Children's home run by Physis Quantum Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 1 SC443708 Registered provider: Physis Quantum Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned by a small limited company and provides care and accommodation for up to four children. The home provides therapeutic care for children who have experienced, and/or are at high risk of, child sexual exploitation. Education is provided on-site in the organisation’s separately registered school.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a new manager who was registered with Ofsted on 17 January 2020.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 17 October 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2018 Full Outstanding 07/02/2018 Full Good 20/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by highly caring staff. Over time, children begin to form trusting relationships with members of the staff and begin to feel safe and to trust others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Weekly therapy sessions help to support children to talk about their past experiences. This therapeutic approach helps children to begin to make progress, socially, emotionally, mentally and physically.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who previously had sporadic school attendance are now not only attending school regularly but are making academic progress and have aspirations for their futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to participate in a wide range of activities. This can include attending the local cadets, being members of a local polo club and going to youth clubs, to enjoying trips to the cinema and walks in the countryside. These diverse activities help children to grow in confidence and in their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children help the staff to do daily household chores. Staff help children with budgeting their money, and children help with going shopping and cooking the meals. These opportunities help children to develop essential life skills that help them to be better prepared for adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff promote equality and diversity in all aspects of children’s care. They advocate for children and ensure that children have the resources they need to meet their needs and to achieve. Staff also help children to celebrate important religious festivals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to create positive memories of their time at the home. These memories are recorded in children’s daily reflection books. These books are a record of things that happen each day and can include photos and drawings that give children mementoes of their time living at the home.

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

Children are kept safe when they use the internet. Staff put in place safeguards such as carrying out regular checks of children’s mobile phones. These measures help to ensure that children remain safe.

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

Once the manager is satisfied that children understand the risks and have strategies to keep themselves safe, he incrementally builds up children’s free time, use of mobile phones and allowing them to manage their own money. This results in children feeling trusted and empowered to make decisions. Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 4 Children have comprehensive behaviour plans that are regularly reviewed with teaching staff. This means that there is consistency in the home and with the staff at school. The sharing of information and holistic planning mean that children feel safe and know how staff will respond to behaviours. As a result, there are few incidents which require physical intervention.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When this occurs, the staff respond swiftly. They are diligent in searching for children and use all resources to secure the child’s whereabouts. This can include working closely with the police and local authorities to ensure that children return home safely.

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good

Since the last inspection, a new manager has been recruited and registered with Ofsted. He is an aspirational manager who is a child-focused practitioner and passionate about ensuring that children have positive outcomes.

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good

Staff induction training is comprehensive. However, the manager has not picked up that the staff training record is not up to date. As a result, the manager does not have a clear understanding about what training staff have completed. This means that the manager cannot be assured that all staff have received all essential training.

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good

The manager is constantly reviewing children’s plans and has oversight of records. However, he has failed to pick up that children’s bedroom door alarms are being used during the day. This decision to increase surveillance on children’s movements has not been supported by any individual risk assessments or consent from placing local authorities. This represents an over-reliance on the use of surveillance to monitor children’s movements during the day and without sufficient consideration to children’s rights.

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good

The manager has not picked up that on two occasions staff had used a form of physical intervention called guides. The home’s policy indicates that the use of guiding children is classed as physical intervention and therefore should be recorded in line with regulation. On these two occasions, records were not completed in full or within the set timescale.

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good

On one occasion, managers have not ensured that references where obtained from the last employer. There has also been an error in not picking up discrepancies in dates of employment against the dates provided in a staff member’s application form. These omissions have the potential to compromise the process of assessing someone’s suitability to work with children. Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record 23/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 6 confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii) (c)(iv)) The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 23/04/2020

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(2)(c)) 23/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 7

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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: SC443708 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Dpc, 55 Stone House Road Business Park, Stone Road, Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 6SR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Laurence O’Dwyer

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Inspector

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC443708 9 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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