Children's Home run by Beacon Childcare Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: 2516553 1 Registered provider: Beacon Childcare 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

A private company owns this home. It is registered for up to three children and young people who have social and/or emotional needs. This home was registered by Ofsted on 2 May 2019. The registered manager has a level 5 award in the Leadership and Management of Residential Childcare.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 14 to 15 November 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2516553 2

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Recommendations

 The Statement of Purpose is of particular importance to this Standard (regulation 6(2)(a) and (b)(i)). Homes are required to develop and keep under review a "Statement of Purpose" (regulation 16 and schedule 1). The home’s Statement of Purpose should be child-focused, indicating how the home provides individualised care to meet the Quality Standards for the children in their care.(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  Staff skills for safeguarding should include being able to identify signs that children may be at risk, and support children in strategies to manage and reduce any risks. Staff should encourage children to express their views about whether they feel safe both within and outside the home. Staff should support children to understand how to ask for help to stay safe and that the home is an environment which supports this.(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since this home was registered in May 2019, three children and young people have moved into the home. One child has moved from the home in keeping with local authority plans. Prior to moving to the home, one child and one young person lived at another of the organisation’s homes that voluntarily closed. The move to this home was planned and gave the child and young person an opportunity to be involved in picking their own bedrooms and preparing for moving day. The staff and the manager from the previous home moved with the children, giving them consistency of care and a positive and typical experience of moving home. Children and young people live in a warm, comfortable and homely environment, which is well maintained. They benefit from positive relationships with staff who spend time Inspection report children’s home: 2516553 3 with them and who know them well. This helps children and young people to make good

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

progress from their starting points. Children and young people are supported by staff to make progress with their learning. One young person has commenced a course at college after a period away from formal education. Good communication between staff and tutors is helping to ensure that effective support is in place to promote her learning and attendance. For another child, the stability of the home environment has helped him to thrive at school including achieving an increase in timetable and being able to travel home independently after lessons. Staff support children and young people to maintain good physical and emotional health. They are sensitive to children’s emotional health needs and work well with health professionals to ensure that the right support is in place at the right time. When young people have specific needs, for example support with substance misuse, referrals are made to specialist agencies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have the opportunity to go on holiday and take part in social activities and clubs. Joining a theatre group has helped one child to develop his creative skills and confidence and make friends. This is significant progress for this child. Staff encourage children and young people to develop their skills for adulthood. Children and young people help with weekly house chores and routinely help with washing and ironing their clothes. For one young person, this has extended to managing a budget, including shopping and cooking meals for herself. This helps to ensure that children and young people are equipped with the skills for successful adult life. Staff ensure that children and young people have the opportunity to meet up with friends and family in keeping with their plans. This helps children and young people to maintain family ties and build friendships.

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

Children and young people say that they feel safe living at the home. Equality and diversity and bullying are routinely discussed and staff regularly seek children’s and young people’s views about their care. As a result of listening to children and young people, the home now has a movie channel on the television and children have enjoyed Halloween celebrations and a firework display at a local theme park. Individual plans and risk assessments are regularly updated by managers and staff. This ensures that staff are alert to the risks posed to and by children and young people and the measures needed to reduce danger. When staff are concerned that a child may be at risk of exploitation, work is undertaken with the placing authority and the child to assess the level of risk and to agree risk-reduction strategies. Staff benefit from a range of training to raise their awareness of their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff are able to talk confidently about the signs that a child or young

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

person may be at risk of child sexual exploitation or radicalisation. However, despite training, staff are less able to identify the indicators that a child may be at risk of criminal exploitation. This means that staff may not spot the signs and symptoms that a child is at risk of this form of abuse. Inspection report children’s home: 2516553 4 Relationships between staff and the local policing team are well established. Regular communication between the police and staff ensures that staff are aware of risks in the local area. The police community support officer visits the home and has talked with the children and young people about exploitation, knife crime and gangs. This helps to ensure that children and young people are alert to risks posed to them and how to keep themselves safe. There have been a number of occurrences of children and young people going missing from the home. These incidents have been managed in accordance with children’s plans

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

and staff have been diligent in their responses to following up information about a child’s whereabouts. For example, on one occasion a young person made contact with the home and indicated that she was in Coventry. Staff were immediately deployed to Coventry to try to locate her. When children have refused independent return home interviews, the manager has ensured that there has been the opportunity for children to talk with staff about the reasons why they went missing and what happened while they were away from the home. Staff ensure that they spend time talking with children and young people on a weekly basis about their successes. This is individually recorded for children as a reminder of their achievements. A focus on praise and positive behaviour means that consequences are rarely necessary. There have been no situations where physical intervention has been used. Staff are trained in the administration of medication, and the arrangements for the

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

receipt, storage and administration of medication are clear. This means that children receive the medication that they need to ensure their good health. Potential employees are subject to an assessment of their suitability to work with children and young people prior to commencing work. However, for one staff member a reference has been given by the previous line manager rather than the last employer. This compromises the organisation’s recruitment procedures, which seek to ensure that only suitable people work with children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children and young people benefit from care and support from a consistent and stable staff team. Staff say that they enjoy their work and team morale is high. Staff are extremely well supported by the registered manager who shows a keen interest in the professional development of the team. Staff benefit from regular team meetings and the opportunity of supervision at a frequency which exceeds the expectations of the organisation’s policy. However, staff do not receive a copy of their supervision record. Staff have an individual annual appraisal, which takes account of each child’s views of the care that they receive. Attention to improving practice helps staff to understand their responsibilities and to be consistent in their work with children and young people. The registered manager has established good relationships with a range of professionals including social workers, teachers and the police. The registered manager makes

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

representation to partners when she feels that they are not responding appropriately in meeting a child’s needs. Inspection report children’s home: 2516553 5 During the inspection, the registered manager responded promptly when it was found that the parental controls to the internet were not set to reduce access to adult content. The impact of this was minimal as staff routinely supervise children’s and young people’s use of the internet and check internet histories as a further precautionary measure to ensure safe and appropriate use. During the inspection, the manager put measures in place to ensure that staff monitor that parental controls remain in place. The registered manager regularly updates the statement of purpose. However, this lacks attention to detail. For example, the statement of purpose notes that staff are trained in a restorative practice despite the organisation having moved to a positive parenting

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

approach. This means that key information about the home is not up to date.

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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: 2516553 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Beacon Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hazlewoods, Windsor House, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3AT

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Inspector

Alison Cooper, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2516553 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 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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