Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to three children with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager in post is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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: 8 November 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/09/2021 Full Inadequate 11/12/2019 Full Good 26/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and settled living at this home. They have good relationships with the staff. The staff are committed to providing children with good-quality care and support. This enables children to have new experiences and make progress in many areas of their lives. One child said, ‘Its decent, it’s like another home, it’s like a normal home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children attend education and training. Where there are shortfalls in provision, staff will act as strong advocates for the children and challenge partner agencies to do better. Staff motivate children to learn, which encourages children to achieve and make good academic progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from involved external professional agencies is good. They comment that children received good, individualised care and support. The staff place a strong emphasis on individualised care that helps children to make progress. Children grow in confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good health. Their health needs are well considered and met by the staff. Staff work closely and proactively with a variety of health services. They support children to attend healthcare appointments. This helps to maintain children’s physical and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel listened to by the manager and staff. However, there is little evidence of children’s comments and views contributing to the running of the home and decisions about their care. This limits children’s participation in the day-to-day running of the home and the decisions that affect their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a family-orientated environment. Staff ensure that children develop a sense of stability and pride in their home. Children enjoy living at the home and are encouraged and supported to explore their interests and talents. This supports children to be happy, settled and content.

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

The staff have received training in safeguarding children. This training meets the needs of the children. However, safeguarding is not routinely discussed in one-to- one supervision sessions with staff. Safeguarding matters are not always discussed in team meetings. These omissions reduce the opportunities for staff to discuss and learn about specific and wider safeguarding issues.

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

Staff use their skills and training to keep incidents to a minimum. The company’s clinical specialist provides monthly support to staff on the specific needs of children. This therapeutic approach is effective and supports the staff to meet children’s Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 4 behavioural and therapeutic needs. This approach is not yet fully embedded in all aspects of care.

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

Children rarely go missing from this home. When this happens, staff take appropriate action to keep them safe. They work with other agencies to locate children and ensure a safe return. Involved external professionals have confidence in staff’s ability to keep children safe.

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

The manager and staff understand the risks posed to and from children. Risk assessments are good. They provide staff with strategies to minimise risk. This supports staff to keep children safe.

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

Children know how to complain if they are unhappy with any aspect of their care. They are provided with information to support them to make complaints or raise any concerns they may have. The positive relationships between children and staff mean that any concerns children have are managed before they escalate. This is testament to the fact that children feel that staff and managers listen to them.

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

Staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to whistle-blowing. A whistle-blowing policy is now in place, which means that staff know how to raise any worries or concerns about the operation of the home.

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

Staff report that they feel confident and believe that their practice has improved over time. As a result, they can keep children safe and are confident to share any concerns with other involved agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A new manager now leads this home. He has submitted his application to become registered. He speaks with passion about the home and children and demonstrates a genuine commitment. He provides a stable environment and is a positive role model. As a result, the team of staff have confidence in the manager and value his leadership.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have a genuine sense of commitment and loyalty towards the children and managers. There is a real sense of family between the staff and children. Children are at the centre of everything staff do. As a result, children have considerable trust in the staff and the manager. This leads to stability and provides the conditions in which children flourish.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Quality assurance and monitoring systems are generally effective. There are some internal systems that are not frequently monitoring the quality of care provided to children. This includes the oversight of records and evidencing children’s views and feedback on the care they receive. This is an area for ongoing improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide staff with the support they need in their daily care practice. They are visible and approachable. This is leading to the development of a consistent and Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 5 stable team. Staff receive regular formal supervision. However, they do not yet benefit from yearly appraisals to further build and improve their care practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy their work. They recognise how the home has improved and become more stable over time. Some staff members are new and have received a good induction. The manager is working hard with the new staff to embed the ethos of the home and to ensure that care practice remains consistently positive for children. Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 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, 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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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any relevant plan includes a strategy for a particular type of care, treatment or intervention, for example therapy relating to neglect or abuse. The staff will need to understand the purpose of any such care and the way in which the past experiences of abuse or neglect may manifest in the day-to-day life of the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.15)  The registered person should ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’ page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that regulation 19(2) details sanctions that are prohibited in behaviour management. Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be 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. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour, and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least annually. This appraisal should consider, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals

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Recommendations

who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed in a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should ensure that good employment practice is maintained, as set out in regulations 31 to 33. Recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff should safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 7

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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: 1234243 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Thirza Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1234243 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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