Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private company that is owned and operated by a national charity. The home provides care for up to three children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably experienced and registered .

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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 good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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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

Date of last inspection: 2 November 2021

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/11/2021 Full Good 02/03/2020 Full Outstanding 28/02/2019 Full Outstanding 18/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 3

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outstanding

Children benefit from extremely good relationships with staff. The staff fully understand the impact of early childhood experiences on the children’s development. The highly skilled staff nurture the children and provide excellent emotional warmth. Staff are excellent role models. Their interactions with each other and the children create a calm atmosphere. The children are happy, settled and secure.

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outstanding

The staff are dedicated and provide exceptional care. The high-quality care promotes excellent outcomes for the children. The staff use their knowledge, skills and experience to meet the needs of the children in a nurturing manner. Staff morale is high, and staff enjoy being at the home. One staff member said, `I love my job, I am so happy in my workplace. We really are like a family, and I just love it.’

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outstanding

Children absolutely thrive. They make significant progress from their starting points when moving to the home. The manager and the staff have high aspirations for the children. They show determination and commitment in helping the children to achieve. For example, the promotion of healthy lifestyles and healthy eating habits has resulted in one child losing a significant amount of weight. Physical exercise is routinely promoted. This, is turn, has improved children’s mental health and self- confidence. Children have been able to make and sustain positive friendships for the first time. One child who previously smoked cannabis has not done this since moving to the home. This is life changing progress.

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outstanding

Children have made significant progress in their education. The staff place a strong value and emphasis on the children’s education, ensuring long standing barriers to education are overcome. For example, one child’s risk-taking behaviour was not managed effectively in education. Managers escalated their concerns to the board of governors and worked with a range of professionals to find a suitable school to support the specific needs of the child. Because of this work, the child is now thriving in education. Another child previously had poor education attendance and required classroom support. He now attends full time and no longer requires the additional support within class. This is exceptional progress.

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outstanding

Children’s views and wishes are important to staff. These views shape how the home is run. The children are encouraged to express their views about all aspects of daily living and the care they receive. One child is now part of the youth council and undertakes the role of a quality checker. Within this role, the child visits homes within the organisation, gaining feedback from other children and making recommendations to leaders and managers. This ensures that the voice of each child is heard and acted on. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 4 The children are supported to maintain and build their family relationships. Staff work in partnership with the children’s families to ensure that they are fully involved in decision-making. One parent said, `I’d give them a five-star rating because they are fantastic.’ However, there have been two separate occasions when a child’s contact plan has not been followed. On one occasion, a child was supported to

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outstanding

spend time with two family members together, against the agreed plan. This was quickly and appropriately addressed by the manager. However, because of this going so well, positive amendments were made to the plan to enable the child to see both family members together moving forwards.

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outstanding

The manager and staff are continually striving for improvement. They constantly try to find new ways to provide children with stimulating and enriching experiences. Staff take many photos of the children. They use these to create photo stories of children’s positive experiences. These memories will be with the children well into the future and epitomise the nurturing care and support given to the children.

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

The staff work hard to ensure that children are safe. Children’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans are in-depth. They reflect the risk and vulnerability of each child. Risk assessments and plans are regularly reviewed and shared with required professionals. The staff respond quickly to any potential risk to children or concerns with children’s behaviour. They use de-escalation techniques well and the use of restraint is minimal.

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

Staff understand the children very well, including their vulnerabilities. Staff educate children on how to keep safe. For example, they hold ‘safe-zone sessions’ with the children. Staff explore scenarios with children where they potentially may put themselves in danger and discuss strategies with children to stay safe. These sessions cover a wide range of issues, such as stranger danger and road safety.

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

Children say that they feel safe. Staff have developed warm and nurturing relationships with children. This enables children to feel safe and secure. Staff provide good emotional support to children. This means that children can discuss their fears and anxieties freely.

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

Children are well cared for and loved by staff, who are sensitive to their needs. Secure relationships help children to regulate their emotions. As a result, incidents have reduced in both frequency and duration. The staff set good behavioural boundaries. Children do not go missing from care and there is no need for behavioural sanctions.

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

The manager considers new children who are potentially moving to the home with extreme care. She plans their moves in detail to ensure that existing children are not unsettled by new children. The manager visits children who have been referred to the home and provides them with information. This reduces children’s anxiety and gives them clear expectations prior to the move. Children leave the home in a natural way. Endings are positive and are planned gradually. The manager and the Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 5 staff keep in touch with children who have left. This provides additional support and further emphasises how much they are loved and cherished.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The highly competent and experienced manager is resourceful and enthusiastic. She takes enormous pride in the children and staff. The manager leads by example, spending good-quality time with the children and working closely with staff. She is incredibly insightful in her understanding of the children’s needs and uses this understanding to guide and inform practice. Her aspirational attitude and commitment filter down to children, inspiring them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have strong working relationships with partner agencies. External professionals are very positive about the care and support provided for children. One professional said, ‘I wished all homes were like this; they are worth their weight in gold.’ Professionals spoke about the progress that children make and the collaborative work that staff engage in. This ensures that staff provide a consistent and proactive response for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular professional supervision that is supportive, reflective and child focused, supporting staff in their learning and development. In addition, regular staff team meetings take place to share information about children’s needs and to develop strategies to support children. This has led to the development of a reflective and thoughtful staff team. Staff remain highly motivated and understand the need for continuous professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management monitoring and reporting systems have improved. The manager has implemented several systems and tools to support her to monitor and evaluate the continuous improvements in the home. This has ensured greater oversight of reports and assessments completed, including the language and terminology used within reports, with records now being wrote to the child rather than about them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff feel highly valued. The manager recognises their unquestionable commitment to the children through little gestures of appreciation. This works very well. The manager has gained exceptional support from an enthusiastic and motivated staff team. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff–

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to managers ensuring that children’s contact plans are followed by all staff. 27 March 2023

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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: 1254864 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lumonics House, Valiant Office Suites, Valley Drive CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Earnshaw

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Inspectors

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Linda Mason, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1254864 8 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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