Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Coventry

Inspection report children's home: 2515609 1 Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children's home

This home is owned and operated by a private company. The home is registered to provide care for up to six children, who may have learning disabilities, physical disabilities and/or sensory impairments.

p.1

Information about this children's home

There is a permanent manager, who became registered in October 2024.

p.1

Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection there were four children living at the home. The inspector met all the children.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2515609 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/06/2023 Full Good 14/06/2022 Full Good 03/02/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: 2515609 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at this home are provided with a good quality of care. They have good day-to-day experiences and are making progress. Staff have a good understanding of children’s targets. Staff help children every day to work towards their individual targets. The staff delight in the children’s progress and provide frequent praise for children’s achievements.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have helped children to build trusted relationships. Children are comfortable with staff and will seek out their company. Staff understand children’s needs and know how to interact with each child. Staff also provide care to children in a way that promotes their dignity. For example, using discretion around personal care needs.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager is proactive in making sure children have all the necessary health care and services in place. Staff ensure that children attend all their health appointments. There is a high priority placed on education for children living at the home. When children are waiting for a school placement, managers work in partnership with key professionals to ensure that this progresses in a timely way. In these instances, staff implement routines for children that keep them occupied and help them prepare for going to school.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at communicating with children and understand children’s preferred methods of communication. Children are helped to make choices about food, activities, and clothing. There is good use of social stories at the home. For example, to let children know what is happening in the home, such as a child moving in or out. However, wider consultation with children to understand their wishes and feelings is limited.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home comprises of two buildings. All the children are living in the front home. Currently the rear home is not suitable for children to live in, due to it needing renovation. This work is due to start imminently. However, there are also aspects of the front home that are worn and in need of maintenance and decorating.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, there is a pleasant atmosphere at the home where children are able to relax and have times of great fun and enjoyment.

p.3

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

Staff have a good knowledge of children’s needs and risks. Children are supervised in line with their plans. Staff have increased their vigilance and communication with each other, to ensure that children’s supervision levels are maintained.

p.3

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

Specialist equipment is well maintained, and staff receive training for using this. Children’s medication is well managed in terms of storage, administration, and record- keeping. Inspection report children's home: 2515609 4 Surveillance is only used at the home when this is assessed, as necessary. For example, one child had a video monitor due to safety concerns about them climbing during the night. The manager shared information with the relevant people and gained consent. The manager kept this under review and has now assessed it is no longer required.

p.3

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

Staff are very responsive to children, and they act promptly to meet children’s needs. Staff actions frequently prevent escalation of children’s emotions and behaviours. Staff provide a high level of tactile interaction with children. This is in keeping with children's age and needs. Staff recognise that this interaction is often part of children’s communication or sensory need.

p.4

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

However, staff have not received training for behaviour management. This is not provided in line with the home’s policies or statement of purpose. Lack of training could result in behaviour management approaches and techniques being used inappropriately or inconsistently.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has successfully built positive working relationships with other professionals and children’s families. This has been a significant improvement for the home, and they now receive many compliments. A social worker gave feedback saying that they could not praise the home enough.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an organised approach for record keeping at the home. As a result, children’s records contain all their key documents and plans. When meetings are held staff take notes so that information is shared, and actions are completed without delay. Staff make records that demonstrate how much they value children. The language used is positive and highlights children’s progress and achievements.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some change of staff, but there is a core team providing consistency of care to children. There are some staff vacancies, so the home does currently rely on the use of agency staff. Agency staff have good introductions to the home and are provided with regular supervision sessions. There is active recruitment underway and new staff are due to start working at the home imminently.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff receive and benefit from regular supervision sessions. The manager is skilled in providing supervision that includes effective challenge, gives clear guidance and tests and checks staff knowledge through scenario-based discussion. Therefore, supervision is supportive of staff well-being and development, and assures the manager of their competence.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has diligent oversight at the home. She is knowledgeable about all aspects of the children, staff, and home. The manager benefits from the support of the wider organisation and is confident to work independently and seek support when necessary. The manager is highly motivated to continue to make further improvements and developments at the home. Inspection report children's home: 2515609 5

p.4

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, 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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

p.5

Requirement Due date

understand the children's home's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

p.5

Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children's needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.5

Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

p.5

Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

p.5

Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the home being appropriately decorated and maintained. 28 February 2025

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

p.5

Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children's home; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2)) 28 February 2025 Inspection report children's home: 2515609 6 This specifically relates to managers understanding and applying the policy. This also relates to staff being trained and skilled, in accordance with the approaches in the policy and the home’s statement of purpose.

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children who cannot or choose not to verbalise, have the right to have their views, wishes and feelings heard and respected in the same way as other children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 2.24)

p.6

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 children's home: 2515609 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progress House, 127 Millfields Road, Wolverhampton WV4 6JG

p.7

Inspector

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2515609 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8