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

Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care And Education Group Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered for up to four children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is part of a private company that provides children’s homes and schools.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 December 2017

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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: 8 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people like living here and trust staff.  Staff build caring relationships with young people.  Young people’s self-esteem and daily routines improve in a relaxed, yet positive atmosphere created by staff.  Staff and the manager work really well with young people’s families. This helps young people re-establish positive family relationships.  Young people get a good send-off and ongoing help when they leave.  Staff spend quality time with young people.  Staff help young people collect memorabilia of their time here.  Young people feel safe.  Staff are enthusiastic and skilful in managing young people’s behaviour and helping them regulate their own behaviour.  The manager and staff work consistently well together.  The manager and staff communicate well with social workers and police.

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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

 Staff do not give enough advice and information about relationships, life-skills, independent living and education or make them freely available to young people in written form.  Staff and the manager do not give young people enough help with their risky behaviour and do not reassess risks intelligently enough.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/02/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) This is with particular regard to recording staff’s advice and providing information to young people in useful ways.  Ensure that staff play their key role in helping children to understand why they are living there and the plans for their future. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.7) This is with particular regard to talking openly and reassuringly with young people about their plans from the outset of placements, even if the plans are still

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Recommendations

unclear.  Ensure that staff understand, and help children to understand, what makes a healthy, nurturing relationship. Staff should be skilled to recognise the signs and provide support to children in danger of or involved in exploitative or damaging relationships with others and where possible prevent these types of relationships. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.10)  Ensure that staff support each child to learn, emphasising the value of independent study and reading for enjoyment. The home must make available suitable facilities, equipment and resources for learning and ensure that the home’s routines do not form barriers to children wishing to use the home’s resources to study. Staff must support children with home study by encouraging them to learn independent study skills and helping them to practise those skills. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Recommendations

29, paragraph 5.18)  Ensure that staff take reasonable precautions and make informed professional judgements based on the individual child’s needs and developmental-stage about when to allow a child to take a particular risk or follow a particular course of action. Staff should discuss the decision with the child’s placing authority where appropriate. If a child makes a choice that would place them or another person at significant risk of harm, staff should assist them to understand the risks and manage their risk-taking behaviour to keep themselves and others safe. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7) This is with particular regard to clearly analysing key safety concerns and writing clear risk assessments that state how staff minimise risk and test out young people’s developing understanding and intentions. Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The last new young person was admitted in July 2017 when the number of registered places was increased from three to four. His social worker said, ‘I am really pleased with the home – staff are aware and manage the relationships between the lads well.’ A few months ago, one young person moved on to semi-independent living after over a year here. Staff and the manager helped him learn the skills he needs to live on his own and they keep in touch with him. Staff threw a party for him and the young people went paintballing together. Staff provided him with a memory book containing photos of many positive experiences, including a holiday. He said, ‘I’m gonna miss everyone. The thing I like most about the house is that they have helped me with everything.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are warm, caring, and have high expectations for each young person. They show their care by providing good routines and spending quality time in conversation with young people. Young people appreciate staff’s enthusiasm and support. Young people say that it helps them. For example, staff are proactive about finding alternative vocational and college venues for young people when they are no longer willing or able to attend an existing one. Staff also help young people to see their families and have enjoyable reunions with important relatives that they have not seen for very many years. A parent said, ‘I can’t fault staff.’ Another parent said that the manager and one particular staff member have had, ‘a real big impact’ on her son.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy life here. One young person recently said, ‘My key worker is the best and I can trust all the staff members with whatever I tell them. I love doing activities with the staff and young people in the house.’ Young people and staff play board games and cook together. They go out to play snooker. Their confidence, social skills, daily routine and emotional health have all improved in a positive atmosphere where staff know what each young person needs and work hard to meet that need. However, young people do not get enough help and advice about: relationships; reading and study; or their individual placement plans. In addition, staff do not record the advice and information that they give young people in ways that are useful. Young people have nothing to look back on that would remind them about, or reinforce, information and advice that has been discussed with them. This limits young people’s progress in

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

sustaining good personal relationships and achieving educationally. -

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

Staff are enthusiastic and skilful in managing young people’s behaviour and helping them regulate their own behaviour. Staff are warm and nurturing. They show young people their care by offering food, drinks and time for chats at the table. One young person’s social worker said, ‘Staff do not let him sit and be unhappy because something has gone wrong.’ Staff are role models for healthy and productive lifestyles. Staff also give young people physical affection. For example, with a friendly bear hug or comforting arm. Staff have not needed to physically restrain any young person. Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 5 Young people really respect staff and will often choose to stay in with staff or go out on activities with them. For example, one young person now feels confident enough to seek professional input about managing his anger by asking his doctor for a referral. His anxious self-harming behaviour has also stopped.

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

If young people do go out in their free time, they usually say where they are and who they are with. If things go wrong, staff are understanding and provide good opportunities to talk through disappointments together. Often, this enables young people to resolve difficulties and disappointments without resorting to violence, self-harm or bullying behaviour. For example, young people sometimes apologise to people who have been adversely affected by their behaviour. Young people have also helped to clear up mess and repair damage.

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

Staff find out who young people are socialising with locally and act like responsible parents in encouraging healthy, safe relationships and acceptable social behaviour. They limit the opportunities for young people to bring friends to the home if they feel that the friends are an adverse influence. Despite this input from staff, young people have sometimes been involved in antisocial behaviour and drug and alcohol misuse. Young people have also been the subject of complaints from peers about sexually inappropriate and bullying behaviour. Staff and the manager help young people learn from incidents and move on positively. Staff cooperate closely with the police and neighbourhood representatives. A local police officer said, ‘They work well with us to help reinforce things to the lads – they are very good. They work well with the local residents and the issues come with the territory.’

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

Staff do not review young people’s risk-taking behaviour systematically and in discussion with them. Staff stick to the same practices instead of thinking of new ways to educate, advise and support young people. Staff do not test out what young people have learned and how they say that they have changed. Staff cannot therefore make well-informed decisions about when young people are ready to take more risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager reviews the work of staff and learns from incidents. He looks for patterns in young people’s outcomes and works out where barriers exist to their progress. For example, he saw a pattern in the reasons that young people were repeatedly excluded from educational placements. From this he highlighted a need for staff to educate young people more about appropriate boundaries in social and peer relationships so that they behave as is needed and expected in a college and classroom setting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager recognises that staff’s strengths lie in their commitment and ability to provide a therapeutic style of care. He said in a review of care report, ‘By incorporating positive activities, staff can show young people the value of money, relying on and trusting others, and show young people alternative ways to get what you want in a healthy and acceptable way.’ Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 6 The manager supports staff in the same style that he expects them to care for young people – a careful, reflective, generous and open style. New staff feel able to say how the stresses of the work make them feel. They ask questions about therapeutic strategies and quickly learn about them. All staff feel valued and are happy to cover one another’s sickness and holidays. This means that young people are consistently looked after by staff whom they know well. The manager rarely agrees to spare his staff to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

cover shortages in other homes because staff feel that this way of working does not benefit young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the home is well organised. Senior staff lead shifts well and make sure that handovers are thorough. The manager consults and liaises regularly with stakeholders. He works hard to minimise the ill-feeling that some local residents express about the home being located here. He also talks directly with young people and responds to the requests that they make to him about activities, resources and decoration of the house. Young people all recently made positive comments to the manager about their lives here. One young person said, ‘It’s good, they help us when we need help and I’m happy here.’ Another young person said, ‘They help us improve on our behaviour and life independence.’

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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: 1237090 7

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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

Rachel Britten, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1237090 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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