Children's home run by Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 1 Registered provider: Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties and have other learning needs.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. The manager has applied for registration with Ofsted.

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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: 14 February 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: 2557920 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2023 Full Good 10/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress in this home. When barriers to educational attendance are encountered, the manager works alongside the placing authority to agree suitable educational arrangements. The manager shares children’s care plans with the education provision to ensure that the child is offered the support that they need to fulfil their potential. It is hoped that the success of the current part-time arrangements will help the child to enrol on college courses in the future. Another child is attending a specialist educational provision full time, and it has been arranged for his tutor from his identified college placement, starting next year, to visit him to allow for this important relationship to develop.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

However, when children are not attending full-time education, staff find it difficult to engage children in structured educational activities that promote their learning. Staff try to help children strike a healthy balance between spending time gaming and participating in other enjoyable and educational activities, although this is not always successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite this, staff are able to provide children with some opportunities to develop their independence skills. As a result, one child has been able to spend time in the community without adult support. This has helped them to safely use public transport, manage their own money and do some of their own shopping.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain their relationships with their family members in accordance with their views and wishes. Children have also been supported to go on day trips with staff to London and theme parks. This helps children to develop trusting relationships with staff, as well as create positive memories and shared experiences. Children’s memory books provide them with a keepsake of the positive time that they have shared with each other and with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Interactions between staff and children are warm and friendly. During the inspection, lots of laughter and joking could be heard over the sound of Christmas music playing in the background. One child said that the best thing about the home was the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has been supported to move out of the home successfully. Staff shared pertinent information about the child and their care needs with their new home. Moreover, staff from the new home were supported to visit the child in their home before they moved. This allowed the staff to start to build a relationship with the child and become more familiar with their daily care needs. The child was also helped to understand their move-out plans with the use of social stories and photos of their new home. A family member described the support provided by staff to help their child move out of the home in a positive way as ‘brilliant.’

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

Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 4 Staff use a variety of strategies to avoid the use of restraint. When restraint is used, it is necessary and proportionate to the risk of harm. Furthermore, when the use of restraint presents an increased risk of harm, staff alter their approach to avoid injury to children.

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

Following the previous inspection, the appropriateness of moving children to different areas of the home during restraint was queried. Although no immediate change to practice was made, the new manager has implemented the necessary changes to stop this practice from continuing.

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

When safeguarding concerns are identified, leaders and managers share the concerns with the relevant professionals to allow for appropriate safety planning. Children are encouraged to reflect on what happened and understand the concerns of professionals. As a result, children are supported to identify how they can keep themselves safe in the future. Staff provide children with positive messages and guidance, alongside the child’s educational curriculum, to help children keep safe and manage difficult relationships.

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

When concerns about staff are raised by children, leaders and managers take action to ensure the child’s immediate safety. The actions and outcomes that are identified by leaders and managers are shared with the child to ensure that they know they have been listened to and feel protected. However, records are not always clear about the actions and outcomes that have been agreed.

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

Care plans provide staff with a helpful overview of the children’s needs and the support that they require. There are clear targets, and progress is regularly reviewed so that additional areas of support for the children can be identified. Staff use these plans to help them support children to achieve positive outcomes.

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

When children present with additional support needs, they are helped to access the relevant support services. One child, who previously found it difficult to access therapy, is now attending once a month without staff support. As a result, the child has been more able to express themselves in a safe way and resolve conflict amicably.

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

Staff say that they enjoy their job. Newer members of the team explained that they felt welcomed to the home and were supported to do their job by managers, their colleagues and through a thorough induction. However, staff identified some training opportunities, which they felt would make them better able to support children’s individual needs. In addition, not all members of staff were able to talk confidently about the therapeutic approach of the home or what actions should be taken when concerns about their colleagues’ practices are identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 5 The manager has been in post since July 2023. With the support of senior leaders and the deputy manager, he has quickly identified the strengths of the home and the areas for development. The manager has used recent external monitoring of the home to inform his actions and make improvements to the quality of care that is provided. However, internal monitoring of the home’s quality of care has not been submitted to the relevant people, as per The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers acknowledge that there have been some significant changes in the staff team. However, regular team meetings and staff supervision sessions have been used to mitigate the impact of these changes on the quality of care. These forums are used to reflect on the needs of the children and how staff can support them. In addition, the home’s therapist also attends some team meetings to facilitate reflective practice sessions and help staff to identify the positive strategies and responses that they require to meet the children’s individual care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals explained that the staff know the children well and support them to make progress. One social worker praised the manager’s approach to risk management and safeguarding, as this has allowed their child to develop important life skills. The manager has demonstrated his ability to advocate for the children, which has allowed for positive risk taking, alongside careful safety planning, to help children achieve positive outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment checks are carried out to help leaders and managers determine the suitability of staff to work with children. Following the successful recruitment of five members of staff, the home no longer has any vacancies. When there was not a full staff team in place, the home used agency members of staff to ensure sufficient staffing numbers. When full employment histories have not been provided for agency members of staff, leaders and managers have worked with recruitment agencies to ensure that the regulations under Schedule 2 of The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The environment is mostly warm and homely. However, most of the windows in the home are locked, and door alarms are fitted to children’s bedroom doors. The rationale for these restrictions is unclear and it appears to be a blanket restriction that is poorly applied and understood by managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Two of the home’s three office spaces are not in keeping with the homely environment. One office space is also being used as a storage area, and the other has operational guidance for staff on the walls and office furniture that would not be expected in a family home. As there is a third office space and an additional lounge for children to use, there is no longer the capacity for the home to offer care and accommodation to four children. As a result, a request to vary the conditions of the home will be submitted to reduce the occupancy of the home from four children to three children. The manager will update the home’s statement of purpose accordingly. Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 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 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff are provided with suitable training opportunities that help them to: meet the individual needs of children; adopt the therapeutic approach as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose; understand how to respond effectively to concerns about their practice. Staff should be supported to apply their understanding to their day-to-day role. 31 January 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (3) (4)(a)) 15 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 7 In particular, the registered person should ensure that the quality of care review is submitted to Ofsted within the specified time frame.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets children’s needs. In most cases, children’s homes will be domestic and homely environments. In particular, the registered person should ensure that there is clear rationale for the use of door alarms on children’s bedroom doors and locks on windows throughout the home. Where no clear rationale exists, door alarms should be removed, and windows should be unlocked. Furthermore, the use of office spaces should be reviewed, and they should be furnished in a way that is consistent with what would be expected of a family home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that when children are not in full-time education while they are of compulsory school age, they are supported to engage in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations,

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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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: 2557920 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 27 Westend Office Suites, Westend, Stonehouse GL10 3FA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Samantha Summers

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Inspector

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2557920 9 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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Inspector

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