Children's home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Rossendale

Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 1 SC363384 Registered provider: Keys Educational Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for five children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and they registered with Ofsted in December 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: 13 September 2022

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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: SC363384 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/09/2022 Full Good 25/08/2021 Full Good 27/11/2019 Full Good 08/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care from staff who know them well. Children have strong relationships with the manager and staff and enjoy spending time with them. Children have established good routines. They are encouraged to take part in a range of activities, which helps them to build their self-esteem and confidence. Children have friends and spend time away from the home. They enjoy day trips at weekends and going on holiday. These excursions provide children with new experiences and children said that they value these times. Three children have moved into the home since the last inspection. The manager carefully considers the needs of residing children before agreeing to care for any new children. However, one child has struggled with these transitions. In response, the child has received good emotional support and reassurance from staff. The manager and staff have worked tirelessly to help the children increase their

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

emotional resilience and overcome difficult times. Children are making good progress with their education. All four children attend school or college. Two children have received good support through their GCSEs and have started college placements. This is a significant achievement in terms of the anxieties this presented for them. Children are aspirational for their futures and have plans to gain employment following their studies. The manager and staff support children to see their families regularly. They have been particularly flexible with arrangements so that time with family goes well. Parents, grandparents and friends are invited to the home and have been able to celebrate birthdays with the children. These moments are captured in memory books so that children can look back and remember these special occasions. One child has been able to move on to live with her parent, which is a positive outcome

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

for her. Children are well supported with their health needs. One child has ongoing difficulties, but she has started to make some progress. This is a particularly complex issue and staff are working hard to support her practically and emotionally. There is also therapeutic support in place, which the child is beginning to benefit from. Another child has made very good progress with a long-term health need. She is now able to administer her own medication. This has enabled her to increase her independence and feel proud. The manager and staff have worked effectively with external agencies to help the child achieve this. Staff are not always keeping the home clean and tidy, despite having checklists in place that are supposed to ensure that this happens. This is particularly an issue for children’s bathrooms. Some staff do not have a good understanding of why children may need help with developing skills in keeping their rooms clean. Following this

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

inspection, managers understand the importance of addressing this issue. Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 4 Children are involved in their care-planning and the decision-making about their lives. However, written care plans are not sufficiently detailed, and it is not always clear what strategies are being used to support children’s well-being. This can lead to confusion around the day-to-day care of children.

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

The manager and staff know the risks posed to and by children well. They use this knowledge to keep children safe in a range of situations. Risk-management plans are kept up to date with detailed information and strategies to mitigate risk. The home has developed good strategies in helping children with self-injurious behaviour. For some children, there has been a notable reduction in the frequency and severity of incidents since the last inspection. This has improved the quality of children’s lives. Staff work hard to support children with their behaviour. Overall, children are supervised well, and staff know how to de-escalate situations to prevent children from coming to harm. Physical interventions are rarely used and only as a last resort. There has been one occasion when the manager used a restraint to prevent harm to a child. This did not have oversight from her line manager, which is important to ensure that the intervention was used appropriately.

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

Children are rarely missing from the home. If children do go missing, staff take action to ensure that children return safely. They use their knowledge of the child to locate them as quickly as possible and always report children missing when required. The manager ensures that children take part in a return home interview so that they have an opportunity to talk about the incident. This is important in identifying any possible risks of exploitation. The manager and staff ensure that children are protected from harm online. Any concerns are highlighted through monitoring children’s phone use, as any good parent would. When necessary, concerns are reported to the police so that they can be investigated. This helps to keep children safe from risks of exploitation. Staff are clear about their safeguarding responsibilities. Concerns raised by or about children are investigated thoroughly and information is shared with the appropriate

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

agencies. Children are kept informed of the outcomes and are provided with support throughout the process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager remains passionate and motivated despite having had a very busy year. She has faced some challenges and pressures relating to recruitment and retention of staff. The manager and deputy managers have been required to cover numerous shifts in the home to ensure that there are safe staffing ratios. This has had some impact on the time available for the manager to complete her managerial tasks. Leaders and managers are working creatively to recruit new staff; however, this is taking some time. Senior managers have identified that the home has been Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 5 under pressure. A requirement has been made in respect of monitoring the impact of staff turnover and retention. Staff said that they enjoy their work, and they spoke kindly about the children. They have felt the pressures of lower staffing levels but have shown commitment to the children by working additional hours to ensure that children are cared for by familiar

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

adults. There have been some occasions when staff have not worked as a team as well as expected. This has the potential to impact on the consistency of children’s care. Staff benefit from a range of training that enables them to meet the individual needs of children. There is also regular consultation with a recently appointed in-house therapist, who is helping the staff develop their understanding of therapeutic parenting. The manager ensures that staff receive regular supervision that enables them to reflect on their practice and professional development. Managers and senior staff provide supervision. The quality of the supervision process and written records is variable, which means that there is inconsistency in the supervision experience across the team. As a result, some staff may be at a disadvantage, which could affect their practice and overall performance. There has been one complaint from a parent, which was responded to by the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

manager. However, it was not formally recorded as a complaint. The manager understands that, even when there is a positive outcome, she needs to record her actions so that oversight of complaints can be maintained. The manager has developed good relationships with external agencies, which has had a positive impact on children’s lives. These agencies include specialist health services, schools and social care. The manager is tenacious when accessing services for children. Professionals spoke highly of the manager’s communication and ability to advocate on behalf of children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the home is clean and hygienic in all areas, particularly the bathrooms used by children. 4 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; 4 October 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 7 ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the registered manager has sufficient time to maintain good oversight of the quality of care provided to children. This includes ensuring that staff work together effectively with the required knowledge to implement children’s care plans effectively in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that senior managers have systems in place to support the manager in reviewing and improving care where appropriate.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records are kept in relation to complaints made on behalf of or by children as detailed in regulation 39. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint involving the registered manager are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. The registered person should ensure that the supervision process is consistent for all staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that each child’s day-to-day health and well- being needs are met. The ways in which each child’s needs are to be met should be recorded clearly to enable staff to meet those needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 3, paragraph 7.3)

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 8 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: SC363384 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Educational Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspector

Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC363384 10 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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