Children's Home run by Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited in Devon

Inspection report children's home: 1255407 1 Registered provider: Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is operated by a regional provider. It is registered to care for up to four children who may experience emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 26 July 2021.

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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: 3 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1255407 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/09/2019 Full Good 14/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/03/2018 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1255407 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home is beautifully presented, with photos on the walls of children who live here, and pets and carers. It is homely and welcoming. Children’s rooms are decorated so that they reflect their interests and individual style. The garden is large and well maintained. It provides areas where children can play, relax and grow plants. Children have a range of pets that are loved and well cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have been living at the home for extended periods make extremely good progress. One child has moved to live independently; they continue to attend further education and work part time. Another child has developed healthy ways to manage her emotions and is succeeding in education. Children who are new to the home are developing positive relationships with their carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are developing the skills and confidence to help them make successful moves to live independently. Moves in and out of the home are managed well. The registered manager advocates for children to ensure that local authority care plans have timescales that meet children’s needs. Carers continue to support children who have moved out and help them maintain relationships with children and carers in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers encourage children to attend school. One child, who previously struggled to attend school, has successfully progressed on to full-time attendance at college. Another child is not currently attending school. They are accessing education online and there is a plan in place to move to on-site learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop warm and trusting relationships with carers. The registered manager promotes a family atmosphere in the home. Carers know children well, supporting their vulnerabilities and praising their strengths. This helps children to develop a sense of security and trust and enables them to challenge themselves.

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

Carers respond effectively to children who go missing. They make significant efforts to locate children and engage the support of local agencies. The registered manager challenges the local authority to apply for recovery orders when this is required. Carers welcome children back to the home on their return and plans are reviewed to help prevent children going missing again.

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

Carers currently use physical interventions on most days to prevent one child from hurting themselves or others. These are predominantly guiding techniques, which are only used when de-escalation and redirection has not been successful.

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

Leaders and managers continually review the well-being of staff and ensure that their emotional and training needs are met. This ensures that they continue to meet Inspection report children's home: 1255407 4 the needs of the children during more challenging periods.

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

Children living in the home are kept safe. Carers know what actions to take when they think a child may be at risk of harm. The registered manager ensures that all appropriate agencies and family are informed when a child is at risk. Records are detailed and there is robust management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that the home has a stable and skilled team of carers. Carers told the inspector that they enjoy working at the home and feel respected and supported by leaders and managers. The registered manager uses additional carers from sister homes when required and obtains information from other managers about their suitability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has good oversight of the children’s care. Care plans are consistently adapted in line with the children’s evolving needs. However, the registered manager has not robustly challenged the local authority to ensure that they have an up-to-date care plan for a child who has recently moved to the home. Although the home has created very detailed plans for the child, without the local authority care plan carers do not have all the information they need to ensure they meet the needs of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work proactively with the local community to support children to access resources and activities. This helps children build a sense of belonging and gives them positive experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals hold the home in high regard and report that children do well here. A social work service manager told the inspector that they were very impressed with the preparations that were made for one child’s move to the home. They considered that the team had gone above and beyond to ensure that everything was individualised for the child, including having a dinosaur design with their name on their bedroom wall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A real strength of this home is that the registered manager has high expectations for each child. They believe that all children can succeed and do well. This is reflected in the attitudes and responses of the team and underpins the good levels of care that the children receive. Inspection report children's home: 1255407 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (2)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This refers specifically to having each child’s up-to-date local authority care plan. 12 November

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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: 1255407 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Support Hub, Unit 5, Chinon Court, Lower Moor Way, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SS

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Inspector

Penelope Kutz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1255407 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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