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

Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This three-bedded home aims to provide children with a warm, homely and non- institutionalised environment. The manager registered in December 2018 and is currently undertaking the required level 5 qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 February 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: 22 February 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: 1234243 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/09/2017 Full Good 06/12/2016 Full Requires improvement 12/10/2016 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 3

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  In particular, ensure that case records and notifications are completed fully, with attention to detail and accuracy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has had a change of manager since the last inspection. This manager has quickly established positive relationships with the children and staff. He has implemented several changes which are improving the running of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, there has been one admission and one discharge. The aim is for children to move into and out of the home in a planned way. Preparatory work took place to enable a child to enhance his independence skills prior to moving to an adult placement. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, he moved out in an unplanned way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The three children living at this home are settled and thriving. Their routines are structured to ensure that they are encouraged and supported to attend education. A school teacher described how one child, who has now moved out, made very good progress from his starting point. Another teacher said, ‘The child refused to come to school. However, with good communication between the home and school, this has slowly improved and she now attends.’ This emphasis on the importance of education and achieving is leading to improved attendance, although progress can be slow in some cases.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are sought through discussions, key-work sessions and house meetings. Children now receive personalised letters in response to the matters raised in the meetings. These responses demonstrate that the manager is aware of their requests and informs them of the outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are aware of how to make complaints and, if necessary, staff assist them with the process.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to access specialist services, such as child and adolescent mental health services and services to assist children to address substance misuse and smoking. These services enable the children to receive the specialist support that they require to address these issues. Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 4 Staff work with the children and their families to improve family relationships. This includes supervising and facilitating family contact visits and, when necessary, using additional staff to facilitate family visits to family members who live at great distance from the home. This continued contact ensures that the children develop and maintain links with their families.

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

Staff work consistently to ensure that children become increasingly aware of the risks associated with their behaviour. They help children to identify ways that they can safely maintain/establish friendships and participate in the same experiences and activities as their peers.

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

Children’s risk assessments are based on current and previous behaviours. These are now updated as required. This addresses the sole shortfall raised at the last inspection.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. On the occasions that this does occur, the staff attempt to follow the children and consistently try to establish and maintain contact with them. School staff recently acknowledged that the staff had assisted them by using their rapport with the child to get them to return to school, having gone missing from there.

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

When a child was experiencing bullying at school, staff attended school with her for a period. This provided the child with the support that she required during a difficult time.

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

Staff have been attempting to support a child who experienced racism from children in the home and in the community. There have been occasions when children have assaulted their peers and staff. These incidents been managed effectively. Staff try to establish clear boundaries and they use reward systems to encourage positive behaviour.

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

Allegations are taken seriously and swiftly acted upon. This ensures that children know that they are being listened to.

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

Staff are playful in their interactions with the children and this, combined with humour, often enables them to deescalate situations as they arise. The use of physical intervention is minimal. Staff undergo the relevant training and refresher courses to ensure that they remain familiar with the techniques, should the need arise.

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

When a child refused to evacuate the house during a fire drill, the staff repeated the drill. They also creatively used an online programme of fire-risk scenarios to emphasise the importance of responding to the fire alarm.

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

An internal investigation was carried out following a medication error. Fortunately, in this instance there were no serious effects. However, managers ensured that there was a

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

comprehensive response. This included refresher medication training for all staff in Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 5 recognition of the potential gravity of such an error.

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

Staff training is provided, including on topics such as child sexual exploitation and radicalisation. This enables staff to work with and speak to children about these risks. Specific courses, such as ligature training, are arranged to help staff to respond to presenting behaviours, and it ensures that they have the knowledge that they require.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager was registered with Ofsted in December 2018 and he is currently undertaking the level 5 qualification. Managers have a strong awareness of the children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A therapeutic model underpins the work of the team. This is supported by the organisation’s clinical staff, who help the team to establish strategies to use with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a clear vision for the home’s development, based on its current strengths and weaknesses. They have identified the need for improvement in the quality of records of incidents and case records. This is being addressed with the team on an individual and group basis.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records sampled demonstrate that the recruitment process is thorough. However, one file demonstrated the need for more attention to detail when verifying staff documentation. This process is conducted by the organisation’s head office, so has been incorporated into the recommendation being made about accuracy and attention to detail in all records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is keen to develop the team through training, supervision and the appraisal process. Staff said that their supervision is helpful. They described the manager as ‘brilliant and supportive’ and said that they can approach him about anything.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is evaluative in his quality of care reviews and uses the monthly independent visitor’s reports as a tool for improvement. Managers address any matters that arise reflectively. This enables them to be used as learning points.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Relationships with professionals have greatly improved, and this was reflected in their feedback. A special educational needs coordinator said, ‘Communication has vastly improved and the staff liaise well about the child’s attendance.’ Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 6

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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 difference 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: 1234243 7

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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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Kenneth Farrimond

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Inspector:

Sonia Hay, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 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 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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