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

Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 1 SC463647 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 registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private provider that operates a number of homes in the local area.

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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 good

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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: 11 and 12 July 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Leaders, managers and the staff have significantly improved the quality of care at the home since the previous inspection, when the home was judged to be inadequate.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager in post at the time of the previous inspection has resigned and has left the home. Leaders immediately recruited an interim manager. This manager has had an immediate and positive impact on the quality of care provided at the home. She is an experienced and skilled manager and is demonstrating strong leadership. She has stabilised the staff team and improved recording systems.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people are benefiting from clear and consistent boundaries, daily routines and expectations. Young people’s behaviour is improved. There are fewer incidents of young people going missing, no physical restraints and a reduction in the number of incidents occurring in the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people say that they feel safe now, and comment positively about the recent changes in the home. One young person said: ‘It is calm (in the home) now, no breakages, no arguments… Rules are clear here now, I prefer it here now.’

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff team is now consistent and motivated, and its members are receiving regular supervision and training.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people are now supported by the staff to eat healthily. The staff eat with the young people, who are supported by the staff to plan, shop for, prepare and cook their own meals. Young people who still choose to eat too much ‘junk’ food while they are on free time with friends are receiving education from the staff to help them to make healthy eating choices.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff manage safeguarding issues effectively. They have good working links with the relevant safeguarding agencies and the police.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people who leave the home are supported by the staff to make this transition effectively through careful and sensitive planning by the manager and staff. One young person has successfully moved from the home since the previous inspection and is now living somewhere that is able to meet their complex care needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 3 The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Placement plans do not detail how progress will be monitored and measured, and do not document the timescales for when it is hoped that the aims and objectives of the plans will be achieved.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/07/2017 Full Inadequate 09/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good 14/01/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 4

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that arrangements are in place to manage and review the placement of children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that each child has a placement plan that contains clear aims and objectives that are regularly reviewed and document progress. (Regulation 14(2)(b)(ii)) 29/09/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are now supporting the young people to eat healthy meals. The young people now sit down with the staff team to eat their meals. They are fully involved in meal planning, shopping and cooking of the meals. One young person proudly showed inspectors the apple strudel she had made. Fruit and healthy snacks are available at all times in the home. The staff are supporting one young person to further improve their choice of food when out of the home on free time, by avoiding ‘junk’ food and choosing healthy options. Healthcare needs of the young people are met. If the young people have any known food allergies, these are risk assessed and documented in healthcare plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people told inspectors that they were looking forward to going back to school at the start of term. Education plans are in place for each young person. One young person, who before coming to the home refused to attend school for some years, is now engaging in education and making progress. One placing social worker said: ‘They (the staff) have succeeded in improving his emotional intelligence… I am really pleased he engaged with education last year… This was progress as he refused before.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Placement plans are currently being revised by the manager in conjunction with local authority care plans. This is to ensure that long-term placement objectives for the young people are clear and understood. Plans do not document measurable outcomes. As a result, the progress of the young people is not clearly understood. Young people have been fully involved in writing their individual profiles that detail their likes and dislikes, and the best way for staff to support them. Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 5 A strength of the home is how the staff support the young people to maintain contact with their families. Staff have succeeded in supporting one young person to meet with family members whom they have not seen for many years. The young person said: ‘I go now and visit my family… that’s good.’ The placing social worker for this young person reports that they have received positive reports from the young person’s family about

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff interact with and support the young people through a calm and clear approach. One placing social worker said: ‘I have observed a therapeutic listening approach and incredibly patient interactions by staff with the young person.’ The social worker also commented on the progress of another young person, whom they report has made ‘excellent progress’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff encourage and support the young people to take part in a range of activities, and develop their talents and interests. Drawings by one talented young person are displayed in the home. An art course is being sought to further develop their work. Another young person enjoys playing football. She is supported effectively by the staff, who support her to develop her hobby and transport her to the football club to train and play matches.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people said that they feel listened to by the staff and gave the home a score of nine out of ten. One young person said that the score could only be improved through them being bought a king-size bed instead of the new double bed that is planned.

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

The young people report that they feel safe living in the home and that there is no longer any bullying taking place. The manager has revised and strengthened individual risk assessments and behaviour management plans. These documents now give the staff clear and detailed guidance and strategies for managing identified risks and behaviours. The staff are now consistent in their approach, and young people’s behaviour is improved. Risk-taking behaviour has reduced, there have been no physical restraints and there have been fewer incidents of young people being missing from the home.

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

One young person said: ‘It is much better here now. Things are stricter. They (the staff) don’t let us get away with things now. We have to earn things if we want them. I feel safe here. All the staff say the same things and give us the same rules.’ The staff are now successfully managing the behaviour of the young people using a thoughtful, individualised approach. For example, the manager found that one young person had computer games that were not age appropriate. The young person was reluctant to give them up. This was skilfully resolved by the manager, who avoided a confrontation by giving the young person the option to give the games up, give them away, or keep them in his room but not play them. This had the effect of helping him earn trust and learn to make good choices, the latter option being the one that he successfully chose. Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 6 Safeguarding incidents are managed effectively, swiftly dealt with and passed to the

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

relevant safeguarding authorities. This action by the manager and staff promotes the safety of the young people. The manager is developing links with the local police to ensure a swift and joined-up approach if the young people are missing from the home.

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

The staff promote internet safety. They take effective action if a young person is putting themselves at risk. For example, the staff use key-working sessions to teach young people how to stay safe online. The staff also provide the young people with a mobile phone that does not have access to the internet, in keeping with individualised assessment of risk. Social network sites are accessed under supervision, and with the knowledge that a young person’s ‘friends’ are suitable and known to the young person and the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The previous registered manager resigned following the last inspection. The post has been advertised. The provider has appointed a skilled, experienced and knowledgeable interim manager, who will remain in post until a new manager is appointed. She will then provide a detailed handover of the role. The responsible individual states that the organisation will wait for the right candidate before appointing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The appointment of the interim manager has brought calmness and strong leadership to the staff team in a home that was previously chaotic and unsafe. The manager has written a development plan for the home and is clear about the home’s strengths and areas that require further development. The staff and the young people are clearly benefiting from the strong and clear leadership that the manager is providing, and comment positively about her positive impact. All requirements made at the previous inspection are met. The young people and the staff are benefiting from the clear routines, boundaries and expectations that the new manager has put in place. Recording systems are improved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are now regularly supervised. Supervision notes evidence that supervision sessions are comprehensive and discuss practice issues. The new manager has called the staff together to enable them to discuss the previous shortfalls in the home, and this is helping them to regroup and move on. The staff are now able to refer to a training matrix that documents what training they have received and when training is due. Staff have recently received training in counter-bullying and physical restraint. The staff team is now stable and consistent. No agency staff have been used in the home since the previous inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has revised the home’s statement of purpose. It now clearly states that the home provides care for young people on a long-term basis. The responsible individual has confirmed that although the home is registered for five young people, the home will not take any new admissions and will remain a home for two young people until a new manager is appointed, the staff are demonstrating that they are confident in safely managing the behaviour of the young people and new recording systems are Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 7 embedded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well maintained, clean, and homely. The young people have been fully involved in choosing the decoration for their bedrooms. One young person is designing his own wallpaper and another young person is decorating her bedroom in her favourite football club’s colours.

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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: SC463647 8

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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, EX31 1JE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Stephen Nicholson

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Inspector(s)

Tina Maddison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 9 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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