Children's home run by Keys Child Care Limited in Rossendale

Inspection report for children’s home: 1224093 1 Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children with complex needs who require specialist support.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2021. She was on leave at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

An interim manager has been in post since October 2023 and has submitted their application to register 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: 8 November 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: 1224093 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/11/2022 Full Good 18/08/2021 Full Good 17/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/02/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1224093 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. Three children have moved out since the last inspection. Children have been able to move out of the home in planned ways and return to carers or move on to post-16 accommodation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience positive relationships with staff who know them well. Staff engage children regularly in activities and work hard to build trusting relationships with the children. Children’s experiences and their time spent with staff are well recorded, with photos of all the different things they do in their daily lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate children’s achievements. Children’s day-to-day positive behaviour is rewarded and staff use different tools suitable to children’s ages and understanding to support them to learn about their behaviour. One child had a short story published, and also received an award for their entrepreneurial skills; both achievements were recognised by their local authority as great accomplishments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to attend school or college. One child attends college regularly and has a keen interest in sports, which is evident in items throughout the home. One child attends a specialist education provision and the other child attends a mainstream school. Both school children were making progress and had good attendance at school until November 2023. Some external factors have created a decline in children’s well-being and since this time both children have not attended school regularly. Despite this drop in school attendance, staff have continued to encourage children’s attendance. A family member said, ‘Staff have done anything and everything they can to get him to school.’ Staff have regular contact with professionals to create multi-agency support plans to help these children return to education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to learn about themselves and the world around them. They regularly take part in conversations with staff about their well-being and their identity and have time to talk about their feelings. Children come together in children’s meetings to talk about their experiences, reflect on their behaviour and discuss topics such as different cultures and their identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move in or out of the home have carefully planned moves. Staff visit children at wherever they are living before they move into the home to help prepare them to move. Children come to visit the home and can spend time picking out items to make their room their own ready for when they move in. When children move out, staff plan leaving parties and celebrate children’s achievements. For a child moving on to post-16 accommodation, staff prepared a care package to help them set up in a new home. Staff keep in touch with children. They invite children back for visits. For one child, this dedicated keeping in touch time has been Inspection report for children’s home: 1224093 4 extended on an individual needs basis post their 18th birthday. This gives children a sense of belonging even after they have moved on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are spending more time with their families as a result of the communication links established between staff and relevant family members. One child is seeing their family more regularly and without the need of staff support. This is progress for this child. A parent said that their child is doing really well since they have been at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and children’s presence is shown through photos and personalised items. The manager changes the function of rooms to suit the needs of children living at the home. Staff and children have created a mural together in one room. Children’s rooms are personalised to their tastes. Children have a sense of ownership and belonging when their home reflects their personalities.

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

Children have mostly had settled experiences living at this home. When children do display behaviour that challenges staff, staff respond with warmth and nurture and give children the time and opportunity to learn from their behaviour.

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

Children have sometimes needed to be held to keep them safe or for staff to re- direct their behaviour to stop children from hurting others. The associated records are detailed and staff and children are spoken with after these events. The manager reviews the records to ensure that learning can be taken from these events. When a hold was not a last resort action, the manager quickly identified this and staff learning was actioned because of this event.

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

When children share concerns about staff members, the manager and responsible individual review children’s worries. There are detailed investigations and the manager follows relevant procedures to ensure that concerns about staff are dealt with appropriately. The manager writes to children to help them to understand the outcome of any complaints they have made.

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

Staff have needed to undertake room searches with children to look for cigarettes, vaping products and other items that might cause children harm. Staff record these room searches clearly. They describe the rationale for this and record what they find and what they take away from children to help keep them safe. Staff only undertake room searches when necessary and these were infrequent across the year.

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

The manager has established good relationships with professionals in the community. Children are visited by the police and by members of the local community who can offer services to them. This helps children to learn about their local community and has encouraged their engagement in local youth groups, self- defence classes and sporting groups.

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

Some children have gone missing from care. When children go missing from care staff report this to the police and look for them in the local community. Staff have Inspection report for children’s home: 1224093 5 made good connections with children’s local peer group links and their parents to establish a network of where children might be if they go missing from care. On one occasion in December 2023, two children went missing together. Staff’s actions, records of their actions and reporting this information to professionals were limited in effectiveness. Staff did not have a clear understanding of events and were not able to keep children safe. This incident has been identified by the manager as a learning event. However, any changes to staff practice are as yet untested.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager was on extended leave at the time of this inspection. She is suitably qualified with a relevant level 5 qualification. The deputy manager, who is well known to the children and the staff, has been the interim manager since October 2023. This management transition was well planned to reduce the impact of changes on children’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The interim manager is enrolled on a level 5 qualification and is expected to complete this within the relevant time frame. The interim manager has applied to register with Ofsted in the absence of the registered manager. The interim manager has high aspirations for the children and encourages new experiences and academic success.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The interim manager has good relationships with children’s families, their foster carers or other important people in their lives. She works closely with relevant professionals and support agencies to ensure that children’s care plans are actioned. The interim manager advocated for a mentor service for one child to continue when this was coming to an end. This child is now benefiting from a positive mentor relationship again. The well-established community links mean that children benefit from access to additional services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions. These are detailed and explore topics relevant to children, legislation and the home’s policies. Different themed scenarios are used to develop staff’s learning in supervisions. Staff support one another’s learning and have created presentations about specific topics to improve staff development and staff’s relationships with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a detailed induction and training package. The manager ensures that staff complete the home’s mandatory training. In addition, staff receive support and guidance from specialist or therapeutic leads within the service. This has included specific training on a healthcare need for a child to ensure that staff understand this child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has met the two requirements from the last inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 1224093 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 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 home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff’s responses when children go missing from care are detailed in clear records and that the care is set up in such a way that staff know where children are in the home. 24 January 2024

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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: 1224093 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1224093 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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