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

Inspection report children’s home: 1229762 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 offer a warm and welcoming environment that supports the individual needs of each child. The manager became registered in May 2018 and is completing the required level 5 qualification.

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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: 6 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1229762 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/11/2018 Full Good 12/12/2017 Full Good 09/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/09/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: 1229762 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home benefits from having a stable and consistent staff team. Staff are adept at quickly establishing a rapport with children. Professionals give very positive feedback about the progress that children make. A social worker praised the fact that home tuition has been quickly organised for a new child. The tutor is working towards an increased level of engagement from the child. Speaking about another child, a teacher said, ‘I am very impressed. Things have got better and better. He [the child] was a deep-rooted school refuser and he now achieves 100% attendance and is moving to a fuller timetable.’ Another teacher described how, since moving into the home, a child has improved attendance and there has been a decrease in major incidents. These positive changes demonstrate the commitment of the staff and the supportive way that they convey the importance of education. Children are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities. One child has

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

recently started to attend football training. Another child attended a trial session at a local boxing club. These activities encourage physical well-being and offer the opportunity to develop new friendships. Children assist with personalising their behaviour support plans. They agree strategies that they feel will help them to address issues and behaviours. This participation increases the likelihood of children responding positively. This process is yet to be completed with a new child, who is currently struggling with the boundaries. Staff have the same expectations of each child, but their approach differs to reflect the children’s age, understanding and needs. Children’s views and wishes are gained on an individual basis. These are then incorporated into developing the home. House meetings have not taken place as children feel that these meetings would not occur in a family home. Children are supported to have visits to and from their families. This ensures that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

children are given opportunities to build and maintain these relationships.

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improvement to be good

The mix of children’s vastly differing needs and behaviours has not always been positive. This has led to some unsettled periods which have included children assaulting staff and other children. Staff have said that, at times, children’s behaviour has become worse through peer pressure. An example of this is when children have often got involved in incidents so that the instigator of the incident would not turn on them. Staff have worked hard to help children to address negative behaviours. In some cases, the risk levels have been minimised by children moving out sooner than planned. Inspection report children’s home: 1229762 4 On occasion, incidents have occurred due to known behaviours and information being omitted in referral information. The manager is now addressing this by liaising with former carers and family members ahead of children moving into the home. The manager also utilises insight gained during visits to and from children prior to

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improvement to be good

them moving in. The children and staff have described several incidents where the underlying cause of contention was unreliable and/or poor internet coverage. Children began using mobile hotspots and would walk off-site late at night to take advantage of free internet access outside a local public house. Although staff followed them, on foot or in a car, they then faced abuse from members of the public who questioned their motives for following and watching children. These incidents place both children and staff at risk. Staff successfully use their rapport, as well as the therapeutic techniques underpinning their work, to de-escalate situations. There is minimal use of physical intervention. Staff work with the clinical team to identify strategies to manage presenting behaviour. This means that staff are continually reviewing their approach and helping children identify potential triggers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager continues to be ambitious for the children. She challenges placing authorities and other professionals to ensure that the children receive the best service from everyone involved in their care. The manager is working on developing the staff team. The staff describe the manager as supportive and one member of staff said, ‘She has a heart of gold.’ Staff supervision takes place regularly. A new member of staff said how helpful she finds these sessions and said that she can request additional supervision sessions as required. This is positive, particularly when staff are new to residential work. The manager has good oversight of the home. The shortfalls raised at the last inspection have been addressed. She uses her monthly auditing process and external audits to drive improvements. There have been months where the highlighted actions from external audits have not been addressed. However, this has

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

improved more recently. The quality of care reports detail the events and progress within the period covered. Professionals and family members praise the quality of interactions with the team. They particularly like the fact that the staff are always focused on the children’s best interests. Inspection report children’s home: 1229762 5

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b)(d)) In particular, make attempts to resolve the issue of inconsistent broadband and access to wi-fi. 14/04/2020

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) This relates to ensuring that the actions highlighted in the independent visitor’s reports are completed in a timely manner.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 1229762 6

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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

Sonia Hay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1229762 7 to 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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