  Young people benefit from the quality of care at this home. The warmth and safety provided leads to increased levels of confidence and personal growth. Consequently, young people reduce their risk-taking behaviour as they respond well to behaviour-management strategies.  The manager and staff team are nurturing in their approach. Consistent boundaries give young people clear expectations about their behaviour. The strength of relationships between young people and the staff team leads to greater discussion and fewer sanctions.  All young people are engaged in education and supported to develop interests through activities in the home and participation in community events.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff are trained effectively. They are supported well by the manager and each other. Team cohesion is strong, and there is great pride among staff and a willingness to continually improve.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The children's guide should help children to understand how to contact the Office of the Children's Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, when reviewing risk assessment documents they should ensure that the highest risks feature at the beginning of the document. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high- quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home's statement of purpose. In particular, staff meetings require a set agenda, a concise record of discussion and decisions, and clear action points. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52 paragraph 10.4)

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation and is registered to provide care and accommodation for four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. This is the first inspection after registration by Ofsted on 1 July 2016.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement N/A

p.5

Good

Young people, the staff team and the manager moved to this home in July 2016 from a property that was previously registered with Ofsted. Young people were actively involved in the process of moving house, and have successfully settled into their new home with a sense of belonging.

p.6

Good

Young people like their home and generally respect it. The young people assist with the decoration of the home, by painting walls and choosing the colours and style of their own bedrooms. Young people, staff, social workers and parents all report that this house is more homely than the previous property, and is ‘like a family house’.

p.6

Good

Young people develop strong relationships with the adults who care for them. They openly receive affection and reassurance from staff. This enables them to feel secure in their surroundings, and confident to discuss their feelings and any worries. ‘We have excellent staff,’ said one young person. Another said, ‘They have really helped me, especially during some tricky times.’

p.6

Good

The manager and staff work hard to engage young people with their learning, particularly when many have previously had poor experiences in education and long absences from school. As a result, all young people are attending regularly and engaged well in school or alternative provision. Young people respond well to the praise and support staff provide regarding their attendance and achievements. This encouragement has led to success, such as the promotion of one young person to the role of prefect, and the withdrawal of residential staff support in the school building.

p.6

Good

Learning continues in the home with life skills and educational games. Card games are popular with those young people who state ‘I don’t like maths’. This creative approach from staff promotes learning through fun, and increases the young people’s skills. An independence programme enables young people to learn some life skills, and take gradual responsibility for themselves in preparation for moving on to their own home one day. Young people help with shopping and cooking. Similar to most family homes, they take it in turns to help daily with washing-up and other household chores.

p.6

Good

Young people are very active, and enjoy participating in activities as a group and individually. There are opportunities to engage with local sports and youth groups, including going to a trampoline club and horse riding. These opportunities enable young people to meet others, engage in fair play, keep physically fit and, above all, have some fun. The grounds are ideal for ball games and the manager and staff can regularly be found running around with young people playing games.

p.6

Good

Medication for young people is stored and administered safely. Staff training in first aid ensures that they can promptly attend to any accidents or injuries. Community health services provide medical care and specialist services to help young people with their emotional well-being.

p.7

Good

Consultation is strong, as evidenced through the successful house move. Young people are regularly consulted on matters about themselves and the home. The young people offer their views on food, activities and house rules at regular house meetings. From these meetings, the manager provides a response to their requests to let them know they have been listened to and to value their contribution. For example, the last entry from the manager reads, ‘Thanks again for your attendance and input. It is lovely to see the house looking more like a home. Keep up the good work, boys.’

p.7

Good

The manager and staff team have a good understanding of risk management, and review risks to young people through daily discussion. Staff knowledge is sound about individual young people and their risk-management plans. An area to improve is to ensure that when a risk-assessment document is reviewed, new information is not added to the end of the document but included appropriately to reflect the level of risk. Due to the good level of understanding by staff and daily discussions during handover meetings, this shortfall currently has minimal impact on young people.

p.7

Good

Young people demonstrate that they feel safe living in this home through improved behaviour and a significant reduction in the number of times that they go missing or require physical intervention from staff. Staff talk very proudly of young people’s progress and achievements, and have high aspirations for them to do well. High levels of staff supervision contribute to the safety of young people. Staff manage the need to protect young people without compromising their privacy and personal development well.

p.7

Good

Behaviour-management plans support staff and young people with strategies to use at times of upset and distress. There is good input from young people against statements such as, ‘things I do when I lose control’, ‘things I can do to help me remain in control’ and ‘things the adults can do to help me’. These strategies help young people to manage arguments and upsets with each other. Staff are suitably trained in the protection of young people, both during their induction as new staff and as a part of their regular training updates. Safeguarding concerns are reported appropriately and managed through a multi-agency forum. There are effective partnerships with the local authority safeguarding team and the police. This home offers placements to trainee police officers, where they gain an insight into residential care and enable young people to develop positive relationships with them.

p.7

Good

Young people are encouraged to have an incentive to assist in managing their behaviour. They respond well to personal targets, and have achieved rewards to buy music systems and other items of their choice. A review of records shows that most behavioural incidents are related to the use of computer games. The manager is reviewing with young people how this can be managed effectively to ensure that there are fewer sanctions as a result of disagreement over these games.

p.8

Good

The manager and staff team worked hard to ensure that the move into this home went smoothly. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2016 and is currently working towards a level 5 management qualification. He is effective in the management of this home and demonstrates a capacity for further improvement.

p.8

Good

The majority of staff have worked together for several years, providing stability for young people. New staff employed within the last 12 months are very positive about being part of this experienced team. Staff are passionate about their work, and totally child-focused. ‘I love working with the boys; it is such a great feeling when they achieve,’ said one member of staff. When asked to describe what this home has to offer young people, a member of staff said, ‘We have fun, we have boundaries to help build up character and we provide help and guidance.’

p.8

Good

Positive feedback from parents and relatives confirms the good quality of care provided at this home. One parent commented, ‘The needs of my child are being met. He is happy and loved.’ Where appropriate, staff welcome the young people’s families into the home. Relatives report that communication is good and this home is ‘very family-like’.

p.8

Good

Social workers are complimentary about this home, with comments including, ‘The care is excellent, and communication is good between professionals to ensure the best outcomes.’ Another social worker reports that the manager and staff meet the needs of the young person well while managing risks. They state that the young person is happy here.

p.8

Good

The manager analyses progress, and identifies patterns and trends in behaviours. This ensures that care plans and risk management plans remain effective and that changes are implemented. Internal and external quality assurance monitoring is effective in identifying strengths in the home and areas for development.

p.9

Good

Staff say they are supported well through training and supervision. Team meetings provide a forum for staff support and development. The records of team meetings would benefit from having a set agenda, clarity on decisions made and allocation as to who will take responsibility for ensuring action is taken. The young person’s guide to the home requires updating to ensure that contact details are made available for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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