Children's home run by Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1244137 1 Registered provider: Phoenix Learning And Care Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is owned by a private provider. This provider also owns a number of other children homes throughout the south west. This particular home is registered with Ofsted to care for two young people who are experiencing emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Key findings from this inspection

This children's home requires improvement to be good because Inspection report children's home: 1244137 2  The young person currently living at the home is not having their health needs met. The registered manager and staff are not providing effective support in order to reduce the risks associated with the young person’s current poor health.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person is not being supported effectively to access social opportunities and to lead a more active lifestyle.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person’s harmful and destructive behaviours have significantly reduced since they moved into the home in November 2016. This is a very positive outcome for the young person.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person has good relationships with staff at the home. These are supporting the development of the young person’s emotional resilience.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager has developed a good safeguarding culture. All safeguarding concerns are robustly addressed.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

No previous inspections Inspection report children's home: 1244137 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

9: The enjoyment and achievement standard

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (2) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to develop a child's interests and hobbies. (Regulation 9 (1) and 2(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, young people need to be supported to engage in activities which provide social opportunities. 30/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. The registered person must ensure that staff help each child to achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child's relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1) and 2(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, young people need to be given robust support in order to ensure that outcomes for their health are good. 30/06/2017

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Recommendations

 Supervision sessions need to be developed in order to ensure that reflective practice is promoted and that the ability of staff to meet the needs of young people is consistently reviewed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.15) Inspection report children's home: 1244137 4  Positive behaviour, specifically the use of offensive language by young people. Staff need to be supported to provide a consistent approach in order to challenge this behaviour. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraphs 8.13 and 8.14)

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improvement to be good

This is a newly registered home. There is currently only one young person living at the home. The home has been furnished to a good standard. The garden area is in the process of being made into a more useable space.

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improvement to be good

The young person’s attendance at their education provision is very low. However, they have started to attend in recent days. Consistent attendance is not being promoted, which will reduce the chances of the young person achieving in the future.

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improvement to be good

The young person is not being given sufficient advice and support about health and nutrition. This is a significant matter of concern given the young person’s health needs. The young person also needs advice and support in relation to their sleep hygiene. For example, the young person is awake in the early hours of the morning. The young person is not being well supported to develop good habits and to lead an active and healthy lifestyle.

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improvement to be good

The young person is spending time with their family on a regular basis. The young person is also supported to have contact with their sister at the home. This contact is instigated by the young person, which is positive.

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improvement to be good

The young person has good relationships with staff. They are able to share their views freely. Their interests and hobbies are also encouraged. Praise and appropriate rewards are also supporting the young person to develop positive self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

The young person did not have any worries to share regarding the care that they are receiving. The only issue which they wanted to raise was their wish to be more involved in food shopping trips.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The registered manager is facilitating good safeguarding practice. Any concerns identified are robustly addressed, and information is shared effectively with external professionals.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Safer recruitment systems have been developed. However, this practice needs to be further embedded to ensure that any references received are verified through verbal Inspection report children's home: 1244137 5 checks completed by the registered manager.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

There has been a significant reduction in the young person’s destructive and harmful behaviours, which is a very positive outcome. However, there is not currently a consistent approach to challenging offensive language. This is likely to have a negative impact upon the young person’s ability to develop positive relationships after they have moved on.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The young person’s parent provided very positive feedback regarding the impact of the care that the young person receives at the home. The parent conveyed that the young person is making good progress, and they attributed this to the staff being supportive and encouraging rather than authoritative, which had not been successful in previous homes. The parent stated that their child no longer self-harms, and has come on ‘leaps and bounds’ emotionally.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The young person is currently supported by staff on a 2:1 ratio. In line with the young person’s wishes, only one staff member supports them while out in the community. However, there is no reduction plan in place to reduce the 2:1 ratio in the home, which does not reflect the progress that the young person is making.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The young person is not yet receiving good enough support in respect of promoting a positive move into semi-independent living. This includes support to develop basic practical skills and to keep themselves healthy. This is likely to impact upon their ability to lead a healthy and happy life.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has developed a nurturing environment for both young people and staff at the home. The home has a stable staff team which is evidently influenced by the support that the manager provides to the team. This has a positive impact on young people as it supports the development of important relationships for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager is also supporting staff to increase their knowledge and skills by accessing ongoing training. This promotes the ability of staff to meet the both the presenting and changing needs of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has developed good risk assessment tools which support staff to ensure that they are able to keep young people safe, and also to know how to help young people during significant incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

An issue became apparent during the inspection, whereby staff had found a lighter when cleaning the young person’s bedroom. Due to the risks highlighted in care planning information, this item should have been removed. Staff acted appropriately by seeking advice from the registered manager. However, the manager did not advise clearly that this item needed to be removed. This was a poorly managed risk. Inspection report children's home: 1244137 6 The registered manager is not currently facilitating an effective approach towards the young person’s nutrition and health needs. This fails to promote a good outcome for the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager is not currently promoting reflective practice within supervision sessions with staff. Supervision activities are therefore not currently exploring the ability of staff to meet the needs of young people.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the 'Social care common inspection framework', this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the 'Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards'. Inspection report children's home: 1244137 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Learning And Care Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Rolle Quay, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 1JE

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Inspector(s)

Polly Soper, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 1244137 8 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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