Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children's home: 1224663 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care And Education Group Limited

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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 privately owned home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children who have 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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected Good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 25 October 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager is confident and innovative. She inspires staff to develop practice and knowledge, and offers high levels of support to them and the children.  The home environment is very comfortable and meets the children’s needs. The manager is creative and aspirational, and continually seeks to make Inspection report children's home: 1224663 2 improvements to the home and the care provided.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There are high expectations about children being enrolled into and attending school as soon as their placements begin. Children are motivated to learn, as care is given to finding the right education provision. Children are engaged in their education.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children enjoy positive relationships with staff. They are happy and say that they feel safe.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children feel listened to, which helps them to feel valued. They trust the adults who are caring for them.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children make good progress in many aspects of their lives. Their life chances improve.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Feedback from professionals confirms excellent partnership working. Staff use local resources well. They ensure that children have access to a range of activities, voluntary opportunities and services in the community.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Safer recruitment practice would be further strengthened by ensuring that there is verbal verification of agency workers’ employment references.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1224663 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. This relates to ensuring verbal verification of agency staff employment references. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like the family feel of the home. The homely atmosphere can be felt as soon as you walk through the front door. This, and being cared for by a consistent staff team, means that children live in a warm and friendly environment in which they feel safe and secure. A social worker commented about the child they work with, ‘They’ve gone from being a very sad child to a very happy child. They are now thriving, happy and glowing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Warm relationships are evident between children and staff. Children feel understood and valued by their carers. Trusting relationships with staff are providing children with a firm basis for good key-work sessions which support their emotional development and resilience. Children are encouraged to follow their individual interests such as voluntary work, army cadets or fixing bikes. This encourages them to become more confident, and develop their own identities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection some children have moved on to independence or to be nearer to their local communities. Despite the best efforts of staff, some other children’s placements have ended because of unmanageable safeguarding risks. Regardless of the circumstances, staff work hard to ensure that moving on is as positive an experience as possible. Close attention to placement matching and placement planning means that new children who move into the home make a positive start at the beginning of their placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress in many aspects of their lives. All children are engaged in education that is tailored to meet their individual needs. Staff meet their health needs effectively. Children are encouraged to take part in all routine health checks and assessments. Staff access clinical support to assist them in meeting each young person’s emotional health and well-being needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are listened to. They see action from their requests. For example, they requested floor mats to protect their knees while they fix their bikes in the garage. The manager promptly provided them. The manager and staff work closely with parents and carers to ensure that there are good systems for sharing information. Staff welcome Inspection report children's home: 1224663 4 feedback from parents and carers, and recognise the important role they continue to play in their children’s lives.

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

Children have comprehensive risk and behaviour management plans that are subject to regular review. Staff implement these effectively to keep children as safe as possible. They use a multi-agency approach to managing risk. Relevant professionals take part in risk-management reviews, and help devise plans to promote children’s safety. Staff understand that effective risk management is important in enabling children to grow and develop. As a result, children are able to acquire skills and take controlled risks in preparation for adulthood, for example by increasing the free time they have, subject to trust. Children make progress in learning how to keep themselves safe.

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

Responses to safeguarding concerns are appropriate and well documented. Staff are trained in safeguarding children. They demonstrate a good understanding of their responsibilities to protect children from harm. When children have gone missing from the home, staff have acted in line with local missing-from-care protocols, responding swiftly to the situation to bring about a positive outcome. A parent said, ‘They went above and beyond to keep my child safe.’

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

Children’s behaviour is generally positive. If behaviour escalates, staff implement effective behaviour management plans, which help children gain control of their behaviour again. Physical intervention is sometimes used as a last resort to ensure children’s safety. When it is used, debriefs are well documented to enable the staff involved in the restraint, and the young person, to reflect on the incident and move on positively.

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

The procedures for the recruitment of staff are robust, to help prevent unsuitable adults from being able to work with vulnerable children. However, the system would be further strengthened by the verbal verification of employment references for agency members of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A passionate, experienced and suitably qualified manager leads the home. She is highly skilled in her management role and provides strong leadership for staff. She has a sound understanding of children’s individual needs. The manager is aspirational, and a strong advocate for the children she cares for. She wants the very best for them and fights for their rights. For example, she has ensured that children have access to the best schools in the area, and has ensured that they have access to a range of experiences like any other child would. Despite some children having difficult starting points, she is ambitious for them and prioritises their needs. A health professional stated, ‘The manager shows children respect and they respect her too. They love to come in to the manager’s office to hang out with her and talk about their plans.’ Inspection report children's home: 1224663 5 There are very effective systems in place for monitoring and tracking children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and staff promptly implement any recommendations made by the independent visitor. Staff ensure that placement plans and risk management plans remain effective, and that changes are instigated in a timely manner. The manager sets high standards for the home and leads by example.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A stable staff team underpins secure relationships and dependable care for children. Staff have regular supervision, appraisal and debriefs after significant events. This ensures that they can reflect on practice and have the opportunity to discuss their own development. The home is particularly effective at using the company’s therapeutic team. For example, after a difficult placement ending, staff had the time and space to debrief in a confidential environment. Such reflective practice has a positive impact on staff well-being, which in turn helps ensure that a motivated, insightful and stable staff group provides high standards of care for children.

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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 differences 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 whom 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: 1224663 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care And Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Ann-Cheri Callow

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Inspector(s)

Catherine Honey, Social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 1224663 7 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)

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