Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group 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 owned and managed by a private organisation. It provides care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home. Both children were spoken to.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/04/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/09/2023 Full Good 10/05/2022 Full Good 25/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good experiences of living in the home. They benefit from a warm and nurturing staff team that is child focused and dedicated to meeting children’s needs. The home environment is modern and well decorated. Children’s personal space is furnished and styled in a way that reflects their interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to make progress in areas identified in their care plans. Staff set realistic targets for children to work towards. This empathetic approach allows children to progress at their own pace. For example, a child who finds social interaction difficult is being supported to gradually participate in activities in the community. The child’s social worker said, ‘She is spending more time in the community, which we have not seen before.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s family networks are well maintained. Staff support children to spend time with their family in the community and home. One parent said that they were invited to the home to spend time with the child on Father’s Day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to take part in a range of activities. Staff learn about children’s individual interests and ensure that their social time is spent doing things that they enjoy. Following a request from one child, staff have arranged for the children to go on holiday abroad. During the inspection, the child said that they have chosen which staff members will go with them. This teaches children that their wishes and feelings are listened to and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to regularly attend school. Children who have difficulties engaging in education are helped to overcome barriers that prevent them from learning. As such, children are progressing well in education. One child’s social worker said, ‘This time last year, [name of child] was at a point where they felt they could not engage in education. Now [name of child] is going to their tutoring and education provision.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home are not always carefully planned. Leaders and managers accepted a child into the home even though there was not sufficient staff to meet the needs of all the children. Consequently, non-permanent staff were used to care for the children at a time when they had already experienced inconsistent care due to unstable staffing arrangements.

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

Children say that they feel safe living at the home. They are familiar with the staff team and are reassured by staff’s presence. Staff understand children’s current risks and strategies that are effective to manage these. Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 4 Safeguarding practice is good. Thorough monitoring of devices in line with children’s plans ensures that inappropriate use that compromises children’s safety is identified and they are protected.

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

Staff have access to comprehensive missing-from-home protocols that guide them on how to respond when children go missing. Incidents are thoroughly reviewed by leaders and managers, and post-incident conversations are completed with staff to identify areas of good practice and any shortfalls. Areas of improvement are discussed with staff, and risk management plans are updated to ensure that the staff response to missing-from-home incidents is effective.

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

Leaders, managers and staff encourage positive behaviour using daily incentives. Staff act as role models for children and use verbal praise to acknowledge good behaviour and reaffirm staff expectations. Staff know that children may display trauma-informed behaviour based on their lived experiences. Consequently, they seek advice from the home’s therapist on how to respond in a manner that is effective and attuned to their needs.

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

Staff use direct work to help children understand risks associated with behaviour, such as sharing inappropriate images. However, this work varies in quality and does not always evidence that sessions with children are meaningful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been several changes to the management team since the last inspection. In January 2025, an interim manager was recruited and has successfully managed the home. A permanent manager has recently been appointed and has submitted their application to Ofsted to become the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have praised the interim manager for her commitment to the children and developing the staff team. One staff member said, ‘I enjoy coming to work now. The support has improved.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about the management team and their experiences of working in the home. They feel supported by the manager and encouraged to progress to senior roles. This builds staff morale and creates a positive workforce.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses weekly and monthly monitoring to evaluate the care children receive. This helps leaders and managers to identify shortfalls in practice to improve outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals are positive about the staff and say that they have good working relationships with them. They commend the staff for their good communication and willingness to advocate for the children. One professional commended the staff for supporting the child to express their wishes around family time being increased. Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 5 The home is appropriately staffed and resourced for the number of children living in it. Children have time to build trusting relationships with staff. As such, staff are viewed as reliable and dependable. One child said that staffing stability in the home has improved and there are no longer frequent changes to the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Practice-related supervision and team meetings take place regularly. They are an opportunity for practice learning and are used by the manager as a way of ensuring that staff are working towards the same goals. However, the workforce development plan does not accurately reflect the training that staff have completed as part of their learning and development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that they do not accept children into the home until they have suitable staffing arrangements in place to ensure that they can meet their needs. 28 August 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the workforce development plan includes any new training and qualifications completed by staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that direct work completed with children is always meaningful and encourages children to reflect and learn from inappropriate behaviour. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11) Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 7

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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: 2586951 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Wolverhampton Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 1AP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Gemma Waddington

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Inspector

Chibuzo Otache, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2586951 9 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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Inspector

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