Children's Home run by Keys Child Care Limited in Hertfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 1 Registered provider: Keys BR Limited

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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 privately owned children’s home provides care for up to four children who have complex needs and require specialist support. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 17 to 18 September 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 requires improvement to be 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 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/10/2017 Full Good 13/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child 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 children. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)) 27/09/2019

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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

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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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(e)) 22/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 29/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should seek to meet the basic needs in a way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments in which these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role that they play in the training and development of staff at the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with

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Recommendations

regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The individualised care and support that the children receive enable them to make considerable progress. For many children, living at the home is a life-changing experience. Established children clearly see this as their home. Children who were under- achieving and at significant risk are now safe and happy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff recognise children’s individual needs from the outset. The staff are child- focused and committed to making children’s experiences positive. The children benefit from strong, secure and trusting relationships with the staff. The staff work effectively with the home’s therapist, who also meets regularly with some of the children. Consequently, children develop an understanding of the changes that they need to make to keep themselves safe and have aspirations for successful futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have good relationships with the families of all of the children. The staff support the children to see their families regularly. Parents said that they are happy with the care that their children receive, and that the staff communicate well with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work tirelessly to help the children to engage and achieve at school. This makes a significant difference to children who have gaps in their education. One child has 100% school attendance, and another child is thriving at college. When children struggle with barriers to their learning, the staff support and encourage their attendance. This support improves children’s confidence and self-esteem. Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 5 The home is decorated to suit the children’s taste. It provides a calm and inviting environment. Children’s pictures are displayed throughout and bedrooms are personalised. Each child has a personalised memory box containing photographs and memorabilia of their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are all encouraged to improve their independence skills. These skills range from tidying bedrooms to undertaking full independence programmes. One child is starting driving lessons and has made substantial progress with their independence skills. These skills will support this child’s imminent move into adulthood.

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improvement to be good

The staff do not consistently implement children’s individual risk assessments. A child smokes in their room during the night. The child’s risk assessment fails to specify the actions that staff should take to sufficiently reduce this risk. Potentially, this makes the home unsafe, placing the children and the staff at risk.

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improvement to be good

Children said that they feel safe. Relationships between the children and the staff are a notable strength. Staff are skilled at developing positive and supportive relationships with children and enjoy spending time with them. These relationships have helped the children to make positive behavioural changes.

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improvement to be good

Children do not go missing; they are happy living at the home. Some children who were previously at risk from criminal and sexual exploitation no longer place themselves at risk. Children do not bully each other; they respect one another and are comfortable in each other’s presence.

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improvement to be good

Physical interventions are used rarely and only as a last resort during incidents. The use of physical intervention has reduced since staff received enhanced training. The staff recognise children’s achievements and implement individual incentives for positive behaviour. These include immediate recognition rewards, or longer-term incentives, such as a new computer game.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is qualified to level 5 and has the relevant experience for her role. She is dedicated to achieving the best outcomes for the children and has extensive knowledge of each child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff feel supported in their roles and are positive about the changes that the manager has made. One member of staff said, ‘Our manager has been very good for the home. She is a people person. She listens, and she always tries to help staff.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. However, some of the records are repetitive, lack reflection and fail to drive professional development. All of the staff have undertaken the Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 6 organisation’s mandatory training. However, some staff have not had attachment or substance misuse training. Therefore, staff may lack an understanding of how these issues affect children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective internal and external monitoring continue to drive improvement in the quality of care. The manager continually reflects on how children’s experiences can improve. She seeks feedback from the children, their families and professionals. The manager works well with professionals and families. Feedback is positive, highlighting the manager’s communication and commitment to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a lack of consistency around the home’s daily routines and monitoring some aspects of the children’s care. Some children’s records are not up to date. This could confuse the staff and reduce the quality of the care provided to children.

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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: 1164089 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, 2nd Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspectors

Natalie Burton, social care inspector Angela Weston, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1164089 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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