Children's home run by Archways Care Limited in Wolverhampton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 1 SC061837 Registered provider: Archways Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is part of a small organisation. It can care for up to four children who have had adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager holds a level 5 diploma in leadership and management and registered with Ofsted in July 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

Date of last inspection: 18 January 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2023 Full Good 07/09/2021 Full Good 18/12/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/09/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, three children lived in the home. One child recently moved on to live with a family friend. One of the children has lived at the home for over two years, and two children have lived at the home for over one year. This stability has enabled them to make good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and provide them with nurturing and individualised care. Staff show children acceptance and openly explore the worries and concerns that children have. This has a positive impact on the children. They are developing their confidence, personal hygiene and independence skills and improving their health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have good school attendance, and two children were revising for their GCSE exams during this inspection. One child’s school report demonstrated a massive improvement in their grades over the past year. This child has good predicted grades and achieved a merit in their recent sports exam. One child who has struggled with school has done exceptionally well to return to school on a full timetable. Staff are supporting all children to achieve their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children find education difficult, staff work in partnership with education providers to find creative ways of supporting them. This has resulted in children’s timetables being tailored to their needs and children engaging more consistently with their learning with the support of staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to build and maintain the relationships that are important to them. Staff work closely with children’s support networks to enable children to see those people who matter to them, irrespective of the distance. One child’s family member told the inspector how committed and caring staff were. She said, ‘Staff drove my niece to Skegness for our family holiday because I did not have space in my car’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consider children’s individual needs and help them to work towards achieving independence skills at their own pace. This allows children to develop life skills that will support them in adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children have good relationships with staff and feel able to share their views, knowing that staff will listen. Children know how to complain and also have access to advocates to ensure that they feel their views, wishes and feelings are always listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers work in line with children’s care plans to support their moves out of the home. However, when one child’s placement ended in an unplanned way after they had lived at the home for eight months, staff did not consider how to Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 4 support a positive ending for this child to help them feel valued or supported during a difficult time in their life.

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

Staff work hard to keep children safe. The manager and staff support children to understand risks. Staff hold regular key-work sessions with the children that focus on areas that are relevant to the individual child. As a result, children are being supported to recognise risks and are learning how to keep themselves safe.

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

There have been safeguarding concerns since the last inspection. Managers and staff take action to improve children’s safety. One child has chosen to pursue an activity that has raised concerns for staff and managers. They attended the activity with the child to gain a better understanding of the potential risks. Managers and staff responded appropriately to ensure that additional measures were in place to safeguard the child. As a result, children feel supported to pursue activities in their chosen areas of interest.

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

Children say that they feel safe in the home. Staff and managers ensure that there are clear boundaries and expectations for children, which help to keep them safe. Staff also know the children well and understand their complex needs. As a result, there has been a reduction in significant incidents, and children trust staff and share any worries or concerns they have, which helps staff to keep them safe.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures. Risk assessments are in place for each child. These link to children’s behaviour management plans and are regularly updated and reviewed to inform staff’s safeguarding practices. The manager and staff also use professional curiosity to identify and respond to risks to keep children safe.

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

Overall, the staff and managers respond effectively to safeguarding concerns in the home and when children are out in the community. Incidents requiring physical restraint with children are not frequent. There has only been one significant incident since the last inspection and this has evidenced good management oversight. Both the child and staff were spoken to. This provided staff and managers with opportunities to learn from the experience. As a result, risk assessments and behaviour management plans have been updated in partnership with other professionals. This informs staff practice and helps to keep children safe when they are out in the community.

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

Managers report incidents appropriately to the relevant professionals. They ensure that measures are in place to keep children safe. However, in regard to one incident, full information was not recorded, so it was not clear who was present and how those present were involved in the incident. Although this did not result in a failure to act, it does not help to provide an accurate account of what happened. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is clear about the strengths of the home and areas for development. She is motivated to ensure that the staff team delivers good-quality care to children. The manager and staff know children well and speak positively of the children they care for. They want children to succeed and ensure that children are provided with clear and consistent boundaries. This supports children’s development and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak positively about the managers. Staff told the inspector that managers are supportive. Staff receive regular supervision that helps them to develop and reflect on practice. The managers and staff now work alongside a psychologist to embed a therapeutic model of parenting to inform the staff team’s responses to children’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the managers work proactively with professionals to promote positive outcomes for children. This includes providing regular detailed updates to social workers. This ensures that children receive consistent support from all professionals who are involved in their care. One social worker told the inspector, ‘The home understands her child and advocates for her well. She said they have been consistent with the care provided. As a result, there has been improvement in her child’s behaviors’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team has access to a wide range of training. Records give an accurate overview of the training that staff have received, and management oversight highlights areas for further development. This demonstrates that staff are having the training they need to meet children’s individual needs and to enable them to develop a good standard of consistent practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has monitoring systems in place to have oversight of children’s progress, and she ensures that records are up to date. This allows her to understand the strengths and areas of development in the home. Some records reviewed require improvement to ensure that they include language that is non-stigmatising to children and also sets out all the steps taken to report incidents when they occur. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that leaders, managers and staff ensure that records of actions taken are clear and contain the full information. This should include all persons present when measures are used and the contribution of any person present to the incident. Therefore, evidencing if proportionate measures were used to safeguard children. 3 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person must ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and should record information on individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home’s Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC061837 8

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Inspector

Sharon Bourne, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC061837 9 inspects 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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