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

Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 1 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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SC389180 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education 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 managed by a private organisation; it is registered to care for six children. These children may have complex health needs and learning and/or physical disabilities. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2025.

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Information about this children's home

Five children and one young adult have continued to live in the home since the last inspection.

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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: 27 November 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 2 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2024 Full Outstanding 05/12/2023 Full Outstanding 17/01/2023 Full Outstanding 26/01/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 3 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Five children and one young adult have continued to live in the home. All five children were seen and spoken to as part of this inspection. Children make excellent progress in this setting. They enjoy staying in the home and have access to opportunities to experience new things. This helps them to make progress with their learning and development. They can spend time with other children and make friends. Children visit new places that they may not have been to before, which builds their confidence in a range of situations. During the inspection, children enjoyed making firework pictures with the staff. One child responded well to having a head massage and another child enjoyed a relaxing soak in the bath. The sounds of children laughing and having fun are heard throughout the home. Families and professionals all said how amazing the staff team is and how much children enjoy their time here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A stable staff team has continued to care for the children. Although some agency staff are used, these are staff who are familiar to the children. Some staff have worked in the home a long time and have seen the children grow up. They show a strong level of commitment to the children and care for them in a sensitive way that maintains their privacy and dignity. The staff have high aspirations for the children and they support children to make progress with their independence. Children enjoy going shopping and making choices about clothes or food they like. The staff provide a high level of care to the children and there are positive routines in place for them. Staff know the children well and understand their needs. They can interpret children's presentation and behaviour to know how children are feeling. This means that children receive the very best levels of care from staff who are skilled and knowledgeable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean, comfortable and well maintained. There are comfortable sofas to sit on and a spacious dining area so children can enjoy meals together with staff. The children's bedroom areas are bright, cheerful and personalised with themes they like. There is a hot tub for children to use in the garden and a sensory space for children to access in the home. Children have their own success boards, and their progress is captured in photos and certificates on the wall. When one child was struggling to cope during the school holidays due to a change in their routine, a special plan was developed to make the snug into an educational space. The staff mirrored activities that the child would do at school, so they felt more settled. This was a huge success for the child and reduced the risks around the child’s behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of experiences, such as going to the theatre, visiting the zoo, going swimming and having holidays. There is a lot of thought put into special occasions that are important for each child. Children’s cultures are celebrated and developed into fun experiences for children. The home was decorated with autumnal colours and children have been involved in Halloween-themed activities. Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 4 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with their communication skills are encouraged to use specialist equipment to support them. One child is using a switch to be able to communicate their wishes, and another child uses their eyes to respond to choices that they are given. Children are consulted about the things they would like to do or food they would like to eat. There are photos of the children enjoying their holiday and having fun with the staff.

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

Staff are experienced and they have a good understanding of how to care for the children. They recognise when children may be unwell or unhappy. They take prompt action to ensure that advice is sought from health professionals appropriately. This ensures that early signs of illness are identified quickly. This reduces the likelihood that children may require a hospital admission. During the inspection, one child experienced some difficulties with the equipment that is used to administer their medication while they were in school. Staff responded promptly and went to the school to offer support with this. Advice was sought appropriately from health professionals to discuss the child’s regime for the remainder of the day. This ensured that the child’s needs continued to be met appropriately throughout the evening. When one child was experiencing early signs of illness, advice was sought promptly from the GP. This enabled medication to be

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

provided for the child at an early opportunity.

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

There are strong working relationships with parents and other professionals, which ensure that children’s care plans and medication are kept up to date. The manager and staff maintain regular contact with people who are important to the children; this helps to keep children safe. Regular meetings are held with families and professionals, which are well attended. Children receive a consistent level of support across all settings that they attend. This includes health, education, family and the home settings. This ensures that there is a team around each child who are all working together. Professionals describe excellent levels of care being provided to children and agree that any communication with the staff or manager is very good. They said that meetings are always well attended. One professional said, ‘Collaborative working is very good, and this contributes to the levels of progress that children make in this home.’

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

Safer recruitment practice is in place and any discrepancies are promptly followed up by managers. Children do not go missing from this home and there are no concerns about physical restraints or sanctions being used with the children.

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

There have been several concerns identified regarding the administration of medication. On one occasion, a child was given medication that they did not need. On other occasions, children have not received the correct dose of medication, or out-of-date medication has been used. When this happens, leaders and managers investigate any concerns appropriately. Learning is taken from the events that happen to ensure that practice improves. Further training is provided to staff and changes are made to the processes that are in place to improve care for the children. Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 5 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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

Several concerns have been raised about staff practice. Some incidents have happened where a member of staff used inappropriate language in the presence of a child. This was investigated and action was taken to address it. Although this matter was looked into appropriately, there was no contact made with the social worker, family or external professionals regarding this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children very well. She is regularly involved in their day-to-day care and advocates strongly for them. The manager has high aspirations for the children and works hard to ensure that children make timely progress from their starting points. She has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. The manager has a good understanding of the children’s different needs and the individualised care that needs to be in place to support them. There are strong levels of communication between staff and children, which is encouraged by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoke positively about their experiences of working in the home. They said that they receive good levels of support, training and supervision. They find that their managers are approachable and responsive to any challenges. No concerns have been expressed by the staff team. Staff said that they can speak openly to their managers about the practice of others; this helps to create an open culture in this home. Learning from events is shared during group meetings, which helps to improve practice across the whole staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly and are well attended. These meetings enable open conversations to happen regarding the children and any issues that are happening in the home. It is positive that this learning has helped staff to be able to challenge senior members of staff if they do not agree with the action that is being taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are positive levels of management oversight in place, and all professionals spoke highly about the arrangements that are in place. They said that there is always positive communication with the manager and staff. Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 6 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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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

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)(b)

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should ensure that children's medication is administered appropriately and that any concerns are shared with the social worker and external agencies. 28 November 2025

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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: SC389180 7 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education 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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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Callard

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Inspector

Sarah Sheffield, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC389180 8 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Inspector

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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