Children's Home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC363403 1 SC363403 Registered provider: Keys Educational Services 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

This home is owned and operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may require support with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a qualified and experienced registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, four children were living in the home and their views were sought.

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2024

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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: SC363403 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2024 Full Outstanding 14/03/2023 Full Good 03/11/2021 Full Good 22/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC363403 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff know the children extremely well. They understand their needs and are providing excellent individualised care and support. This includes understanding the considerable trauma experienced in children’s lives, including family breakdown and multiple changes of placement. As a result, children are thriving in their development and sense of self.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s progress is exceptional, considering their starting points when moving into the home. One professional said, ‘This is the first time [name of child] has actually received that consistent care and nurture. It is a completely different life for [name of child], hopefully this will last into adulthood.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children feel listened to and supported to participate in day-to-day decision-making and planning of their care. Children share their views in regular home meetings and actions are tracked by the manager until completion. Children are encouraged to participate in developing their independence planning. Staff use visual recording techniques when gathering children’s views. This means that children are involved in their care planning, and this allows them to share their views openly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are all in some form of education or employment. Many have experienced significant gaps in their education before moving to the home. Staff actively support and encourage the children to attend and make good progress with their education. Staff work closely with educational professionals to support the children’s engagement, and regularly collaborate to assess support strategies required, to ensure that children attend and participate in their education. Staff have encouraged children to think about their next steps in education and have supported one child to make an application to a college provision. Another child successfully completed their GCSEs, but did not want to continue in formal education. Therefore, staff supported the child to secure an apprenticeship in their chosen vocation, which the child has excelled in, and gained valuable skills and experience which can be taken forward into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children receive comprehensive support with their physical, emotional and psychological well-being. Staff are responsive to the children’s emotional needs and understand the traumatic experiences that children have gone through. Reflective practice is underpinned by bespoke training in the home’s preferred model of care, with regular input from the organisation’s therapeutic team and the wider professional network. One professional said, ‘The whole team work well to create this environment. They are all very psychologically minded and very therapeutic.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A real strength is the work with external partner agencies and social workers. There are excellent multi-agency working arrangements in place. This means that children have the right services in place to meet their needs. These services are extremely well coordinated and provide maximum impact for children. One professional said, ‘They work Inspection report for children’s home: SC363403 4 so well with [name of child] and challenge us when needed, but they also listen to our point of view.’

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

Children are safer because staff understand the risks that they can be exposed to. Risk assessments and care plans provide clarity and direction for staff. When there is an incident of concern, the manager and staff reflect on plans and adjust them if required. Assessments of risk are made in collaboration with the multi-agency network and are well balanced between keeping the children safe and allowing them to take age- appropriate risks. This means that all agencies work in a well-coordinated manner.

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

Staff have a focus on safeguarding. This is achieved by regular and specialist training in relation to the children’s individual needs. Staff regularly refresh their safeguarding knowledge during thorough and reflective supervision discussions and team meetings. Staff also benefit from bespoke support from the organisation’s therapeutic team to understand the complexities in behaviours and the safe management of these. Monthly therapeutic team meetings allow staff to think about risks and plan the most appropriate support strategies for the children, which is also shared with external professionals.

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

Staff undertake regular key-work sessions with children and are not afraid to tackle sensitive topics. Staff are aware that children may struggle to speak to adults openly about some topics and have developed strategies to support. For example, staff have created a pack for sexual health, which includes child-friendly information and contact numbers for external agencies who are able to offer support and guidance via text messages. This allows children to access the right support at the right time.

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

Children receive help and support to manage their behaviour and feelings safely. Staff use effective de-escalation techniques and strategies with each child if they are becoming overwhelmed by emotions. Alongside this, staff use their knowledge and strong relationships with children to understand their behaviours. Therefore, children receive swift and well-coordinated responses from staff to keep them safe.

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

The staff team is stable. Staff are committed to their roles and caring for the children. This has led to a team of highly skilled and knowledgeable practitioners. Staff understand the parameters of their roles and know when to liaise with external professionals. Multi-agency responses to safeguarding incidents are excellent and all agencies work in a coordinated manner to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by an experienced, committed and aspirational manager. She is very well supported by an equally committed deputy manager and strong senior members of staff. Together, they provide excellent leadership. Staff say they feel well supported and staff morale is consistently high. One staff member said, ‘She role models as things don’t always go to plan and we need to be resilient, this supports me in my development.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC363403 5 The managers are always visible. They work directly with children and have good relationships with them. Managers have a detailed understanding of each child. This is because they are fully involved in the care planning for each child from arrival. Managers drive forward ongoing development of care plans because they know the children so well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers and staff, with the support of the organisation’s therapeutic team, have collaboratively explored and implemented additional research and guidance to meet the children’s psychological and emotional needs. This allows the staff team to understand and meet these needs consistently, using a research-based and trauma-informed approach that supports to embed the home’s preferred model of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has developed an excellent quality assurance process. She reviews every incident and piece of work completed with the child. The manager provides a reflective overview, and any learning is taken from incidents and shared with the wider staff team in individual supervisions and regular team meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Thorough recruitment procedures are in place to ensure that staff working with the children are suitable to do so. The manager has effective systems in place to monitor and review staff’s continued suitability. Inspection report for children’s home: SC363403 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: SC363403 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Educational Services 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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Inspector

Caroline Coop, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC363403 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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