Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Dudley

Inspection report children's home: 1241975 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

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to four children who have had adverse early experiences and who have complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 18 January 2023.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1241975 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/01/2023 Full Good 22/08/2018 Full Good 07/03/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 04/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1241975 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has left the home and two children have moved in. At the time of this inspection, three children were living at the home. Children’s moves into and out of the home are well planned and child-centred. As a result, children experience positive moves, with minimal disruption.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed positive relationships with staff and told the inspector that they feel safe and well cared for. Children feel able to speak to staff about any concerns and know that staff will listen and take appropriate action.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are anxious or worried, staff are available to give them the support and guidance that they need. Staff successfully support children to develop better coping strategies, and this has led to an improvement in the children’s emotional well-being and mental health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy various leisure activities and staff encourage them to have hobbies. For example, one child regularly plays football at a club and another child goes horse riding. Children are able to follow their interests and socialise positively with others, helping them to build a circle of friends. This has helped children grow in confidence and improves their overall development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive effective help, support and encouragement from staff to do well in their education. Staff have developed good education plans that are tailored to children’s individual needs. In addition, staff have a good understanding of children’s barriers to education and have supported children to overcome these. Consequently, children have a postive attitude to learning and have made good progress in their education. For example, one child received a very positive end-of-year school report and another child, who had difficulties with his educational attendance, now engages in a full-time school timetable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to stay in touch with members of their family. Staff support children to visit their families and help to ensure that the time the children spend with their families is a positive experience. This supportive approach ensures that children are able to develop and maintain relationships with those people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff work closely with external professionals to provide good-quality and safe care to the children. The registered manager and staff have good communication with other professionals and ensure that they are kept up to date on children’s experiences and progress. For example, the registered manager sends social workers regular progress reports showing the areas where improvements are made by the children. External professionals told the inspector that they think the care children receive is excellent. Inspection report children's home: 1241975 4 The registered manager and staff do not always receive all the required statutory documentation relating to the care, education and health arrangements for children when they move into the home. The registered manager has escalated this with the relevant professionals. However, the registered manager is yet to receive the required documents. This means there are occasions when staff and the registered

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

manager do not have all the up-to-date information relating to the children’s needs.

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

Staff and managers know children well and work collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that the plans in place to keep children safe are effective. In addition, the manager promptly assesses the risks to children as and when children present with new needs and behaviours. As a result, the staff’s strategies to manage risk continuously evolve to ensure that they keep children safe.

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

Overall, the registered manager responds to safeguarding concerns and complaints from children appropriately. However, on one occasion, an inexperienced staff member reported an allegation to a senior staff member, who failed to report this appropriately. As a result, no action was taken until the manager returned from annual leave. Once this information was known, the registered manager took immediate action to safeguard the children and carry out an investigation. Following a review of the incident, the manager shared their findings with staff and relevant professionals to reduce the likelihood of a delay in reporting or a lack of response happening again.

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

When children go missing from care, the registered manager and staff respond appropriately by reporting the child missing, searching the local area and contacting people the children are known to meet. Staff and managers work in collaboration with external agencies to ensure that the child returns safely to the home. Staff educate children on the potential dangers of going missing from care. The registered manager and staff have been successful in implementing effective risk management strategies, which has significantly reduced the duration and number of incidents of children going missing from the home.

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

Staff think beyond children’s presenting behaviours to try to understand what may be causing them to be upset. In one example, staff recognised that a child was physically aggressive because he was struggling to voice his concerns. Staff worked with the child to talk about his worries. This approach has improved staff’s understanding of children’s behaviours and how to support them effectively. As a result, the severity of incidents has reduced.

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

Restraint is only used proportionately and when necessary to do so. Staff and children involved in restraint are able to discuss and reflect on these incidents. The learning from these discussions helps staff to support children to behave in a way that does not cause harm to themselves and others. Inspection report children's home: 1241975 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The good quality of care provided to children is driven by an enthusiastic, child- centred and motivated registered manager and responsible individual. This is supported by an equally committed team who have the best interests of the children at the centre of their work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are at the centre of everything that staff and managers do. For example, staff supervisions focus on how best to support children and ensure that they reach their full potential. Children thrive because of this approach. Although there have been a lot of changes to the staff team, the manager has worked hard to minimise any disruption caused to ensure that children receive consistent care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager’s monitoring systems are effective and drive improvement. They use a range of quality assurance systems. This is supported by the responsible individual’s oversight through both planned and unannounced checks on the home. This helps the registered manager to ensure that children receive a good quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff and managers work together to review all significant incidents. With help from the therapeutic clinical team, they try to understand why situations escalate and look for ways to improve their practice. This helps to provide a consistent, nurturing and compassionate approach to supporting children who may be anxious or upset.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor’s monitoring of the home is good. Their reports help the registered manager and responsible individual to identify and act on the shortfalls in the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When refresher training has been identified as an action following an investigation, there has been a delay in this being provided to some staff. The registered manager delivers learning through staff team meetings and supervision. However, the delay in providing refresher training means not all staff are helped with their continuous professional development. Inspection report children's home: 1241975 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, The 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 registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that they have requested all statutory documentation relating to the care, education, health and safeguarding arrangements for children in the early stages of the admissions process. 1 September 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff receive training relating to safeguarding of children, child sexual exploitation and eating disorders, and any other required training, in a timely manner following internal reviews of staff development and skills. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including 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 children's home: 1241975 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

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1241975 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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