Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Walsall

Inspection report children’s home: 1258434 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children aged from seven to 18 years old, who have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At the interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection one child has been admitted. This was a planned move to allow staff to understand the child’s complex needs. The child’s social worker and their family told the inspector that the move into the home has been a positive one.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager has safely recruited additional staff. Staff training is up to date, and the manager regularly monitors the performance of the staff. However, some incident records are not completed in sufficient detail. This has an impact on the registered manager’s ability to monitor incidents and to identify any learning.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff work closely with professionals, including the designated officer. Risk assessments Inspection report children’s home: 1258434 2 and behaviour support plans help staff to manage and reduce risks to children. However, there is no specific assessment for when children use social media. This means that staff are unaware of the specific risks to individual children when they use the internet and/or a mobile phone.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children say that they feel safe and staff manage relationships between children by being vigilant and by understanding the triggers for difficult behaviour. However, staff have not always closely supervised children, which has led to an incident of bullying.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff understand the importance of contact with family and work hard to build positive relationships with families. One parent said that the staff, ‘Always keep me up to date with what is going on and (name of the child) is happy. I can’t think of anything they can do better.’

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

All the children in the home attend school. The registered manager has advocated for children to have added support to help them improve their achievement and to reach their potential.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Skilled therapists support staff to have day-to-day talks and planned sessions with children to discuss their needs, including their emotional health. Staff also make referrals to specialist agencies when necessary.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Nearly all requirements and recommendations raised at the last inspection have been met. However, some aspects of the home still require improvement.

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff assess whether each child 08/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1258434 3 is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii))

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments; however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and 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)

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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

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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: 1258434 4

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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

Karen Gillingwater, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1258434 5 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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