Children's Home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Somerset

Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 1 Registered provider: Keys Educational Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company.

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Information about this children’s home

The statement of purpose confirms that the home can provide care for up to four children. At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 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: Improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 09/04/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s move into the home is well planned. When appropriate, the manager or team member visits the child in their current home before inviting them to visit this home. These introductory visits help children to settle. When they move in, the children are welcomed warmly and given a comprehensive induction. Consequently, children are well informed of the home’s routines and quickly get to know the staff that are caring for them. Despite this good work, the manager does not fully assess the impact of each new child’s known risks against the needs of the children already living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with good continuity of care. The manager and staff team demonstrate genuine care of the children. Positive feedback has been provided from one parent and social worker about the quality of care provided.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Child-centred plans have been introduced. Staff have been successful in gaining children’s personal views about the care and support they would like to receive and are incorporating these views into the plans. However, these plans are in the early stages of development. The manager is also reviewing the children’s care plans as she feels, in their current form, they are too extensive and not child friendly enough.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All three children are enrolled in an appropriate education provision and have up-to- date education plans in place. Two children’s attendance is good. The registered manager and team continue to work closely with educational professionals to improve the third child’s attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s behavior is supported well. Negative consequences are rare. The manager’s monitoring of these is effective. She takes appropriate action when consequences do not provide a child with an opportunity to learn from their actions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well maintained, warm and welcoming. Children are encouraged to personalise their rooms. Communal rooms are well used, and photos displayed around the home provide the children with a positive visual reminder of the activities they have enjoyed taking part in.

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

Safeguarding concerns are managed well. Staff are clear about their safeguarding responsibilities and implement their learning from child protection training in practice. The manager works effectively with safeguarding agencies and keeps clear and detailed records of safeguarding concerns and the actions taken.

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

Physical interventions necessary to manage high-risk incidents are rare. When used, restraint is for a limited period of time and only to keep the children and others safe. After incident, discussions with the child and adults involved are reflective. Lessons Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 4 learned are explored, and agreed actions are shared with the team. The manager’s monitoring of these incidents is robust.

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

Children live in an environment that is kept safe. Children know what to do in the event of a fire because they regularly have the opportunity to practice the fire evacuation drill.

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

Safer recruitment practices are maintained. However, despite this good work, interview notes do not show why the candidate has been deemed as suitable or has the skills and experience required to care for children with a range of complex needs.

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

At times, children’s privacy is compromised. This is because staff routinely check children’s electronic devices when it is not clear that there is a confirmed need to do so. The manager told the inspector that she would review this to ensure any checks are driven by necessity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well managed. The registered manager has high standards and aspirations for the children. Her leadership skills are effective, and she manages her team well. A social worker commented positively about the quality of care that children receive. She said, ‘ I don’t have any concerns about the home or quality of care that is being provided . The quality of communication with the manager and staff has been good; they always attend meetings that have been required.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are provided with good-quality formal supervision. The discussions held are broad and include reviewing staff’s relationships with the children and the children’s relationships with their peers. Team meetings take place regularly, and discussions held provide the team with an opportunity to share best practice and review the children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s development plan currently focuses on regulatory requirements. The manager has not yet considered including development projects that they are working on. For example, the children have expressed an interest in climate change concerns. In response, the children and staff are researching how they can help with the depletion of the ozone layer. The work force development plan is in place and regularly reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff are compliant with basic mandatory training. Specialist training courses are available. However, not all staff have embraced the new and specialist training opportunities available to them. These training courses are being provided to enhance staff’s understanding about the impact of the children’s experiences, such as parental substance misuse and domestic violence. Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 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. Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 6

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to simplifying internal care plans and person-centred plans to make them easier to read and ensure they are written in a way that will be helpful to the child. 30 September

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Recommendation

 The registered person must ensure that they assess the impact of a new child’s arrival on the remaining group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.3)  The registered person must ensure that observation, monitoring or surveillance of children must not remove reasonable privacy and should allow as much privacy as is possible. This particularly refers to ensuring that the monitoring of electronic devices is reviewed for need and purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 19, paragraph 3.36)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This particularly refers to ensuring that staff complete specialist training courses that are available

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Recommendation

to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person must ensure that care staff interviews identify how and why the candidates with no residential childcare experience are suitable to work with children who have complex needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 7 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

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Recommendation

quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Educational Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspector

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1239953 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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