Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to three young people who have social, emotional and/or mental health difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and suitably qualified.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 28 February 2019

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2019 Full Outstanding 18/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 3

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outstanding

Young people, some of whom have had highly disadvantaged starts to life, thrive in this family-feel environment. From their starting points, they make exceptional progress. This is because the highly skilled management and staff team supports young people to reach their individual potential. A young person said, when asked what had improved for her since living at the home: ‘My attitude. I used to kick off all the time. Smash things up. I can cope a lot better with my anger now. I like it here. It’s the best.’

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outstanding

Young people who have lived at the home for a long time are settled and benefit from knowing that their placements are stable and secure. Young people who are new to the home settle quickly. Staff support young people to build positive and trusting relationships. From this foundation, young people make excellent progress, particularly considering their starting points.

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outstanding

When young people are at home, the atmosphere is busy, warm, welcoming and friendly. Staff provide nurturing care. There is structure, routine and clear and consistent boundaries, in an atmosphere of praise and encouragement. Young people enjoy following their own hobbies; these include cheerleading and volunteer dog walking. They are supported to make friends and stay in contact with significant people. This helps young people develop their own identity.

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outstanding

All young people are engaged in education and there is close monitoring of their academic progress by both education and care staff, to ensure that they are making expected progress and gaining qualifications. If young people struggle with their education, the staff team works with education providers to find a solution. This helps ensure that young people continue achieving. One young person, who is due to leave the home in the next few months, will do so with the prospect of being employed by a well-known retailer. Young people are encouraged to aim high.

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outstanding

A strength of the home is how the views and opinions of young people are heard and listened to. There is strong advocacy for young people’s needs. For example, a tenacious multi-agency approach has secured unique and individual care arrangements for a young person leaving the home. This will provide a safe and secure base during his transition to adulthood.

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

Young people said that they feel safe. They become increasingly safer as a result of living in this home. Due to their strong relationships, young people feel progressively able to speak to staff and express their feelings. Staff are skilled and have a comprehensive understanding of young people’s individual needs, and how to meet them. Episodes of negative behaviour decrease significantly, as do episodes of going missing. Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 4 Young people have comprehensive risk and behaviour management plans that are subject to regular review, and through their effective implementation keep young people as safe as possible. Staff have a clear understanding of what to do in the event that a young person goes missing from care. However, their understanding of each young person’s individual missing-from-care protocol would benefit from review to ensure that their knowledge is up to date.

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

Regular key-work sessions are conducted with young people. Trusting relationships are providing a firm basis for good key-work sessions and supporting the emotional development and resilience of young people. Recently, key-working sessions have had a particular focus on how to keep safe, both in the community and online. This helps give young people the skills they need to keep themselves safe.

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

The staff know young people very well and they are able to turn most situations around quickly using de-escalation and diversion techniques. As a result, the use of physical intervention is extremely rare.

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

The management team ensures that young people are safe, through the effective vetting of prospective new staff. Before new staff can work with young people, they undertake a comprehensive range of checks to ensure that any potential risks to young people from staff are minimised. New staff receive a thorough induction and undertake shadow shifts to ensure that they are fully prepared and equipped for the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led and managed by an effective, knowledgeable and highly experienced manager. She has been the registered manager for this home for over 10 years. She has excellent knowledge and skills in residential childcare. She is inspirational in her practice and provides exceptional continuity of care for young people in long-term placements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Partnership work is excellent. Professionals, such as social workers and independent reviewing officers are united in their praise for the home. A social worker commented, ‘The communication has been excellent and the support they have given [the young person] has been brilliant.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager provides highly effective and supportive leadership to an experienced, well-qualified and competent staff team. The stability of the staff team helps young people feel settled and secure. The manager strives to create a nurturing, family feel to the home. She said, ‘I don’t look at this as a children’s home. It’s a fantastic foster home with more people.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff provide a strong, consistent but caring approach towards young people. They are highly motivated and enthusiastic about providing an outstanding service for young people and continually strive to improve the service that they offer. Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 5 Careful internal and external quality assurance provides detailed analysis of the care provided. This means that managers have a clear understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Such tools enable the management team to challenge and extend staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel very well supported. They have regular, good-quality supervision. This gives them the opportunity to reflect on and improve their practice. Staff receive regular feedback on their performance, and the culture of the home is one of openness. This facilitates safe and professional practice. Staff also have access to a wide range of training to enhance their knowledge and competence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has a clear vision and a defined sense of purpose. She has firm plans in place to drive continual improvement. The ethos of this home is inclusive and child-centred. Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 6

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Recommendations

 Where there is a possibility that a child will run away or go missing from a children’s home placement, their placement plan should include a strategy to minimise this risk. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.24) In particular, all staff should understand each child’s individual missing-from-care protocol.

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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: 1254864 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shaw Trust House, 19 Elmfield Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 1LT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Kelly Gliszczynski

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Inspector

Catherine Honey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1254864 8 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 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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