Children's home run by Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1244137 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 home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider of education and social care. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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 outstanding

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1244137 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2020 Full Good 30/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2018 Full Good 17/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 1244137 3

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outstanding

At the time of this inspection, there was one child living in the home. The child living in the home experiences exceptional care delivered by a stable and highly skilled staff team. The child is valued and listened to and is very much involved with all aspects of care. Future care planning for the child is excellent.

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outstanding

From the child’s starting point, impressive progress has been made. The child has acquired important self-care skills in line with growing independence, attained qualifications and successfully gained employment. During this inspection, the child’s social worker referred to the child as ‘unrecognisable’, to describe the significant progress made.

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outstanding

The child has lived in the home for three years and exceptional relationships have developed between the child and staff team. The child has a strong emotional connection to the home and has affectionately assigned family member roles to the staff team. Inspectors observed genuine love, laughter and affection reciprocated between the child and staff team throughout this inspection.

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outstanding

The home is very well presented and a staff member who described it as ‘a home from home’ accurately reflects the care and attention given to create such a warm environment for the child. There has been tremendous effort by members of staff to reshape the garden area, with the child in mind. As such, it is an area used by the child with friends and has been an invaluable space for the child during the COVID- 19 pandemic.

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outstanding

A family environment has been created and the registered manager and staff team excel at providing opportunities and activities that enrich the child’s life. These experiences will provide long-lasting memories for the child.

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outstanding

The child living in the home is safe and is cared for by a highly skilled staff team, who understand and manage risk and behaviours. The child trusts in the staff team and this allows for extensive and open conversations. As a result, the child takes on board messages and responds to boundaries without the use of any restraint.

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outstanding

The care and nurture provided to the child is underpinned by a therapeutic approach, embedded across practice. This approach is supporting the child to invest emotionally in evidence-based life-story work. This is an excellent piece of practice led by staff in consultation with the child’s social worker. Inspection report children's home: 1244137 4 Since the last inspection, incidents that have occurred have been short lived. The interventions delivered by the highly skilled staff team have supported the child to move on from these experiences and develop strategies that have significantly reduced incidents and risk. There have been no missing-from-home concerns over a sustained period. The staff team is innovative in promoting safe relationships between the child and peers and this has led to the child’s safety increasing, particularly in the community.

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outstanding

The child enjoys family time that is meaningful. This is very well supported by the home and the commitment of the staff team to develop positive relationships with the child’s family has directly improved the quality of contact for the child.

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outstanding

The registered manager and staff team do extremely well to achieve a balance that allows the child to take risks while ensuring the child is safe. The positive links forged between the home and partner agencies contribute to effective safety planning that engages the child and the protection of others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is confident and consistent in her leadership of the home. The home is managed efficiently and there is an established and stable permanent staff team. There is no use of agency staff. The staff are supported to progress in their roles and the registered manager has delivered mentoring support to another home, which has had a positive impact.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There was an overwhelmingly positive response from staff about the home and registered manager during this inspection. A family culture and a child-centred approach were themes throughout the feedback. Any challenges have been managed robustly and in a timely way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The child’s experiences are captured in well-documented records and the monthly independent person reports accurately reflect the quality of care and safety of the child since the last inspection. Practice is informed by research and, in the main, records are robust. The system for recording is under review and further time is necessary for this to be embedded. This does not deter from the quality of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Training is comprehensive and the staff benefit from good-quality supervision that provides opportunity for reflection. Additional training is sourced by the registered manager and regular consultation with the internal therapies team assists staff to understand and meet the more complex needs of the child living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The effective leadership and positive culture in the home directly contribute to the exceptional care that is provided to the child. Inspection report children's home: 1244137 5

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the recording of all plans and assessments is relevant, clear and concise. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1244137 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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Stephen Nicholson

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Inspectors

Louise Bacon, Social Care Inspector Linda Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1244137 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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