Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report for children’s home: 1185765 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

The home is part of a large private organisation. The home provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a registered manager in post and she is working towards her Level 5 diploma.

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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: 7 February 2023

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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 for children’s home: 1185765 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/02/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/03/2022 Full Good 18/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1185765 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, in February 2023, one child has left the home and one child has moved into the home. Another child has lived at the home for a few years. Leaders, managers and staff build positive relationships with children. As a result, children trust staff and are happy living in the home. Staff seek children’s feedback to inform their practice and to support them in providing children with individualised care. One child said to the inspector, ‘I like the team around me and the other child; they are all really nice.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage positive relationships between children living in the home. Children take turns to cook for each other with staff and they engage in a range of activities together. Staff consistently seek children’s views and wishes through children’s meetings and key-work sessions. This enables the children to influence the care that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to make progress in their education. As a temporary measure, staff are currently supporting one child each day by being visible in their school setting. This has helped the child to feel more safe and secure, knowing that staff are close by should they require them. As a result, the child is engaging better in lessons and will soon be joining a mechanic course. Managers and staff are also supporting the other child, who previously struggled with education. They have worked collaboratively with this child’s education provider to review the child’s progress. In addition, staff have supported this child at home with their schoolwork, which has helped them to grow in confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s moves out of the home are well planned and sensitively managed. Staff supported the child who has recently left the home to go for meals with the staff team from their new home. Staff also arranged activities for the child’s last week, and the other child in the home was supported to put together a gift box. This helped the child to have a successful ending in the home and the staff team remained in contact with the child to help them settle into their new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to keep in touch with those who are most important to them. Children are supported to see family members and are encouraged to have friends over for dinner. This helps children to maintain positive relationships and provides them with a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, there have been improvements in the home environment. Managers and staff sought children’s opinions on the decor of the home and have decorated children’s bedrooms to each child’s individual taste. However, one child has mould growing on the ceiling of their bedroom and there is also mould in a shower room. Exposure to mould could present a risk to the health of the children living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 1185765 4

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

This has been a settled period for the home, with a low number of incidents occurring. When children have made disclosures or shared concerns, staff have responded promptly and managers have taken appropriate action to ensure that all concerns are investigated. Children are kept at the centre of the process and supported well by the staff. Children are provided with an outcome to their concerns. This reassures them that staff genuinely care for them, and will listen to and act on any concerns that they have.

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

Leaders and managers are proactive in putting in place measures to protect children vulnerable to criminal exploitation. They have sought additional support from the clinical team to improve staff’s knowledge in this area. Staff provide regular key- work sessions and have regular conversations with children to educate them on the risks of becoming involved with gangs and the risk of being exploited. This has had a postive impact on one child, who no longer wishes to be a part of gangs or to become involved with criminal activities.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. Although missing-from-home incidents are rare, managers ensure that staff are supported and receive good-quality training to manage incidents when they do occur. On one occasion, when a child had walked off site from school, staff followed the child’s risk assessment accurately. They ascertained the whereabouts of the child quickly so that they could be returned to the home safely. Managers take appropriate follow-up actions and ensure that return home interviews take place. Staff use the information from these interviews to reduce incidents of children going missing from the home.

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

Managers have improved their processes of reviewing the risks presented by the local area around the home. They have consulted with the local police and undertaken a full review of the local and surrounding areas to identify new or existing risks. The manager now has a better understanding of potential risks to the current children in the home and has put in place strategies to manage these risks.

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

Managers and staff help children to keep safe online. Staff have a good understanding of the risks online and educate children on how they can keep themselves safe when using the internet or social media. In addition, the home has safe systems in place to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content. As a result, children are having safer online experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the previous inspection, the registered manager has returned from maternity leave. The manager is very child-focused and passionate, and motivated to deliver high-quality care consistently. The staff team and external professionals agree that the manager’s return has now provided stability and organisation in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring systems and action plans in place that support the development of the home. These systems have helped her to identify Inspection report for children’s home: 1185765 5 areas of weakness and to take action to improve these. For example, the manager has recently adapted the handover system to ensure that nothing is missed by staff when sharing information between them. In addition, there have been improvements to the recruitment process for new staff. The manager now ensures that any discrepancies in the information received for new staff are explored before the new member of staff begins working with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works well with each child’s wider network to ensure that the needs of children are met. The manager has collaborated well with children’s education provisions, local authorities, local police and the internal clinical team to find solutions to any concerns raised around the children. This has helped the children to make progress in different areas of their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are now receiving more regular supervision sessions. These sessions now encourage staff to reflect on their own practice and support them to make improvements. One staff member said, ‘Supervisions are good. They are always available. Anything I have mentioned has been taken seriously and wholeheartedly by the manager.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 1185765 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—

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the registered person ensuring that the home is free from mould and other hazards to children’s health. 24 May 2023

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Information about this inspection

Inspector 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: 1185765 7

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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: Unit 12, Venture House, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Chanel Bryant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1185765 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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