Children's Home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 1 SC412476 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education 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

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. The home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have learning disabilities.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 13 February 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young person-centred care is central to the home’s approach.  Staff are very empathic, committed and dedicated.  The home manager is inspiring and leads by example.  The responsible individual role-models best practice to the whole staff team.  The team works effectively with partner agencies to understand and support young people. For example, this enables young people to experience a successful transition to adult support.  Bespoke support is provided to young people when and where this is needed.

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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

 The manager continues to review the quality of care provided through the six- monthly monitoring report. This could be developed further through reflection upon the learning from the positive practice demonstrated by the staff team.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2017 Full Good 21/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/09/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 3

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Recommendations

 Review the quality of care provided. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. In particular, this provides an opportunity to identify and reflect upon positive practice in order to support the quality of service provided to young people. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff provide an excellent, young person-centred approach to care, which ensures that dignity is maintained and that young people’s individuality remains at the forefront of the interactions between staff and young people. The individual needs of the young people are clearly understood and the respective risks are identified, with a graduated approach to how staff respond to these, drawing on the knowledge of what works well for each young person. This reflects the requirement from the last inspection and demonstrates that staff have appropriate knowledge and skills in relation to strategies to reduce risks to young people. Supported by the staff team, young people have individualised goals to work towards which include a focus on the development of independence skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Key-workers focus on how best to support young people’s transition to adult services. They are very committed and enthusiastic in their role, seeking appropriate guidance and support when needed. Having recently begun undertaking this role, they show a sound understanding of the young people’s needs and how, as a staff team, they can meet these. The home manager and staff team work closely with adult services, and this is a very positive working partnership. One social worker was very positive about working with the staff, describing it as having been a ‘privilege’. The social worker also described the positive relationships that staff have developed with young people’s parents, specifically in their support for young people’s transitions to an appropriate adult placement. Parents’ feedback supports this, with one parent describing staff as ‘very good’, saying ‘independence skills and self-help are very well encouraged’. Parents

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

feel that they have ‘very good communication’ with staff and that their ‘views and concerns are taken into consideration and acted upon’. They described the staff as ‘considerate’ and feel they ‘couldn’t have asked for better’ in terms of the effectiveness of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff supported a well-planned transition for a young person to an appropriate adult placement, working alongside new carers in the home before supporting visits to the new placement prior to the move. Staff helped the young person to understand the Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 4 transition process through the use of social stories. The young person was helped by an independent advocate throughout the transition, ensuring that the young person’s views contributed to the decision-making process.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people have been helped by staff to make significant progress, in terms of their social inclusion; staff have developed opportunities for the young people to participate in a range of activities within the community that reflect young people’s interests. This included the home’s first holiday to the seaside, where young people enjoyed a variety of activities with staff support. Staff have undertaken training in, and utilise well, communication tools including Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Makaton. This enables them to gain the young people’s views, wishes and feelings and reflects the high aspiration and commitment to listen to the voice of young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The registered manager has an in-depth understanding of the young people’s individual needs, identifying significant underlying health needs for each of the young people in their care and advocating for specialist medical services. This has resulted in existing medical conditions being identified and, through effective partnership work with each young person’s parents and GP, has ensured that their long-term health needs have been addressed. The registered manager works with the schools, to ensure that they have an understanding of young people’s needs, and supports the young people’s continued engagement in their learning. The senior leadership team has accessed additional support through its own organisation to meet young people’s needs; this included consultation provided to staff by a clinical psychologist.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is maintained to a very good standard, and the home’s manager ensures that maintenance and repairs are undertaken in a timely way. There is a homely feel throughout, with photographs of the young people on the walls, and the young people’s bedrooms decorated to reflect their individual tastes. Staff carefully consider each young person’s preferences about their self-care, and this is reflected in them each having their own individual bath/shower rooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The environment within the home has been specifically adapted to meet the needs of the young people. Additional safeguards are in place to promote their welfare without detracting from the overall homely environment. The home and garden continue to be developed to meet the needs of the young people living there, with plans to change the soft playroom to reflect the interests of the older young people.

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

Young people are cared for by a very empathic, warm and caring team of staff who demonstrate this through their steadfast commitment to young people’s needs. This was particularly evident for a young person who experienced significant distress due to emerging mental health needs. Staff, the registered manager and the responsible individual provided consistency, dedication, stability and compassion at a time when the young person’s emotional difficulties were being presented through their behaviour. This outstanding level of care continued as the young person’s needs escalated and identified risks increased. Staff were not deterred from continuing to focus on understanding the Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 5 reasons behind the young person’s distressing behaviour. The staff, registered manager and the responsible individual worked resolutely to ensure the young person’s safety and well-being while specialist mental health support was identified. The needs of all the

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

young people continued to be met through the continuity of care and with the benefit of additional staffing.

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

Reflecting back on this period, the social worker for the young person described the staff team as ‘very warm, friendly and nurturing’; the young person shares this view. The social work team manager commented on how ‘very, very nurturing’ the staff team was in its approach to care, adding that the staff team went ‘above and beyond’ what would be expected. These individuals acknowledged how the staff had demonstrated ‘compassion and passion’ in their care. The view was supported by a mental health professional who provided support to the young person. The professional commented that the staff team had the best interests of the young person at heart. The professional said that they were ‘very impressed’ with the level of commitment demonstrated by staff, adding that they had ‘never seen anything like it’ before.

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

The registered manager ensures consistent communication with each young person’s social worker, and this ensures that any potential safeguarding concerns are responded to immediately. Staff have a sound understanding of safeguarding and know how to report any concerns in the event that this should be necessary. The safeguarding policy has been updated to reflect current practice, as recommended in the last inspection. There has been a low incidence of safeguarding issues, reflecting the culture promoted within the staff team. Information is shared appropriately with children’s services.

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

Staff recruitment and selection is in line with safer recruitment practice, with all relevant checks and assessments undertaken prior to employment. The registered manager addresses any practice issues in relation to staff in a timely way, ensuring that performance management procedures are followed appropriately. The senior leadership team ensures that all relevant information is included in references that are provided to prospective employers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff express complete confidence in managers and in the senior leadership team. This was particularly evident following the team response to the emerging mental health needs of a young person who was previously placed at the home. The registered manager reviewed referral information provided at the point of admission, reflecting on the young person’s needs in the context of their subsequent emerging mental health needs. Staff and managers ensured that the young person continued to be provided with a high ratio of staff support during their transition to a specialist care provision and remained closely engaged with the ongoing plan for the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager and the responsible individual have developed strong working relationships with child and adolescent mental health services and children’s services, including commissioning managers. Managers advocate for young people’s needs when Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 6 this is needed. The staff team has worked well with agency staff and other professionals when they have been required in order to support an individual young person during a time of high need. All the staff team members work well as a cohesive team and provide young person-centred care to all the young people in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The leadership and management of the home is exceptional; this is recognised by the professionals who work with the young people. A mental health professional described leaders as ‘really impressive’. A local authority commissioning manager described the ‘fantastic leadership’ of the home, describing the ‘commitment, resilience and passion’ of the staff team. The manager said that they considered the staff, manager and senior leadership team to be excellent advocates for the young people, who they are ‘very attuned to’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager recognises the strength of the staff team in the care provided to the young people. Through the registered manager’s role-modelling of good practice, staff are empowered to advocate for the needs of the young people, including challenging agencies where needed. Fully supported by the home’s manager and senior leadership team, staff are confident and committed in their role and demonstrate resilience in meeting all the young people’s complex needs. The staff team welcomes and supports new staff members, inspiring them with good practice and a firm commitment to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff complete an induction programme during their first six months in post. They undertake a level 3 qualification upon successful completion of their probationary period. The registered manager has identified the training needs of the staff team in relation to the changing needs of young people, arranging appropriate learning opportunities to meet these needs. Staff are undertaking a more in-depth course of study to support effective communication with the young people in their care. This, together with the range of other training provided to staff, demonstrates that the requirements from the last inspection in relation to this area have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager provided a detailed response to the one complaint made to the home, and this was fully accepted and no further action was required. Continuous development of practice within the home is promoted through ongoing learning opportunities. Following the successful training of staff, including communication passports and social stories, further training in relation to mental health is planned. The registered manager continues to review the new systems that are in place to monitor young people’s progress; this is discussed in the individual supervision provided to all staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff supervision is of a high quality and very thorough in terms of the areas of practice discussed and a comprehensive focus on safeguarding. This reflects strong safer recruitment practices, which contribute to the welfare of young people while enabling staff to share any concerns they may have. Supervision is reflective, and this supports the ongoing review of the needs of the team, including the provision of more regular supervision when this needed. Managers closely monitor the impact of practice on the team. Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 7

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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: SC412476 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Keys Attachment Centre, New Hall Hey Road, Rossendale BB4 6HR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Callard

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Inspector(s)

Maria Lonergan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 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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