Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 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 children’s home is registered to provide care for up to four young people 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 requires improvement to be 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: 21 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people form warm and trusting relationships with dedicated staff, who support their emotional well-being and development.  Young people enjoy a welcoming, comfortable and well-maintained home.  Enthusiastic staff encourage young people to engage in fun and stimulating activities which support their physical, social and emotional development. Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 2  Staff support young people to make significant progress in education, independence, emotional well-being and relationships.  Highly trained staff work hard to keep young people safe, and follow clear procedures when young people go missing.  Sensitive staff talk to young people about how to keep themselves safe.  Young people become better able to manage their own behaviour and understand risk.  The registered manager knows the strengths and areas for development in the team and provides staff with the supervision and training to undertake their

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Key findings from this inspection

roles effectively.  The home is organised and staff are able to access the information that they require to understand and meet young people’s needs.  Staff work in collaboration with a wide range of professionals and advocate on behalf of young people to ensure that their needs are met.  Professionals and family members speak positively about the home.

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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

 Some young people have been subject to bullying by another young person in the home. This has occurred because of poor matching of young people.  The registered manager needs to ensure that risk assessments are more regularly reviewed and updated.  Young people’s meetings need to be regular in order to provide young people with more opportunities to become involved in the running of the home and make a positive contribution.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 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 within the given timescales.

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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, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff–

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Requirement Due date

help each child to make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community. (Regulation 9 (1) and (2) (a)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, provide children with regular young people’s meetings where they can express their views, wishes and feelings and contribute positively to the home. 29/12/2017

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure–

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Requirement Due date

that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that when a young person is admitted to the home, impact assessments evidence clear analysis of how risks could impact on each young person in the home and can be reduced. Review and update risk assessments regularly. 29/12/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people form warm and trusting relationships with child-focused and dedicated staff. Young people say they like the staff, who listen to and care about them. The home Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 4 is comfortable and well maintained and young people personalise their rooms and eat together in the kitchen diner. Enthusiastic staff encourage young people to engage in a wide range of physical activities, including football, trampoline, swimming, bike rides and skate parks, which support their social development, physical and emotional well-being. Some of the young people get on very well together and have fun after school playing on the Xbox in the lounge, laughing and chatting with staff. One young person likes to entertain staff with his magic tricks. Young people have put up artwork in the chill-out room and one young person has entered the provider’s Christmas card competition in

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress in education, managing their emotions and behaviour, self-confidence and relationships. One young person, who only had 46% school attendance when he arrived at the home, has achieved 90% attendance. He has a very positive relationship with his key worker, who has enabled him to make significant progress in improving his relationship with female staff, starting to have family contact, and improving his personal hygiene. Progress in managing his own behaviour has meant that he no longer needs two staff with him at all times. Staff have rewarded him for his achievements by taking him on two holidays. Another young person has successfully moved on to independent living, and benefits from continued support from the caring staff. Another young person moved to a foster placement with the support of staff, who worked with the foster carer to make an effective transition plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person said that staff welcomed him when he moved in and another young person commented, ‘It’s alright here and I can’t think of anything that would make it better.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person explained that he gets on well with each of the other young people individually, but has experienced some bullying when they have been together in a group. Staff have been fully aware of this and have managed the time that the young people spend together effectively, keeping them separate when bullying behaviour has emerged. Staff anticipate that this situation will now improve as one young person has moved on from the home. Young people engage in key-work sessions with staff, which address some challenging personal issues. Young people know how to make a complaint

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An area for improvement is that young people’s meetings need to be regular in order to enable young people to share their views, wishes and feelings and be given more opportunities to make a positive contribution to the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are well trained, highly vigilant and proactive in working with young people to keep them safe. They know the young people well and are skilled at anticipating behaviour and situations that can place young people and staff at risk. Staff have actively managed the young people to reduce the risk of bullying. However, the mix of young people has led to an unsettled period when young people have been bullied and staff assaulted. While staff have protected young people from hurting themselves and each other from Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 5 physical harm, this has often involved separating the young people, rather than being able to manage them effectively as a group. The registered manager recognises that the home would benefit from additional rooms to enable staff to reduce tensions more easily when young people are distressed . He is addressing this possibility with the provider.

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improvement to be good

Poor impact assessments and a lack of regular review of risk assessments have contributed to this situation. For example, a highly vulnerable young person was admitted when a young person who was known to bully was already living at the home. Although staff managed the bullying behaviour to protect young people, this was not sustainable over time. Managing young people separately had the potential to undermine their progress and otherwise positive experiences. Consequently, the registered manager made a decision to move one young person to safeguard other young people living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff undertake key-work sessions with young people to addresses safety concerns and help them understand how to keep themselves safe. The sessions include talking about the risks of running away, their behaviour, relationships in the home and bullying peers. Sensitive staff demonstrate that they understand the impact on young people of their past experiences. They are very effective at building positive relationships with young people, which support improvements in their behaviour and reduce risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff safeguarding training, including knowledge of child sexual exploitation, child protection and physical intervention, is up to date and ongoing. Staff are confident in their knowledge and practice and follow clear procedures. The locality risk assessment is up to date and relevant.

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improvement to be good

Staff work closely with other professionals, including the police, education and social workers, to ensure that they share information which enables them to identify and respond appropriately to risks. The headteacher for one young person said that she and the staff work together to address and resolve problems and commented that the young person ‘has a lovely relationship with his key worker’. Professionals say that staff keep young people as safe as they can.

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improvement to be good

Although young people say that they feel safe here, improved impact assessments which evidence clear analysis of the impact of a new young person on all of the young people in the home and detail the strategies for reducing risks are needed for ‘How well children and young people are helped and protected’ to become good. The regular review and updating of risk assessments are needed in order to monitor changes to the risks posed by young people and their safeguarding needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager was registered in May 2017. He is currently completing his level 5 qualification. Staff have either achieved the appropriate level 3 qualification or are working towards this. All staff are first aid trained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child-focused registered manager has had to manage a challenging time at the Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 6 home due to the mix of young people and staff shortages due to illness. He has covered shifts himself to maintain consistency for young people and to support staff. The stable and committed staff team has also covered additional shifts, enabling the service to continue to provide young people with good-quality care. There is now little use of agency staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has formed good relationships with the young people. Young people and staff speak very positively of him. Staff benefit from engaging in reflective supervision and team meetings. Staff say that the registered manager listens and is interested in what they have to say. Staff handovers are thorough and effective and staff work well together as a team and are consistent with rules and boundaries.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak knowledgeably about the individual needs of the young people and understand their emotional and behavioural difficulties. Staff are learning the playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy (PACE) model. They have started to use it and find it effective in supporting and helping young people. One staff member said of PACE that ‘It makes staff reflect more on their practice and is good for the young people.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are aspirational for young people and praise their achievements. They also advocate on behalf of young people. The registered manager challenged a placing authority when it refused to provide additional staffing levels in order the meet the needs of one young person. The home provided the additional staff themselves, which enabled the young person to have the individual attention he needed. This resulted in him engaging more with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Highly skilled and dedicated staff engage young people in informal chats and key-work sessions. Staff spend a lot of individual time with young people. They engage them in activities such as playing Scrabble and sitting talking in order to strengthen relationships and support young people’s emotional needs and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have strong and positive links with young people’s families and a range of professionals including schools, health, foster carers, therapists and social workers. Professionals and family members say that staff work well with them, are accessible, communicative, child-focused and effective. The social worker for one young person commented that staff are very well organised and always keep him informed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The enthusiastic registered manager is still new to the role, recognises that he is constantly learning and is working to drive up standards even further.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 7 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: 1185765 8

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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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Inspector

Louise Whittle, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1185765 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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