Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children‟s Services (2) Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 1 SC398482 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services (2) 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

A private company owns this home. It provides care for up to four children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences. At the time of this inspection, four children were living in the home, and all spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

A suitably qualified and experienced manager is in post.

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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 outstanding

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2024 Full Outstanding 22/03/2023 Full Outstanding 18/08/2021 Full Outstanding 22/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are at the heart of this home. Staff create an extremely warm and nurturing environment. Children’s bedrooms are highly personalised, and their experiences and achievements are celebrated in photos on walls throughout the home. As a result, children are very comfortable in the home, and external professionals reflect that there is a strong sense that this is a home for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children are settled and have been living in the home since before the last inspection. Children are overwhelmingly positive. They score the home 10 out of 10, with children describing the home as ‘loving’, ‘a friendly environment’ and ‘supportive’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children enjoy positive, nurturing and thoughtful care from adults who know them well. Family members and professionals say that the manager and staff love and care for the children as a good parent would. The quality and consistency of the relationships children enjoy with staff provide them with a secure base from which they are thriving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children receive high-quality, individualised care that meets their needs and is aspirational. They are very much involved in care planning and decision-making about their lives. This means they feel listened to and valued. Staff work hard with children to help them be safer and healthier and to promote their education and independence. This work is creative, thoughtful and informed by research. Children embrace the support of the staff caring for them and actively seek out their company and advice. As a result, all four children continue to make exceptional progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are especially well supported to enjoy positive relationships with their families. Managers identify any barriers to children seeing their families and act to overcome them. Staff are skilled at developing effective working relationships with family members and have helped to rebuild relationships between children and their families. This promotes children’s sense of identity and ensures they have positive time with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are doing exceptionally well with their education. Managers work creatively with children and their education providers to overcome any barriers to learning. As a result, children are making excellent progress from their starting points. This child-centred approach is enhancing children’s life chances by ensuring that they reach their academic potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children take part in a range of activities that they enjoy, which are enriching and involve them in their local community. They make music, do martial arts, go fishing, go on holidays and engage in charity work. These hobbies and interests build positive memories for children, teach them new skills, and build their self-esteem and confidence. Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 4

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

Ensuring children are safe is at the centre of all that staff do in the home. A combination of highly effective planning, positive, trusting relationships and strong involvement of children ensures that they feel safe and are kept safe. Children engage in creating and reviewing their own safety plans. Consequently, children better understand how to stay safe, and feel safe living in the home.

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

Managers work in close partnership with external professionals and family members to keep children safe. Risks are identified early, and plans to address them are robust and reviewed regularly. External professionals identify communication and advocacy for children as real strengths of the manager and her team. This proactive and joined-up approach to safeguarding ensures that children receive the right support quickly. Because of this, incidents in the home are rare.

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

Risk management is well informed by research and input from the home’s clinical psychologist. The clinical psychologist regularly supports staff to reflect on children’s individual needs, and how those can be met. Consequently, children receive help from staff who are knowledgeable and reflective.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home because they feel happy and safe. Since the last inspection, there has only been one occasion when two children went missing from the home. This was an emerging risk, and managers responded promptly to reduce the risk of further incidents. Sensitive and in-depth meaningful conversations are undertaken with children to understand their motivations, and to help them better understand how to stay safe. Following that work, there have not been any incidents of children going missing from the home.

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

Staff are skilled in helping children find effective ways to cope with their emotions and manage them. The children have incentives in place that help them make positive choices. Natural consequences are used, and children are supported to learn from their behaviour. This helps children develop the social and emotional skills they will require in adult life.

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

Children receive empathic and thoughtful support to help them when they experience feelings of self-harm. Staff have worked sensitively with children to help them develop other strategies for managing their difficult feelings. This approach has led to a significant reduction in incidents, with no incidents occurring in the last six months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children are incredibly fond of the inspirational and dedicated manager of the home. They describe her as ‘firm, but fair’, ‘amazing’ and ‘loving’. Children’s well-being and safety are at the heart of everything managers do, and they confidently advocate for children, as a good parent would. They are ambitious on the children’s behalf and are Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 5 immensely proud of children’s progress and achievements. This excellent practice supports children to continue in making exceptional progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is well respected by a diverse team of staff who are experienced and highly skilled. Very few staff have left the home since the last inspection. Staff departures have been managed extremely well, ensuring minimal impact on the children. Morale remains high, and staff are positive about the nurturing support they receive from the manager. The stability and expertise of the staff team contribute to achieving excellent outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers have created an embedded culture of reflection and learning within the home. They use a range of mechanisms to ensure robust and thorough oversight of all aspects of children’s care. This ensures that improvements are continually made to enhance children’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers care about their staff and ensure that they are well supported through high- quality supervision sessions, team meetings and training. Managers ensure that staff receive any specific training required to meet children’s needs. As a result, children receive care that is consistently excellent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers are integral to planning children’s care. They have a strong presence in the home and develop excellent relationships with families and other agencies. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Professionals and family members describe the care children receive as ‘second to none’ and ‘fantastic’. One professional said that managers take full responsibility for the children, and they ‘advocate for them as any good parent would.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

No requirements or recommendations were made at this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 6

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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: SC398482 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services (2) Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

John Tomlinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC398482 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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Inspector

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