Children's Home run by Phoenix Children’s Homes Limited in Torbay

Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 1 Registered provider: Phoenix Childcare Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to two children who may experience emotional or social difficulties. Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 19 December 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 requires improvement to be 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 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/08/2023 Full Inadequate 12/07/2022 Full Good 27/04/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are experiencing trusted relationships with staff. Both children seek out staff to talk with and were observed laughing and joking together with them. The manager explores why children are behaving in a certain way to help promote the ability of staff to support them well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children are making progress. Their school attendance is good, and they are supported by staff to do homework and prepare for school well. The staff have been regularly speaking to one child’s school due to a recent pattern of concerning behaviour. They have now organised weekly meetings to ensure the same boundaries and responses to concerns are in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to be actively involved in their care, for example, in planning meals and choosing activities. However, there was a missed opportunity to include one child’s views on improving the children’s guide. This did not show that the child’s views were valued or improve the information provided for other children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

While children are involved in meal planning, they are not consistently provided with nourishing and healthy meals. Lack of support for one child has meant they do not have a healthy and varied diet. A nurturing approach is taken to encourage the child to try more foods but plans for staff lack detail on how to support children and strategies for encouraging variety. This means that staff are not using the same approaches to encourage the child to eat new or healthier things. Some snacks are locked away this is institutional and does not support children to learn how to make healthy choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to take part in activities and both children have enjoy having yearly passes to a local theme park. One child is being supported to attend an inclusive youth club in line with their needs. This child identified feeling accepted for who they are and the staff frequently use their preferred pronouns, which helps the child to feel secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Learning has been identified from the situations for children who have moved on from the home. The manager was quick to involve other professionals and call meetings when needed. This meant that support was quickly identified for the child moving on and that systems for future children moving in have been reviewed and improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home feels like a family home. Photos of one child and staff are on display. For the other child, who does not want to have their photo on show, their artwork is displayed instead, which helps to make this feel like their home. Both children said that they love their bedrooms and were involved in personalising them. However, one child’s bedroom was in a poor state, with dirty clothes and bowls of food lying around, which does not provide a welcoming and comforting environment for them. There are small areas where attention to detail is lacking; curtains hanging loose and marks on the walls detract from Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 4 the homely feel.

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

When incidents happen, staff respond quickly to ensure children are safe. Staff follow the protocols in place and report quickly to relevant agencies when children go missing. Clear processes are in place, with steps for staff to follow, and staff know these processes well. When children return, conversations take place with them to try and understand why they have gone missing. The manager is proactive in seeking solutions by working with other professionals and the children themselves. For one child, this led to a review of their free time and allowing them more freedom. Safety plans are in place and staff know these arrangements well.

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

Regular conversations take place between staff and other professionals involved in children’s lives. This is helping to ensure that the care provided to children is consistently good. Children say they feel safe and both children were able to identify adults who they could talk to.

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

Restraint has been used on two occasions since the last inspection, to keep children or staff safe. There are detailed records of these incidents. The manager is reflective and seeks to understand why incidents have happened and to learn from them.

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

Allegations about a member of staff were investigated thoroughly. Safeguards were put into place and appropriate agencies informed quickly. The children’s social workers were informed, and an internal investigation took place. Actions taken following this were robust and effective.

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

Children’s plans are generally clear documents, with steps to keep children safe. However, information is not always shared effectively between staff to ensure consistent approaches are taken. Information regarding a health need for one child was lacking. The manager was able to explain this concern, but the plans lacked clarity. This means that staff do not always know how to meet children’s current care needs.

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

Staff are aware of the risks of the internet and processes are in place to ensure children’s internet and phone use are monitored regularly. The children understand why these boundaries are in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home now benefits from the stability of a registered manager, which had been a source of difficulty over the previous year. The manager is ambitious, committed to meeting children’s needs and knows them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff team has been stable for the last six months and the home is currently fully staffed. This means that children have important stability in the staff who care for them. The manager is a strong advocate for children and can challenge other professionals and advocates for what he thinks is right for children. Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 5 The manager is reflective, which can be seen in records of incidents and in conversations with staff and children. He seeks solutions and is creative in doing so. The manager accepts that information about the children’s needs is not always shared among the staff team effectively. Staff review and update children’s plans and other relevant documents. However, some plans lack clarity about support for children. This means there is the potential for things to go wrong and get missed. Systems have started to be put into place to address this but are not yet embedded. Learning taken from when one child left

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

the home identified that information was known but not shared among staff, which contributed to a dangerous situation where staff were harmed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Mandatory training takes place. Systems to track and review training needs are unclear. Specific training was identified to support one child before they moved into the home. However, the training took place six weeks after the child had moved in. Training in relation to improving diet was identified several months ago and is still awaited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Team meetings and supervision take place but there have only been two reflective team sessions. The manager encourages staff to reflect on practice but reflection on children’s needs is limited. The manager plans supervision for staff although there is no separate overview to ensure this takes place if the manager is not available. Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, plans for children must provide sufficient detail for staff to understand and be able to meet each child’s care needs. 31 July 2024

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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 work as a team as 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)(b)(c)(h)) 31 July 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 7 In particular, the registered provider should ensure staff access training relevant to each child’s needs and that monitoring systems are in place to review care.

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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

In particular, children must be supported to have a clean and tidy bedroom and the general appearance of all rooms should be similar to that of a family home. In addition, children should have access to nutritious meals and snacks should not be locked away unless there is an assessed need to do so. 15 June 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are provided with nutritious meals suitable for each child’s needs. Where appropriate, children should be involved in choosing and preparing meals and opportunities to sit together and eat should be promoted. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.8)  The registered person should ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. In particular, children’s expressed views about the children’s guide, and other documents, should be used to improve these documents for others. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11) Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 8  The registered person should ensure that there is effective care planning and strong

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Recommendations

working relationships between staff of the home and the placing authority. Care plans must be explicit regarding any child’s health needs so that all staff know about them and can provide the same care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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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: 2610709 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Support Hub, Unit 5, Chinon Court, Lower Moor Way, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SS

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Inspector

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 10 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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