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 children who have emotional and/or social care needs. 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: 5 September 2017

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Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/09/2017 Full Good 09/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good 14/01/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 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

14. The care planning standard The care planning standard is that children receive well planned care from the home and have a positive experience of the admission and transition process. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that arrangements are in place to manage and review the placement of children in the home. This is in particular reference for the need to ensure that each child has a placement plan that contains clear aims and objectives that are regularly reviewed and documents progress. (Quality Standard 14 (2)(b)(ii) 20 June 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have only lived in the home for a short time. They are already making progress with their behaviour and social skills and have settled well. This is due to the consistent and nurturing staff team implementing firm but fair boundaries and routines. Leaders, managers and the staff understand the importance of the children regularly attending school and making progress with their education. The manager has been very proactive in finding appropriate schools for the children to attend. He has effectively challenged other professionals when action was not being taken promptly to obtain a school place for a child. The manager and the staff carefully plan the moves of children in and out of the home. This careful and sensitive planning helps to ensure that children have a positive ending to their time living in the home and that new children feel very welcome. This careful planning is particularly important as the children have had many previous foster care

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

breakdowns prior to moving to the home. The home offers a child-friendly environment that is spacious, well decorated and maintained. The children have been fully involved in choosing furnishings and items for the home. They demonstrate a sense of pride and belonging when speaking about their Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 4 home. The healthcare needs of the children are fully met by the staff. Children are registered with doctors and dentists on their arrival. The staff promote the emotional health of children by ensuring that the children have access to sessions with the company psychologist. Placing social workers are very positive about the quality of care given to their child. One social worker said: ‘They (the staff) really get it. I am really impressed… We like that there is continuity of staff. We like that the children get hugs and nurture at the home.’ The staff encourage and support the children to enjoy and benefit from a variety of

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

activities. One child is very proud of the vegetables and flowers that they are growing in the garden. The staff encourage the children to positively channel their energy through activities such as swimming, using the trampoline and beach walks. Placing social workers report that this active lifestyle means that the children are, for the first time, sleeping very well at night. The staff spoken with demonstrate their knowledge of the children and how best to care for them and meet their needs. Care plans are being developed. They do contain all the necessary information that staff require to meet the care needs of the children, but the plans do not document measurable outcomes so that the progress of the children can be clearly understood.

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

The staff manage safeguarding issues effectively. The children say that they feel safe living at the home and that the staff will keep them safe. A strength of the home is that the manager and staff understand the importance of identifying and understanding any trends and patterns of a child’s behaviour and triggers for a child before they may display unacceptable behaviour. They understand that unacceptable behaviour is often the only way that the child knows how to communicate distress, shame or feelings of frustration. The staff incorporate this learning into individual children’s behaviour management plans, so that all the staff clearly know the best way to help and support each child to make progress with their behaviour. Managers and staff implement a comprehensive risk assessment process. Risk assessments relating to individual children and activities in and out of the home are comprehensively documented. The risk assessments assess the level of risk and clearly

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

detail what action the staff should take to keep the children and others safe. The staff support the children to improve their behaviour through a non-punitive approach. They ensure that the children are praised and rewarded for positive choices and helped to learn when they make mistakes. One child is being encouraged to make positive choices through a reward chart featuring their favourite cartoon character. Use of this character is helping the child to fully engage in the plan to support them to learn to manage their angry feelings without hurting others. The staff rarely use physical restraint as a way of managing a child’s behaviour. They understand that it should only ever be used as a very last resort to keep a child or others Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 5 safe. All staff are trained in an accredited restraint technique; this means that, if a child did need to be restrained, it will be undertaken in a safe manner in accordance with the

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

child’s behaviour management plan. Any conflict between the children is promptly and effectively dealt with by the staff, who intervene at the earliest sign of any confrontation or disagreement between the children. This early intervention ensures that disagreements are quickly resolved and that there is no bullying. It also helps the children to learn how to compromise and share with others, which are skills that they have not been able to learn before coming to the home. The staff are carefully recruited to ensure that they are suitable people to be working with children. Checks are thorough and new staff are not able to begin working at the home until all checks are received and have been verified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A suitably experienced and qualified manager has recently been appointed to the home and has successfully undertaken the registration process. He has made a positive impact on the home and is demonstrating strong leadership and direction to the staff. The children benefit from being cared for by a stable and consistent staff team. Although the team has only recently been formed, the team members work well together and have aspirations and high expectations of the children in their care. The staff receive regular, high-quality supervision and training which equips them with the skills that they need to effectively care for the children. The manager and the staff include the views of the children in all aspects of the day-to- day running of the home. Children’s views are apparent in the choice of meals, decoration of the home, choice of activities and how, where and when they would feel most comfortable meeting with their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of care is comprehensively monitored through a rigorous system of monthly monitoring visits from an independent person. The manager is clearly aware of the strengths and areas to improve in the home and has a development plan that identifies where improvements are to be made and in what timescales. The manager is effectively matching the children in the home. He will not take emergency placements. He ensures that moves in to the home are carefully planned. Children who have left the home recently to move back with their family, or on to supported independent living arrangements, are still in contact with the manager and regularly telephone the home. This demonstrates that they still see the manager and staff as a source of stability and reassurance. Leaders and managers work effectively with other professionals. The manager has made strong links with the local police, fire service and youth offending teams. Placing social

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

workers praise the comprehensive communication that the manager has with them to keep them informed and up to date.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC463647 6 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 7

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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: Phoenix Learning And Care Ltd, Rolle Quay, Barnstaple, EX31 1JE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Stephen Nicholson

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Inspector

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

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