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

Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 1 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

 The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.  The home is operated by a private provider of education and social care. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2016.

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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: 17 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 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 registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that records of the supervision and appraisals reflect the discussion that takes place and records any required actions to be taken. These actions need be reviewed regularly to assess progress. 31/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’). The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for

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Requirement Due date

31/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 4 ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the report needs to be more evaluative, including the feedback from children and others. The actions set in this report need to be more inspiring and/or challenging.

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Recommendations

 Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1). In particular, ensure that the evaluation of identified risks is recorded consistently and includes the actions that staff should take to reduce the risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are thriving due to the individualised care they receive from staff who know them well and have their best interests at the heart of their practice. The care given is supported by detailed care plans that provide staff with good information about how to care for each child. These plans are kept under review to ensure that they reflect the child’s current needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making very good progress from their starting points. One of the most important areas to develop is children’s understanding of the risks that they were placing themselves in prior to living at the home. Children are now learning how to keep themselves safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children said that they love living at the home and the staff who care for them. One child said, ‘This is the best place, with the best staff and manager. They really care about me and I feel the same about them.’ Children are very proud of their home and see the staff as part of their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built strong, effective and loving relationships with the children they care for. They understand that some children struggle with being cared for and may have difficulties with forming positive attachments. The staff work through this with children and help them to form appropriate, healthy relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are receiving appropriate individualised education provision. Staff support Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 5 children to attend lessons regularly and advocate for them when the education provided is not meeting their needs as well as it could.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a wide range of fun and stimulating activities. Staff help children to maintain photograph albums of the activities and celebrations that children enjoy. Staff celebrate children’s achievements and were very proud of a child who recently received an award from their placing authority for doing so well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with children is important and runs throughout the work undertaken at the home. One child is on the organisation’s ‘council for children’ and takes her role very seriously. This has helped her to be able to present a reasoned argument and listen to other people’s points of view. These skills will help the child in later life.

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

Safeguarding systems are strong. Staff have a clear knowledge of how to protect children and, as a result, they keep them safe. Records of safeguarding events are detailed and reflect the actions taken to safeguard children from the starting point to the conclusion. Children feel very safe at the home. This has led to children being able to talk to staff about their past experiences. Staff carefully support children through this process and ensure that relevant professionals are notified of disclosures.

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

Because staff know the children well, they have a good understanding of their individual vulnerabilities and risks. Staff have developed effective working practices to help children when they may be at risk of harm or when they present a risk to others. An important part of this work is the open and honest discussions staff have with children to develop their understanding of risk and how they can keep themselves safe. This has included work on anti-bullying, including cyber bullying and online safety. The result of this work has led to a marked reduction in children being at risk of harm.

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

Behaviour is managed well using positive reinforcement, praise and rewards. Staff implement clear structures and boundaries for children consistently. These positive approaches have been effective, leading to a reduction in behavioural incidents. Since the previous inspection, there have been no restraints or incidents when children have gone missing. Records regarding children’s behaviour are comprehensive and include the views of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced and appropriately trained manager. Leaders and managers have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement and use information from quality assurance reviews to develop the home further.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

However, the manager’s written report of the six-monthly audit is overly descriptive and Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 6 lacks consistent evaluation. This report does not include feedback from children or other professionals and, as a result, does not assist the manager in obtaining a broad view of the service. Actions set in this review would benefit from being more aspirational.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, appraisals and team meetings and reported feeling well supported by leaders, managers and each other. These forums provide opportunities for feedback on individuals’ working practices and help them to develop their skills. A minority of supervision records lack a comprehensive account of the discussions held and do not always record the agreed actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have built strong and effective relationships with other professionals. Staff challenge other agencies when they do not feel that children are receiving the service they need. Other professionals praised the staff for the support and care they provide to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The locality risk assessment does not consistently evaluate identified risks or describe the actions the staff will take to reduce the risks.

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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: 1244137 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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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1244137 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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