Children's home run by 4 Pure Heart Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 1 Registered provider: 4 Pure Heart 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 seven children who may have emotional and/or behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered by Ofsted in July 2019.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/08/2019 Full Good 21/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/10/2018 Full Inadequate 16/08/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The experience of living at this home is having a positive effect on the lives of the four children living there. This is because the manager and staff provide a good standard of parent-like support that has brought about stability and positive change. This is a view shared by children, parents and professionals. One child said, ‘All the staff are sound. It is the best place I have lived, and I have been at many. There is nothing that they could do better.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed meaningful relationships with staff who are committed to ensuring that the children each receive the best care and support possible. There is a great deal of emphasis on ensuring that children have the same opportunities as their peers. For example, children have been supported to take up part-time work, sleep out at friends and learn to drive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite their differing needs, children engage well as a group and are generally supportive of each other. This is because individual needs have been carefully considered as part of the initial matching process.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value and promote education. They work collaboratively with education providers and placing authorities to create tailor-made educational packages. This approach has been highly effective in overcoming barriers to learning and supporting children to make progress, relative to their starting point. A parent said, ‘It is amazing how they have worked with [name of child] and got him into school. Nobody has managed to do this before now.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are actively engaged in lots of fun activities. They are encouraged to pursue individual hobbies and interests, and they are enjoying new and purposeful experiences. Memories are captured in photographic journals that help children to celebrate their successes. For example, children were keen to tell the inspectors about how they have totally transformed a neglected allotment into a beautiful space during lockdown.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well to develop independence and life skills, relative to their age and ability. Skills, such as cooking, budgeting and doing laundry, are taught as part of a formal life-skills programme. An area of the home has been developed into a small flat and is being used currently by a child in preparation for living independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Several areas of the home need redecoration, with many showing the remnants of damage and general wear and tear. The manager has incorporated these into his development plan and some improvements have been made. However, there remains a significant amount of work required if the standard of accommodation is to match the overall good standard of care. Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 4

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

Managers and staff take a proportionate and parent-like approach to managing risk- taking behaviour. They understand that children take risks as part of their social development. They educate children about how to keep themselves safe through everyday conversations and targeted key-work sessions. As a result, children demonstrate an age-appropriate understanding of risk, and are generally making positive choices in this respect.

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

Risk management plans are detailed and understood by staff. This ensures that staff take the right action when children go missing from home. For example, staff make every effort to contact and locate the child, working closely with the police and the placing authority. Information disclosed when the child returns is used to update the risk management plan and inform future responses.

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

Managers and staff are good role models for the children in their care. They have high expectations of the children, who are generally respectful of each other and the staff, who set parent-like boundaries. When children do make the wrong choices, staff encourage them to reflect and learn from their mistakes. Consequently, the use of sanctions and physical interventions is rare.

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

Improvements to the way that information is checked and managed have made recruitment stronger. For example, gaps in employment history are explored at interview, a shortfall identified at the last inspection. However, not all records are sufficiently detailed, for example missing specific dates.

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

Children are protected by a range of health and safety risk assessments and routine checks. However, the practice of propping open fire doors has the potential to compromise children’s safety, a shortfall identified when the fire risk assessment was updated in April 2021.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by an experienced and qualified registered manager. He is ambitious, eager to learn and passionate about improving the lives of children. He is supported by an equally committed deputy manager. Together, they set good standards of care that are embraced by a stable and established staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoken to during the inspection said that they enjoy their work. They feel supported by managers, and other team members, and are extremely proud of the journeys that the children have travelled.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff are thoroughly inducted into the home. In addition to completing induction tasks and training, they spend two weeks without the responsibility of being on shift. This time is used effectively to establish the foundations of the strong, reciprocal relationships that exist between children and staff. Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 5 Staff have regular opportunities for practice-related supervision and team meetings. These forums are used effectively to reflect on children’s progress, staff practice, share skills and develop knowledge. Mandatory and needs-led training has continued to be delivered throughout the pandemic, albeit the majority being online. The manager is keen to return to face-to-face training and he has developed training programmes that are designed to help staff further understand their roles and responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and is realistic about what needs to be done to improve. He makes use of a range of internal quality assurance processes that facilitate good oversight of care planning and children’s progress. Additional scrutiny is provided by the independent visitor, who visits the home each month. While some aspects of the independent visitor’s report are helpful, they would benefit from being more succinct and evaluative for the manager to make best use of information in the report.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose needs amending to reflect the current staffing arrangements of two staff sleeping in at night. This limits the number of children that can be accommodated to five unless this arrangement changes. Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 6

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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, the 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; and

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, improve the standard of the environment by ensuring that ongoing and planned improvements are completed in a timely manner. 15 September 2021

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff do not prop open any designated fire door. 15 September 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose is amended so that it is clear that the home cannot accommodate more than five children and maintain the current practice of two staff sleeping in the home at night. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent visitor is supported to make the regulation 44 reports more succinct and evaluative. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s recruitment process is improved so that when gaps in employment are explored, a comprehensive record of the specific dates is maintained. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 1265092 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: 4 Pure Heart Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atlantic Business Centre, Atlantic Street, Altrincham WA14 5NQ

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Gareth Lancaster Stowell

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Inspectors

Paul Scott, Social Care Inspector Lisa Walsh, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1265092 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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