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

Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 1 Registered provider: CF Social Work

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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 independent organisation and is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were two children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2025.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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good

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2025

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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: 2665860 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2025 Full Good 02/01/2024 Full Good 20/07/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved in and moved out of the home in an unplanned way. The child had complex needs which increased during the time they lived at the home. Staff attempted to manage the child’s increasing needs but were unable to. While they recognised this, there was a lack of planning for a move. This resulted in the child being moved in an emergency straight after being treated and assessed in hospital.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the children to attend routine appointments for their physical and emotional needs. However, when children have struggled and needed emotional support, they have not always received a caring response from staff. This has the potential to undermine children’s relationships with staff. As a result, they may not approach staff when they are struggling with their physical or mental health.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always use child-friendly language when writing records. Written comments at times could be perceived as stigmatising and blaming. This is not helpful to the child should they wish to view their records now or in the future.

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improvement to be good

Some staff are attuned to the children and have built positive relationships with them. The staff undertook some educational discussions regarding personal relationships when a child was being treated unfairly by a partner. Consequently, the child was helped to better understand their worth. The staff offered reassurance and supported the child when this led to the child making a positive decision about the relationship.

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improvement to be good

The home has undergone some repairs and is well maintained. Children continue to personalise their rooms as they wish. Staff help them to feel included in decision- making for decorating parts of the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have taken the children on several activities that the children have enjoyed. These have included trips to trampoline parks, arcades, swimming and go-karting. Children have also enjoyed doing arts and crafts and horse care at a local stable. One child continues to be active in the community with lots of fundraising events for charities in the area.

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improvement to be good

Children are making progress in education. For example, one child has reconnected with education after a long period out of education. Staff take a leading role in ensuring they support the child’s attendance and attainment targets effectively.

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improvement to be good

Both children report to be happy in the home and feel they can go to the manager if they have worries. They said they have been satisfied with how she has managed any concerns raised. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 4

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always understand and assess when a child is at risk effectively. One child was able to leave the home without staff noticing the child had left. The child was later found and returned safely, but this could have resulted in the child coming to harm.

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improvement to be good

There have been occasions when children have been unkind to one another. Staff have not always challenged these occurrences, meaning children at times might not feel confident staff can keep them safe from their peers.

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improvement to be good

On one occasion, staff made the decision to lock a child’s door when the child was in their room. The act was to keep the child safe behind the door from another child. However, it is not clear if staff talked to the child about this when it happened. This could have been distressing for the child and would not have shown them that staff have control of these situations.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always respond appropriately when children are distressed. On one occasion, staff made a child wait for them to get to the car. This was in response to the staff being made to wait earlier that day. The child was already distressed, and staff’s response could potentially have escalated the child’s distress and led to further incidents.

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improvement to be good

Staff have always used physical intervention as a last resort. When restraint has been used, staff have acted appropriately. Suitable oversight is maintained by leaders to ensure that any learning is identified and taken from the experience. Leaders ensure that staff and children are spoken to after each such event.

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improvement to be good

Leaders ensure that there are clear risk assessments and risk management plans for staff to follow. These are kept up to date with latest incidents to reflect any changes in risk or approach. Leaders ensure these risk assessments are shared with the wider network of professionals to show any increase or decrease in risks to children. The manager considers a variety of ways to best manage tricky situations. They arranged a caravan holiday for both children when one child was struggling in the home and needed more intensive support from staff.

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improvement to be good

Incidents have generally been managed well. Some staff and leaders sit with children to talk through their feelings and emotions and help them understand how to keep themselves safe. This has led to a reduction in incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 5

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good

Staff morale is not very strong, and some established staff have recently left the home. Leaders have used agency staff to ensure there are sufficient staff on duty. However, changes in the staff team have affected the consistency of carers available to the children. The children say they are not keen on agency staff being used. Leaders have worked closely with the agency to ensure that the most suitable and consistent workers are used. This has reduced the number of changes in staff for children.

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good

Some staff do not always promote a child-centred culture and are not aligned with the rest of the team. The manager is aware of this and has identified actions they plan to take to address this.

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good

Leaders consult regularly with the children. The manager spends a large amount of time with the children, listening to their wishes and offering them reassurance.

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good

The manager ensures that staff have the relevant training through face-to-face and online courses. This helps to improve staff’s skills to help them meet children’s complex needs.

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good

Leaders ensure that team meetings are held frequently. They take the time to discuss children’s care plans, learning from incidents and to reflect on the home’s strengths and difficulties. The manager has reinstated external supervision for the staff team to have a safe place to discuss areas of importance to them.

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good

Staff supervisions are held on a frequent basis and staff find them to be reflective spaces. The manager has recorded conversations to address areas of weakness and is motivated to make the improvements needed for the home.

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good

The manager has plans to improve the home. Staff report he has already put things in motion to change the culture in the home to a more positive one. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 6

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Statutory requirements

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

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(vi)(b)) 1 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; 1 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 7 plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 11 (1)(b)(c) (2)(i)) 1 July 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff use child-friendly language in records and report in a way that is non-stigmatising and always helpful for the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they request the child’s placing authority carry out return home interviews to provide independent support and advocacy for the child after they have been missing from the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30) Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 8

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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: 2665860 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: CF Social Work, 3-4b K Line House, West Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 9SX

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Inspectors

Dan Williams, Social Care Inspector Priscilla Koroka, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2665860 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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