Children's Home run by Keys Direct Care Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children's home: 1240397 1 Registered provider: Keys Direct Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a large provider and is registered to care for up to five children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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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: 23 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: 1240397 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2022 Full Good 25/05/2021 Full Good 04/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 24/04/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 1240397 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection in November 2022, three children have left the home and three children have moved in. There were five children living at the home at the time of the inspection. They are all making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming, with a large open lounge where children and staff spend time together. Staff put on fun evenings for the children, including theme nights such as Harry Potter, heavy metal and others where children and staff dress up and participate in role play. These experiences are captured in a memory book. Staff work hard to encourage a fun group-living environment and help children to create fond memories to look back on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have enjoyed taking part in activities outside the home, including trips to the cinema, the beach, bowling and fairgrounds. One child attends kick-boxing classes weekly. Staff make sure children have positive experiences away from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The in-house therapist said, ‘It feels like a proper home. They do theme nights. They did a supermarket sweep over Christmas. They do lots of things like Disney nights, quizzes and karaoke nights. The relationships they [the children] have with the team are lovely.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has worked hard to reunite children with family members they have not seen for several years. Staff and managers understand the importance of children having contact with their families and do all they can to support visits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good physical health. Staff and managers have helped children by quickly accessing support from local provisions when children move into the home. Staff work closely with external agencies and make effective use of the in-house therapy team to meet children’s emotional health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s attendance in school is good. Children who were not in education previously have achieved good grades since living at the home. One child has been asked to represent their school in sports events. Staff and education providers work together to plan for children’s education to ensure it is suitable.

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

Children are kept safe at the home. When children have gone missing, a coordinated approach is used by staff to bring them home quickly and safely, involving outside agencies when necessary. Staff are effective at working together to reduce risks to children when they are missing from the home. Inspection report for children's home: 1240397 4 The local police missing person’s coordinator said, ‘The staff manage incidents well. We don’t hear from them much, which is the sign of a good home.’

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

When incidents have happened in the home, staff have been proactive at defusing situations to prevent incidents escalating. Staff have excellent conversations with children, which enables them to quickly rebuild relationships. Staff are attuned to the children, adopting approaches that help children to feel listened to and learn from incidents, which reduces their reoccurrence.

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

Staff and managers put together detailed risk assessments and support plans which outline children’s vulnerabilities and known risks. The location risk assessment also details risks associated with the rural location and surrounding areas. The manager considers risks and has plans in place to minimise harm to children and staff.

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

Staff are responsive when they believe children to be at risk of harm. Staff and the manager arranged for in-house specialists to visit the children and carry out work on substance misuse, involving the children by playing relevant board games with them. Staff and the wider team work in unison to provide age-appropriate learning to address areas of concern.

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

Staff have carried out work with a child who moved into the home recently, helping them through well-delivered key-work sessions covering healthy relationships, online safety and consent. Staff watch online safety videos with the children and create questionnaires and quizzes for children to complete with them. Staff and managers understand the importance of educating and guiding children to understand how to keep themselves safe.

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

Children know how to raise concerns. When children have raised concerns about members of the team, the management team has worked quickly to implement safety plans and risk assessments to keep everyone safe. The manager follows the safeguarding process, listening to the children and implementing safety measures.

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

Staff have good relationships with the children and are getting to know them well. Children have trusted people they can go to when they need to talk about things that worry them. Staff work therapeutically with the children, which makes children feel safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and registered with Ofsted almost five years ago. She holds a level 5 diploma qualification and has also developed the staff in the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes sure all staff are up to date with their training and provides senior staff members with courses on leadership which develop their skills further. Refresher courses are booked in advance to make sure training does not expire. Inspection report for children's home: 1240397 5 The manager makes effective use of team meetings and covers a range of topics, including sharing examples of positive and negative safeguarding cultures. The manager has designated a safeguarding champion, who attends meetings and updates the staff team. The manager is skilled at upskilling the team to strengthen their understanding of their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high expectations of her staff and has carried out learning sessions with the team when they have responded to concerns. This has been achieved by going through company policies and refreshing their knowledge, outlining staff roles and responsibilities and what is expected of them to be safe and effective practitioners.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders provide frequent supervision meetings for staff, which are effective and help staff to be reflective and learn from shortfalls in practice. When staff have not followed certain processes, this is quickly addressed with them and plans are implemented to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Appraisals of staff performance are also carried out within appropriate time frames to ensure staff are clear on their goals and objectives for the coming year. This also allows staff to show how far they have progressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One external professional who works closely with the home said, ‘I have always found the manager to be communicative and [she] supports the home well.’

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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: 1240397 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Direct Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Dan Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1240397 7 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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