Children's Home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Southampton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 1 SC389180 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to six children with learning and physical disabilities. At the time of the inspection, six children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since September 2024. The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 5 December 2023

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/12/2023 Full Outstanding 17/01/2023 Full Outstanding 26/01/2022 Full Outstanding 13/11/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make excellent progress because they are looked after by staff who are deeply committed to ensuring that they have the best possible experiences. Interactions between children and staff are warm and nurturing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Many staff members have worked at the home for several years. As a result, children benefit from building and maintaining extremely positive, trusting relationships with staff. Children feel safe and well cared for because relationships with staff are built on love, acceptance, understanding and humour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make remarkable progress from their starting points. Staff are sharply focused on helping children to be as independent as possible. Staff celebrate all children’s achievements, including those that may seem small but are significant for them. Children’s confidence to try new things increases as a result.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff provide an excellent level of support to ensure that children’s health needs are met. Careful planning and strong communication with external health professionals mean that there is a shared understanding of children’s health outcomes. Children’s care and support plans clearly describe what staff need to do to support children to stay healthy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Activities promote children’s social and emotional development. Staff make good use of the excellent on-site facilities to ensure that children can participate in activities that they find comforting and enjoyable. Staff also recognise the importance of ensuring that children have new experiences to expand their interests and learning. Staff make the most of all opportunities to offer children community-based activities. Recently, children have enjoyed trips to the zoo and the theatre.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff make sure that children spend time with the people who are important to them. Families are welcomed to the home, including to celebrate special occasions. Staff are proactive and frequently take children to see their families, including those who live a long distance away. Children’s parents appreciate the support that they receive from staff. One child’s parent said, ‘I feel incredibly grateful that my child has been given such a wonderful home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff know the children extremely well and are familiar with each child’s method of communication. Staff are creative and find ways to gain children’s feedback on the care they receive, for example by gauging children’s responses to activities and capturing these in a ‘feelings report’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s attendance and achievement in education are excellent. Feedback from school staff is overwhelmingly positive about the quality of care that children receive and the communication and partnership working. Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 4 Thorough and thoughtful planning ensures that children are given the support that they need when they are experiencing change. Managers and staff work closely with children’s families and other professionals to ensure that moves into the home are planned meticulously. When children are ready to leave the home, staff follow a process that is individualised for each child so that the change is manageable. Recently, a child moved to a new school placement and was provided with sensitive support to ensure that it was a positive experience.

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

Children’s safety and well-being are priorities for staff. There is a sharp focus on making sure that children’s health needs can be safely met before children are admitted to the home. A specialist nurse provides regular training for staff as well as drop-in sessions. This ensures that staff can confidently and competently carry out delegated health tasks.

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

Staff are diligent in fulfilling their responsibilities in relation to medication administration. Consequently, medication errors are extremely rare. Those that have occurred since the last inspection were identified and addressed swiftly with no negative impact on children’s health. Learning from medication errors is used to good effect to reduce the risk of a recurrence.

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

Staff are attuned and responsive to the risks that are present for individual children. Staff are adept at noticing changes in children’s presentation and behaviour. They recognise changes that may indicate that children need additional support. Consequently, the use of physical intervention is rare. When it is used, the registered manager carries out debriefs with the children and staff involved. The information gathered during the debriefs is used to consider how to prevent a recurrence.

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

Staff make sound decisions to address safeguarding concerns when they arise. Effective and open communication with children’s parents and social workers further underpins the safeguarding culture and promotes children’s safety.

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

Some children have monitoring devices to alert staff when they need additional support. Decisions to use this equipment are made with children’s safety and best interests in mind. Children’s plans demonstrate that these decisions are subject to regular and meaningful review.

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

Processes for managing health and safety matters and maintenance tasks are excellent. As a result, repairs are completed in a timely manner, and the physical environment is safe and secure. Managers recognise that robust fire safety arrangements are required because of the complexity of the children’s needs. Staff participate in training and regular drills to ensure that they know how to safely evacuate each child in the event of an emergency. Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team has high standards and is passionate about making sure that children are kept safe and have an enjoyable experience. Managers are aspirational about what children can achieve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that diversity is welcomed and enjoyed. Staff provide strong role models for the children, and there is a culture of respect and acceptance. Staff work closely with children’s parents to gain a sound understanding of how to meet children’s cultural needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers keep other professionals fully informed about children’s progress. They proactively advocate for children and challenge decisions made by other professionals when they believe those decisions are not in the children’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The excellent training offer ensures that children are looked after by knowledgeable and well-informed staff. Staff supervision and team meetings are used to good effect to ensure that staff have a sound understanding of children’s needs. Despite this, supervision does not always take place at the intervals set by the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, management’s monitoring systems are effective and provide the registered manager with sound understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. However, gaps in some children’s daily records mean that they do not fully describe the high-quality care that children receive in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager’s reviews of the quality of care provided to children demonstrate that she has a well-rounded view of the experiences of the children and the impact the care is having on their outcomes. However, reviews are not sent to the regulator at the frequency required by regulation. There is no negative impact on children as a result of this shortfall. Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. They are responsible for proactively sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered provider should ensure that the periodic reviews of the quality of care of the children are submitted to the regulator within timescales. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.3) This recommendation is restated.

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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: SC389180 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Callard

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Inspector

Emma Haskell, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC389180 8 and inspects 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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