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

Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 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 owned by a private provider and offers care for up to four children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that care is provided for children and young people who have a variety of complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since January 2019 .

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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 requires improvement to be 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 for children’s home: 2507631 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/02/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 16/08/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made progress in this home from their starting points. Each child has a number of individual support plans, including for their health, education and behaviour. On the whole, these plans are personalised and provide strategies for the staff to support the children. However, one child requires further support to attend medical appointments, which would help them to protect their long-term health outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive regular key-work sessions that cover a number of topics. Staff are helping children to better understand risk and the consequences of their behaviours. This has allowed children to express themselves safely and reflect on their behaviours, when necessary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Daily journals capture the day-to-day experiences of the children in the home. All of the children have access to, and enjoy, a range of activities and fun experiences. These include going to theme parks, going shopping, attending clubs and seeing family members.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children in the home have positive relationships with the staff. Interactions between the children and staff are relaxed and friendly. Most children said that they enjoy living in the home, and all the children said that they felt comfortable seeking support from the staff team. This provides children with protective strategies to keep themselves safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from parents and professionals is positive. Parents feel that they are included in the lives of their children and are supported to develop their relationships by the staff team. A social worker was able to identify the progress their child had made since living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is mostly well presented and feels homely. One child told the inspectors that their home felt ‘comfy’ and they were consulted when choosing design features, for example the colours and pictures on the walls. However, two children’s bedrooms were untidy and unhygienic. These bedrooms to be unwelcoming and unpleasant. For example, beds were unmade, rubbish was on the floor and empty bowls were lying around the room.

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

Safeguarding concerns are well managed by staff and managers. Where appropriate, other professionals are involved in decision-making and safety planning. This has allowed for appropriate actions to be taken to ensure the safety of the children living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 4 When children have been missing from home, staff and managers have responded proactively to protect children, both in the moment and after the event. Return home interviews have taken place and steps to prevent reoccurrence have been implemented.

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

There are currently two open safeguarding concerns. These concerns have been reported to the appropriate authorities.

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

Incident reports evidence a therapeutic parenting approach, with staff being accepting and curious about how children are feeling. Staff are able to support children to identify how they can express themselves safely, without becoming upset or angry. The home has not used physical intervention in the reporting period.

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

The manager has a range of risk assessments in place that identifies risk and provides strategies for staff to support the children they look after. However, these risk assessments are not always up to date, nor do they provide sufficient information. For example, a risk assessment about self-harm is not clear about how a child can be supported to use razor blades safely. This means that there is scope for the support offered by staff to be inconsistent.

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

The location risk assessment identifies risk and provides clear steps of how risk can be mitigated. However, the risk assessment is generic and does not consider risk in relation to the individual needs of the children in the home. For example, no link is made between the risks associated with the rural location of the home and a child going missing during the night. This means that staff are not supported to consider how risk factors can interact or how to respond proportionately.

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good

The home’s documents are not always up to date and there is insufficient evidence of management oversight or review. In addition, there is a lack of professional curiosity being applied. This has resulted in the therapeutic needs of one child remaining unexplored. A lack of management oversight means that it is unclear whether evaluation and learning is taking place.

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good

Most staff have completed mandatory training. When training has lapsed, staff have been booked onto refresher training sessions in a timely fashion. However, the training matrix contains anomalies. This means that leaders and managers are not able to easily identify the training needs of the team.

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good

The workforce plan provides the details of the qualifications and training of the current staff team. However, this requires further reviewing and updating to accurately reflect the training and learning the staff team has been provided with.

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good

Leaders and managers are providing training in different models of therapeutic intervention. However, these remain in their infancy and therefore cannot be measured for their impact. Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 5 The home’s development plan seeks to improve the home and considers the impact this will have for children. However, when targets have been set, the plan is vague. For example, leaders and managers have not identified who is responsible for completing the identified actions or when this should be achieved. This means that development may be hindered or delayed.

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good

All staff receive regular supervision. Sessions are recorded and minutes are signed as read. Supervisions provide staff with supportive strategies when they raise concerns or queries. Leaders and managers have received training in order to complete effective supervisions and appraisals.

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good

Overall, team meetings are well attended, and minutes capture the range of topics discussed. Team meetings provide staff with an opportunity to share their views and consider how they can develop the home and improve outcomes for children.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose does not include all information required by Schedule 1. When revisions to the statement of purpose have taken place, the registered manager has not shared the updates with Ofsted in a timely manner. Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 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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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire 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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(g)(i)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure oversight and professional curiosity seeks to develop the home and inform the care provided to children. 1 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b)) 1 December 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. In particular, staff should ensure children are supported to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  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. In particular, the registered person should ensure that the training needs of the staff team are met and accurately recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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 for children’s home: 2507631 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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Inspectors

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Linda Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2507631 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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