Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Assurance inspection report for children's home: 1254308 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private company that is owned and operated by a national charity. It provides care for up to five children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children's home: 1254308 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

Since the last inspection, on 9 and 10 August 2022, there has been an improvement in the quality of care provided. The home’s registered manager returned from maternity leave in September 2022. Together with the newly appointed deputy manager, they have put in place plans to drive improvements forward. They both understand how important it is for children to receive good-quality care.

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The care of children

The home has recently undergone a further period of change as four children have moved out. Staff have worked with the local authority to enable the children to move to homes that better suit their identified needs. This has included children going to live with foster carers.

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The care of children

The manager has reviewed the process for children’s moves into and out of the home. She has made changes so that processes are more effective and efficient. Staff work hard to provide positive endings for children, even when endings happen at short notice. When assessing children to move into the home, the manager seeks information about the children from different professionals involved in each child’s life. This enables the manager to get a true sense of the child and assess if they are a good match for the home.

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The care of children

Children have regular one-to-one key-work sessions. Staff discuss various topics that are tailored to meet the needs of each child. Staff make a record of each session and write this to the child using language that is appropriate for their age and development. Staff then add the records to a file that the child can access either now or in the future.

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The safety of children

When children go missing from care, there is a detailed process that staff follow. Once the child is home safely, staff request a missing-from-care interview. The leadership team continues oversight of any incident of a child going missing until all relevant documents have been updated and reviewed and the return home interview has been completed with the child.

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The safety of children

Staff want to ensure that children in their care remain as safe as possible. They recognise that when children go missing, they can be subject to different forms of harm. As part of the process around children going missing, staff complete an exploitation assessment to determine if there are exploitation risks. Any risk identified informs the child’s behaviour support plan. Staff retaining oversight of this potential risk helps children to remain safe. Assurance inspection report for children's home: 1254308 3 Previously, when the home was fully occupied, interactions between children were not always positive. During this inspection, the inspector observed staff to be attentive to children’s conversations. If any worries emerge, staff log the details of the concern. The manager retains oversight of the logs and reviews them daily. The manager and staff take action to address any concerns promptly. This helps to

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The safety of children

ensure that children experience positive and safe relationships with all those living in the home, and this reinforces each child’s feeling of being cared about by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Several requirements and recommendations were set at the home’s last inspection. Senior managers recognised the difficulties faced within the home. Senior leaders decided to give notice for all the children, and they moved out. The leadership team formulated an action plan to respond to the identified shortfalls. Their aim was to support the staff to revisit key knowledge, to enable the staff to provide excellent care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The last few months have been a challenging time for the staff. The outcome of the last inspection impacted on morale. The manager and deputy manager have worked hard to get staff to recognise their positive qualities and how effective they can be as a team caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

When staff needed further training and support, leaders arranged this. The manager is keen to develop the skills and knowledge of her staff and is proactive in sourcing more training. Regular ‘learning circles’ allow staff the opportunity to reflect on practice and learn from each other. Therefore, children are receiving care from a trained and knowledgeable staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The home is fully staffed. There are enough staff on each shift to meet the needs of the children currently living in the home, in line with the company’s preferred model of care and as outlined in the statement of purpose. If additional staff are required at specific times, staff who know the children are used. Therefore, children have consistency of care by members of staff they know and trust.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/11/2021 Full Good 07/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/09/2019 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children's home: 1254308 4

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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, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Craig Whitchurch

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Inspector

Lizette Watts, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children's home: 1254308 5 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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