Children's home run by Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 1 Registered provider: Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have learning and/or social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2024. They are working towards a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/07/2024 Full Good 06/06/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, four children were living at the home. Three children were seen and spoken to as part of the inspection.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have left and two children have moved into the home. One child’s move from the home followed a period of stability, which enabled them to rebuild their relationship with their family and return to the family home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, there have been periods when staff have found it difficult to help children to settle, and this has affected children’s progress at times. However, following changes in staffing and reflection by managers, staff have been able to help children become more settled, and they are now making progress. This is supported by staff building positive relationships with children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by a staff team that shows a genuine interest in offering them a variety of opportunities. Staff show a willingness to support children to have fun and take part in different activities. Staff are responsive and committed to children, providing different opportunities for them, even when there are potential barriers.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop and improve their social skills and independence through a variety of social opportunities and clubs. This includes skateboarding, horse riding and going to local parks and places of interest. Staff also organised a holiday for children during the summer.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of education and, where possible, help children to maintain the school placements they were attending before moving to the home. This helps to provide children with some stability at times of high anxiety for them. Children have good school attendance and are making progress.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When needed, staff seek support from the provider’s clinical team. The clinical team helps staff to explore how they can help children when they are struggling with their emotions or going through periods of crisis.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff undertake a variety of work with children to help them learn about themselves and the world around them. However, records do not detail that work. This is a missed opportunity to show how staff are helping children to grow, learn and develop.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff have kept children safe. However, at times, staff have struggled to support children when they have been unsettled or struggled to manage their emotions or behaviours. Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 4 Staff responses at times have been reactive, for example setting consequences that do not relate to the behaviour seen. This does not give children an opportunity to learn.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff have developed behaviour plans and risk assessments, but these do not always include all known risks, triggers or details of the action staff should take to keep children safe.

p.4

improvement to be good

At times, only one worker has been responsible for more than one child, which is not in line with children’s plans. When children have become unsettled, it has been more difficult for that worker to maintain the safety of both children.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff undertake direct work with children to help them understand about their own trauma, forming and maintaining relationships and strategies to manage their own behaviours. However, records do not show what is being done or the effectiveness of it.

p.4

improvement to be good

Children have, on occasion, made allegations against staff. These are always taken seriously and reported and investigated by the manager. Appropriate steps are taken to ensure children’s safety while investigations take place, and further action is taken when needed following investigations.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff have, on some occasions, needed to use physical intervention to keep children safe. There is good oversight of these incidents by managers. Children are given an opportunity to talk through what happened with someone not involved in the physical intervention, which ensures their views are heard.

p.4

improvement to be good

Managers have reflected and adapted ways of working and provided additional learning to staff. This has resulted in incidents starting to reduce and staff implementing a therapeutic approach to children’s care.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home is managed by a committed, inspirational and child-focused manager who wants the best for the children in her care. She knows the children well, and children talk fondly of her. Despite the challenges the manager has faced over the past year, she remains committed to ensuring that children are provided with good-quality care.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has had to juggle several challenges at the home. This has included having to step in and support children directly when there have been staff shortages or when staff have been struggling to manage children’s behaviours.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Following a period of challenge, managers undertook reflection and learning to consider how children’s care could be improved. Due to some staff leaving and new staff coming to work at the home, it was felt that a period of stability was needed for all. The manager made sure that there was a period when no children moved to the home so that the existing children could resettle and rebuild positive relationships with the staff team. This was successful, and children settled and have begun to make progress. Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 5 Staff say that they like working at the home and feel well supported by the manager and leaders. They say that they can seek advice and support from managers at any time.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strength of this home is the induction for new staff and training for all staff. There is a comprehensive induction programme along with a wide-ranging mandatory training programme. In addition, the manager sources additional training through the local authority training portal, undertakes research to help inform good practice and shares this learning with the staff team. This helps to ensure that staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills that they need for their roles. Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

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))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff making sure that there are clear plans in place to manage risks to children, that staff work in line with these plans and that the registered person ensures that staff have the confidence and skills needed to keep children safe. 2 December 2025

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance for children of understanding who they are and where they come from and that staff play a full role in work of this kind. Specifically, ensure that there are records of the direct work undertaken with children and how this work has impacted on their progress and safety. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14) Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 7

p.6

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: 2709631 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Flourish (Gloucestershire) Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 20 Westend Office Suites, Westend, Stonehouse, Gloucester GL10 3FA

p.8

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Samantha Summers

p.8

Inspector

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2709631 9 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9