Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Sandwell

Inspection report children’s home: SC437486 1 SC437486 Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services

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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 home is operated by a large private company. It provides medium- to long-term residential step down to fostering placements for up to three children who have disabilities and/or moderate to severe learning difficulties. The manager registered with Ofsted in 2019.

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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: 13 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2018 Full Good 31/10/2017 Full Inadequate 14/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/08/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC437486 2

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 15/03/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person should plan staffing levels to ensure that they meet the needs of children and can respond flexibly to unexpected events or opportunities. Staffing structures should promote continuity of care from the child’s perspective. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15)  Regulations 35–39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) In particular, ensure that internal plans fully reflect the child’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s purpose and environment have undergone significant change in recent months. It now specialises in supporting children to makes transitions to foster care and no longer offers short breaks. The home has been extensively refurbished and Inspection report children’s home: SC437486 3 redesigned. A new registered manager and staff team are in place. One child currently lives in the home. Staff are working hard to get to know the child. They invest in him and offer a high level of nurture and commitment. As a result, he has settled quickly and has already developed a sense of belonging. The child told the inspector, ‘It’s great here. I like it a lot. The staff are nice; they are kind. I get to do lots of things.’ The child has recently started a new school. This is a significant development, given that prior to coming to live at the home he had not attended formal education for several months. The registered manager and staff liaise closely with teachers to share important

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

information about the child’s needs. This has helped the child to get off to a positive start. In addition, the registered manager and staff are ambitious and encourage the child to do well at school. They support his learning at home and provide the routine and structure required for educational success. The child enjoys a range of activities. For example, he enjoys exploring his local community with staff, visiting local parks and the library. He plans other activities, such as go-karting and trampolining, and enjoys playing a guitar and electronic drum kit in his bedroom. Staff are keen to utilise his passion for music, football and dance. They have identified after-school clubs and local football teams and the plan is for him to join these clubs once he is fully settled into school. A variety of opportunities helps to build the child’s identity and increase his self-esteem and confidence. Staff support the child to participate in day-to-day and more complex aspects of his care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

For example, he helps to create menus and plans his activities. The registered manager works alongside the child to write and review his behaviour management plans. The child helps to create de-escalation strategies for staff to help him settle and regulate his emotions. This gives the child a sense of ownership and responsibility for his care. Staff ensure that transition arrangements into and out of the home are well organised and smooth. Children who previously benefited from short breaks were offered several visits to their new service prior to moving on from this home. In addition, staff consulted with families and social workers to ensure that children’s needs were met. The current child’s transition was carefully considered and well planned. He visited the home prior to moving in and met staff. He completed a social story, allowing him to choose his bedroom, decor of the home and favourite foods. This helped him to settle quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that the child spends time with people who are important to him, including family members. This involves accompanying him on visits so that his relationships with family members are maintained and enhanced. Staff also keep family members regularly updated about the child’s progress. In addition, the registered manager works closely with family members to gather important information about the child’s history.

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

The registered manager ensures that all risks are known and understood by staff. She works closely with social workers and previous carers to gather key information on the child’s history. The registered manager uses this knowledge to write clear and well- informed risk assessments and behaviour management plans. Inspection report children’s home: SC437486 4 Staff offer the child a calm and nurturing environment. They support him to make sense of difficult emotions and feelings. Targeted key-work sessions and daily support and advice help the child to learn from difficult incidents. Staff also involve the child in devising strategies to resolve difficult incidents in a calm manner. Staff use their detailed knowledge of the child to create strategies to keep him calm when he is anxious or agitated. They use humour and other distraction techniques to defuse difficult situations. Staff have used restraint on one occasion to keep the child

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

and others safe. The recording of the event was detailed, and the child and staff had the opportunity to reflect and learn from the incident. Staff provide the child with clear, consistent boundaries and routine. They reward him for positive behaviour. For example, the registered manager has introduced reward charts, and the child receives lots of praise from staff. He thrives on this approach and wants to succeed. While these approaches are in their infancy, there are notable improvements in the child’s behaviour from his starting point. The registered manager offers a robust response when allegations and safeguarding concerns are raised. She takes appropriate action to ensure that concerns are dealt with fairly and swiftly. Key agencies are notified and provide additional oversight. This open and transparent approach helps to keep children safe. The child has formed trusted relationships with staff. He feels able to approach them

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

when he is concerned or worried. This open and supportive ethos helps the child to feel safe and secure. The child told the inspector, ‘I feel safe here. I can talk to staff all the time.’ The registered manager ensures that staff recruitment processes are robust. This helps to protect children from exposure to unsafe adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager leads a committed and nurturing staff team. She is passionate and has high aspirations for the children in her care. Staff work hard to get to know the child currently living at the home and show a good understanding of his needs. They provide sound foundations to build upon his early signs of progress. The registered manager and staff team are new to the home. They continue to form their team identity and are keen to develop their practice. However, staff shortages and some challenging behaviour from the child have made this difficult. Staff report that they are tired, due to working additional shifts. They are frustrated that, as a team, they don’t have the time to reflect on their practice. Senior management are aware of this issue and have plans in place to address it. Recruitment of new staff is underway. Staff from other in-house homes offer support in the interim. The registered manager is keen to develop her staff team. She strikes a good balance

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

between healthy challenge and support. For example, she spends significant time on shift with staff, modelling good practice. Staff have completed their mandatory training and will now focus on more specialist subjects. Staff speak highly of the registered manager and feel supported by her. A staff member told the inspector, ‘She is fantastic. She will try her best to help you.’ Monitoring systems are in their infancy and require further development. The registered Inspection report children’s home: SC437486 5 manager oversees many practical aspects of care and uses learning from independent visits to develop practice. However, these systems lack the management oversight and analysis required to identify strengths and areas for development. This shortfall is partly due to the stress on the staff resource, which has resulted in the registered manager taking a much more ‘hands on’ role. Staff benefit from high-quality, regular supervision. Staff feel able to discuss the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

demands of the role and its impact upon them. The registered manager closely scrutinises staff practice and offers them valuable insights to develop their practice. This healthy learning environment provides staff with the knowledge and skills to provide care in line with the child’s needs. The registered manager ensures that the child’s plans are comprehensive and individualised. She ensures that key documents are on file and works closely with social workers to develop a clear understanding of the child’s needs. She uses this knowledge to form the basis of his internal placement plans. However, these plans do not fully reflect the child’s progress. This is partly due to shortfalls in a new electronic recording system. The registered manager has plans in place to develop this area of practice.

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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: SC437486 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progress Children’s Services Ltd, Progress House, 127 Millfields Road, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire WV4 6JG

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Inspector

Gareth Leckey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC437486 7 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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