Children's Home run by Keys Care Limited in Buckinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC421063 1 SC421063 Registered provider: Keys Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home that provides care for up to four children. There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 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 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: 11 February 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: SC421063 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2025 Full Good 05/03/2024 Full Outstanding 27/02/2023 Full Outstanding 28/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC421063 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel at home and are comfortable to approach staff to meet their needs. Staff are reflective about how they can build stronger relationships with the children, according to their emotional needs and at their pace.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health and staff support them to attend their health appointments. Staff advocate for children when they believe that specialist assessments are needed. For example, staff advocated for a child to be diagnosed in line with his needs and this led to a better understanding of their behaviours, not only within the home but also by the professional network. It led to better outcomes for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are enrolled in education, but they struggle to attend consistently due to their respective vulnerabilities. Staff work well with children’s educational provisions, and together, they have developed bespoke plans for educational activities at home. These include mathematics, English, community activities and working towards independence, in accordance with children’s individual needs and stage of development. Staff have identified an alternative educational provision for one child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the children’s communication style, whether this is expressed verbally or through their behaviours. Children’s views are considered in the day-to- day running of the home and when drafting their support plans. When children’s wishes cannot be acted on, staff explain why this is not possible and have open discussions with the children. There have been no complaints since the last inspection. The children feel comfortable to express their views, even when they disagree with staff. The provider has developed a new child-friendly guide to support children to better understand the complaints process.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop independence skills in line with their individual needs. Staff are reflective about the children’s acquired skills and constantly measure these against their starting points. This helps staff to measure children’s progress and the support they need to achieve their goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support children’s family time and preferred activities, in line with care plans and risk assessments agreed with the children’s social workers. For example, staff supervise a child’s family time, which helps the family to enjoy relaxing visits, knowing they are supported by consistent staff who know the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

No children have moved into the home since the last inspection. Staff support children who move on to settle into their new homes and adjust to their new routines, regardless of whether the move was planned or unplanned. This builds children’s resilience and positive endings that send a message that they are valued. Inspection report for children’s home: SC421063 4 Some of the children remain in contact with staff and the other children at the home, which shows they have developed positive, long-lasting relationships.

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

Staff understand the risks related to each child, including risks associated with children offending, internet safety, or children going missing from home. Staff respond to children’s behaviours with clear boundaries about what is safe and acceptable for each child. Searches of children’s rooms are caried out sensitively and only when it is necessary to safeguard the children.

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

There have been no physical interventions since the last inspection. The provider’s policy is for restraint to be used as a last option to address children’s behaviours. Staff are trained in de-escalation techniques that are trauma informed.

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

Allegations against staff members are rare. When these happen, the manager addresses these fairly. The children are informed about the outcome and given an opportunity to discuss this.

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

Children can identify at least one member of staff who they seek support from in relation to their worries, difficulties, planning their future, or just celebrating achievements. Managers have been addressing incidents of children going missing from home. Since the last inspection, staff have attended additional training on safeguarding children during incidents of going missing from home, and consultations have taken place with the internal psychologist to identify what triggers the children’s behaviours. Proportionate adjustments have been made to the home’s physical environment to prevent children from leaving the home without staff’s knowledge and to keep them safe and comfortable at the home. This work has helped staff to identify signs of children’s intentions to leave the home, offer support to children during their time away from the home, and support them on their return. There has been effective multi-agency working with partner agencies, such as the police,

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

children’s social workers, youth offending justice workers and the local authority designated officer to support the children and reduce the identified risks. The number and severity of the incidents have reduced since the last inspection.

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

Risk assessments are clear and provide a comprehensive guide for staff on how to address children’s specific needs and behaviours. There is a good understanding of the level of risk and the reasons leading to children’s behaviours. The strategies to address the identified risks are particularised to the children’s individual needs and understanding. There is evidence that the children have made progress in reflecting on their behaviours, and staff have helped them to better manage their emotions.

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

However, there is discrepancy in staff’s understanding of how to always implement the risk assessments into practice and the impact of this on the children. This is particularly in relation to when staff should remain awake throughout the night to Inspection report for children’s home: SC421063 5 prevent the children from going missing from home. Also, staff’s reflections indicate that they need additional support to provide the children with more attuned and empathetic explanations when implementing safeguarding measures or consequences to protect them. Managers have a plan in place to support staff via further workshops, consultation with specialists and discussions in supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a permanent and registered manager in place, who is a good advocate for the children. The manager was not present at the time of the inspection. The responsible individual and the deputy manager supported the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes child-centred decisions about the children living at the home and supports staff to implement the local authority’s care plans effectively. Staff feel supported and valued and see the manager as their role model, who goes ‘above and beyond’ to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good monitoring systems to ensure that staff understand children’s needs. Staff and the manager are reflective. They use learning from practice and the monthly independent monitoring visits to develop new strategies to improve the support and protection of the children. The responsible individual and the senior support manager provide the manager with efficient reflective supervision. There are clear plans in place on how to address the weaknesses within the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment processes, staff’s mandatory training and opportunities for more specialist training have improved since the last inspection. The requirements and recommendation from the previous inspection have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s physical environment is maintained to a good standard. Children enjoy having a games room, and their views have been sought on redecorating this room.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The key-work sessions are individualised according to what matters to children. For example, children talk to staff about their family history and the impact on them, their identity, worries, plans for the future and their career or independence goals. When staff initiate key-work sessions, some records lack observations and analysis about the children’s presentation, their internal world, and the action plan to enable the children to understand the purpose of the session and what happens next. Inspection report for children’s home: SC421063 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff seek available support when making decisions about how to respond to children’s behavioural needs. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that the staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a way that will be helpful to the child and that records represent a significant contribution to their life history. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.4 and 14.5)

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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: SC421063 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o Pinsent Masons LLP, The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 3LP

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Inspector

Claudia Poienar, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC421063 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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