Children's home run by Physis Quantum Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC443708 1 SC443708 Registered provider: Physis Quantum Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned by a small company. The home provides therapeutic care for up to five children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2022. She holds a level 4 qualification in leadership and management.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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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: 21 November 2023

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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: SC443708 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2023 Full Good 05/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/09/2021 Full Good 25/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC443708 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child currently lives in the home. Since the previous inspection, two children have moved into the home and three children have moved out. The child living in the home spoke to the inspector.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home and out of the home are well planned and done at the child’s pace. Two children who have moved out of the home did so to continue progression with their care plans. Both children felt safe while living at the home and could see that they had made substantial progress, particularly in their responses to emotive situations. They wrote letters thanking the manager and staff for their support throughout their journeys.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children’s time living in the home has ended sooner than planned, this decision has been made in their best interest. One child moved out of the home following a muti- agency decision that despite staff efforts, the risk to the child could not be managed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff form positive relationships with children. They start building relationships with children before they move into the home. This encourages children to rebuild their trust in adults. Staff are attentive to children’s needs and strive to provide a safe haven for them. The child living in the home said they are ‘really safe’ and scored the home nine out of 10 as there is little they would want to change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain their relationships with people who are important to them. Staff support children to visit their families no matter the distance. This helps children to maintain their sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff help children to re-engage with their education. They are enthusiastic about education and supportive of the bespoke timetable suited to the needs of the child currently living in the home. This has proven to be effective in engaging the child, who previously experienced challenges with school attendance. Staff encourage children to accomplish their aspirations and advocate for them to have experience in their chosen subject area.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to try activities and new things that they have not experienced before. One child who has now left the home developed an interest in equine studies. Another child visited a theme park for the first time. These experiences contribute to children’s identity and help them to develop happy childhood memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff praise children to help improve their self-esteem. Staff record something positive about the child each day in a ‘praise’ book. The child says they appreciate this and enjoys looking at the photos that are used. This is helping the child to feel valued and develop self-worth. Inspection report for children’s home: SC443708 4 The home is beautifully decorated and well maintained. There are photos throughout to celebrate the achievements made by the child and to record their memories. The child can personalise their own bedroom, which helps them to develop a sense of belonging. During the inspection, the lounge doors were locked without any reasonable explanation. The restriction of the child’s access to the lounge infringes their liberty and detracts from the homely feel that is apparent throughout the home. The manager took action to address this during the inspection.

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

Staff have a strong understanding of their roles in protecting children and act to keep them safe. Managers have involved the child currently living in the home in planning how to mitigate risks to them. Everyone in the home is aware of the child’s strengths and vulnerabilities, and what they need to do to make the child safer. Managers and staff continually reflect on the child’s needs and risk, and act on any areas identified to further improve practice.

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

Staff ensure that there are clear and consistent boundaries in place, which are implemented consistently. Incidents involving physical intervention are rare. Staff use de- escalation techniques to defuse situations so that the use of physical intervention is not needed. On the occasions when physical intervention has been used, it has been low level and used as a last resort to keep the child safe. Conversations with the child always take place following incidents. These help managers and staff to understand the impact on the child and to identify any triggers to prevent future occurrences.

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

Staff respond to missing-from-home incidents well. They follow the home’s policies and procedures to ensure the safe return of the child as soon as possible. When children’s risks of going missing from the home increase, staff have reviewed their strategies and escalated their concerns to the appropriate agencies. They work closely with other agencies to implement steps to reduce risks. However, when this has not been successful managers and staff have worked well with other professionals to ensure that decisions made on next steps have been in the child’s best interest.

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

In general, staff help children to learn about different risks and how to keep themselves safe. Managers, staff and the provider’s clinical team use the home’s recovery model with children to develop coping strategies that they can use long term. However, there is limited evidence of staff working with a child at risk of being exploited to help them gain an awareness and understanding of the risks around exploitation.

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

Staff take action to ensure they safeguard children from unsafe content and networks accessed via the internet. When needed, they have installed applications on children’s devices that have parental controls and staff have carried out daily checks. Inspection report for children’s home: SC443708 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. The manager’s oversight is effective and any shortfalls in children’s needs being met are highlighted quickly. The manager’s approach is child-centred, and the children’s well-being is central to her practice. For each child who has moved out of the home, the manager offered an extension of the notice period to ensure that children moved on to suitable homes. The manager is a strong advocate for the children. She will challenge decisions made by others when they are not in the child’s best interest.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and vulnerabilities within the staff team. She provides the staff with appropriate guidance and direction to address any shortfalls. Staff feel supported by the manager and describe them as flexible, approachable and child-focused. All mandatory training is kept up to date and is reflective of a range of subject areas that are relevant to the child’s needs. Staff have developed skills from the training that ensure the needs of the child are met. Staff have annual appraisals that are detailed and insightful and which aid their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that staff have opportunities to come together as a team to reflect on children’s experiences living in the home and the quality of the care they provide. This has been effective in improving staff practice and ensuring that staff write about children in a more child-friendly manner. In addition, staff receive supervision sessions that support them to reflect on their practice. However, these are not consistently carried out.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work closely with external professionals. Feedback was unanimously positive from the current child’s professional network. Professionals explained that because of the manager ‘building positive relationships with the team around the child, it has strengthened the response to ensure that their needs are met consistently.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC443708 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC443708 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Physis Quantum Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: D P C Chartered Accountants, Stone House, 55 Stone Road Business Park, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 6SR

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Inspectors

Latoya Morgan, Social Care Inspector Stacie Sharpe, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC443708 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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