Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2534696 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

The home is run by a private company that is owned and operated by a national charity.

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Information about this children’s home

It provides care for up to two children. The statement of purpose states, that the home’s policy is to consider children with complex needs which may include challenging behaviour and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 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 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: 25 November 2019

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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: 2534696 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/11/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2534696 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop positive and trusting relationships with staff. These relationships flourish. This is because of the consistency of care and dedication to the children from the staff. Children feel safe and secure, so are able to achieve good progress in many areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made good progress in developing crucial life skills. For example, one child now travels independently to college. Children help with the shopping and cooking meals. Staff support children through using a life skills programme. This supports children to develop the skills they need for semi-independent living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children receive education which is tailored to their individual needs. As a result, children are supported to make good progress from their starting points when they moved to the home. Staff maintain clear expectations about children’s education and support them to address any barriers they may face. For some children, this has resulted in an improvement in their educational attendance and achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have up-to-date health plans, and generally their health needs are responded to. However, it was identified that food diaries do not accurately reflect what children have eaten, or when children have been encouraged to try healthy options.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported make delightful memory books. The children’s journeys, from arrival at the home to leaving, are captured. Children take great pride in these. It enables them to reflect positively on their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help each child to have high self-esteem and a positive body image. They are good at sensitively supporting children who are exploring their own sense of identity. Staff make sure that children do not feel judged or stigmatised.

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

Staff have a good understanding of children’s vulnerabilities and risks. Staff understand and follow thorough risk assessments for each child and, as a result, children are kept safe.

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

Some children have restrictions on their liberty in place to help keep them safe. Children are supported to understand and contribute to the reviewing of their plans and restrictions. This ensures that children’s views and wishes are heard and helps them to understand what needs to happen for restrictions to be eased.

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

Staff have a good understanding of children’s needs. They give consistent advice to support children to reduce and manage negative behaviours. Staff ensure that there are structured routines, good communication and clear behavioural boundaries in Inspection report children's home: 2534696 4 place. This has resulted in fewer incidents. Staff de-escalate difficult situations with children effectively. As a result, physical intervention has only been used on one occasion.

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

Children have trusting relationships with staff. The manager makes certain that rotas provide enough staff to enable them to spend quality time with the children. This helps develop strong bonds and is good practice. Children said that they can talk to staff about their worries or concerns. This gives children a strong sense of feeling valued, cared for and listened to.

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

There has been one allegation. It was reported promptly and appropriately to the relevant authority. This has been investigated in line with procedures and is satisfactorily concluded.

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

Staff work in accordance with missing-from-care protocols. They are proactive in working alongside other professionals to locate children if they leave the home. Incidents of missing from home have become more frequent for one child. When children leave home without authorisation, staff maintain contact with children. Staff try to locate them and ensure they are returned home without delay. When they return home, children are offered interviews to explore where they have been and any risks they may have been exposed to. This ensures valuable lessons can be learnt to prevent reoccurrence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides strong leadership. Staff feel supported and valued. One staff member said: ‘The manager is amazing. She is so warm, supportive and professional; we couldn’t ask for a better manager.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. However, some supervision records do not demonstrate reflective practice. Records are also brief. The records of supervision do not fully support staff to develop their care practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers do not routinely scrutinise behaviour management records. Additionally, they have not reviewed approaches to behaviour management to improve effectiveness. For example, when sanctions are given to children, in response to poor behaviour, they do not help children to learn from their mistakes or make amends.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager seeks extensive feedback from involved professionals, as a means of improving the home. Feedback about the home is exceptionally positive. One professional said: ‘Staff keep [child] safe. In his previous placement he was frequently being restrained. However, since being at this home, he has just had one restraint. This is excellent. He is doing really well.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures staff receive individualised training before working with children. They also have opportunities to shadow other staff members to observe and learn good practice. Staff can easily describe how the training has positively Inspection report children's home: 2534696 5 influenced their practice. This demonstrates that staff are able to develop the required knowledge and skills to keep children safe. This enables staff to meet children’s individual needs. Inspection report children's home: 2534696 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure any sanction used to address poor behaviour is restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. This is in relation to sanctions being punitive and not supporting the child to learn and develop their behaviour responses. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions are kept. This is in relation to ensuring that the written records of supervision provide staff with feedback on practice and provide thorough records of topics discussed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and

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Recommendations

knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, nutrition, healthy diet and exercise. This specifically relates to the promotion of healthy diets. Also, to ensuring food diaries accurately reflect what the child has eaten, including hidden vegetables in sauces, and when children have been encouraged to try new foods. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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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: 2534696 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: Lumonics House, Valiant Office Suites, Valley Drive, Swift Valley Industrial Estate, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Kelly Gliszczynski

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2534696 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 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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