Children's home run by Positive Footsteps Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 1 Registered provider: Positive Footsteps 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 operated by a private company.

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care for up to 4 children who may require support with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children's home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 4 February 2025

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/02/2025 Full Outstanding 13/02/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make positive progress because of the longstanding and stable relationships with staff, who are attuned to their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit from a nurturing and homely environment, with leaders, managers and staff who are committed to their welfare. As a result, the children like to spend time with staff. They enjoy shared activities, such as cooking, shopping and playing games.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is warm and welcoming, and the children's bedrooms are personalised. Children's views are taken into account when decisions are made regarding changes to the home, such as displaying photos of the children undertaking activities. During the recent development of a sensory area, the children chose items to be used in this space, contributing to their sense of belonging at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

An external professional commented that the staff are open to creating a more natural home environment for the children, to replicate a family home. However, practice in relation to the removal of bedroom locks and a light bulb in one of the bedrooms is not consistent with the provision of an overall nurturing and supportive environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Regular, well-thought-out key-work sessions help the children to understand their lived experiences, emotions and behaviour. As a result, children can explore their feelings and thoughts and feel safe to do so. Staff organise activities that are based on the children's interests, such as visits to football matches, theme parks and places of interest. In doing so, they have enriched the opportunities for the children to gain new experiences and develop their knowledge.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and staff record their adventures, new experiences and activities in the children's memory books. This helps the children to reflect positively and reminds them of the happy times with staff and each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children succeed in education because staff give purposeful, insightful and practical support. There is effective communication with school staff, ensuring that the children's specific needs are met through continuous planning. When a child is not attending school on a full-time basis, staff support the child at the home with online learning to enable them to continue to learn outside of the school setting. One child has felt included in attending school because the registered manager supported the virtual school to create a school badge for their jumper. Another child has received an award for their academic achievement, enabling them to take pride in their progress.

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

The well-informed safeguarding culture is embedded throughout the home. Risk assessments are thorough and detailed and ensure that staff are familiar with all the risks Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 4 associated with the children in their care. Regular and effective communication with external professionals means that the management of risk is a collective responsibility.

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

Staff make positive attempts to dissuade children from going missing from the home. When this is not successful, staff follow the child's missing-from-care plan and work effectively with the police, resulting in children returning at the earliest opportunity.

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

The leadership team responds proactively to the children; children are listened to and actions are taken following these conversations. This provides a positive experience for children and ensures that they feel heard.

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

Staff have completed a range of training, including safeguarding. Staff talk positively about the programme of training that is in place and how this helps them to understand the needs of the children and, therefore, how to support them effectively.

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

Health and safety, including fire risk management, are sound. Maintenance repairs are remedied quickly, ensuring that children live in a safe environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is managed exceptionally well by a dedicated registered manager. She leads by example, showing authentic warmth and care for the children. This permeates through the culture in the home. Consequently, the children benefit from living in a well-run home that is strongly led.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Documents are well designed and used effectively. One example is the comprehensive safeguarding log, which is used to monitor incidents and actions. As a result, the manager has a strong understanding of risk management and associated actions, which she shares with relevant professionals who are external to the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel well supported by the leadership team. Records of team meetings evidence a breadth of learning topics and positive links with wider organisations. Staff have the opportunity to develop their learning through partners' and other professionals' input, creating a culture of continuous learning in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager had developed innovative practice to support the children. This includes working alongside a child to develop a presentation about them, which was then shared with local education providers. As a result, this helped the child to gain a place at a specialist education provision; the child had been out of formal education for a period of two years.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Effective and regular supervision, together with individual wellness plans, helps to clarify the strengths and areas for development in the team. Careful consideration is given to the needs of new staff on their induction, taking into account how they work best and the support and training that they require. This enables staff to feel confident in their roles and gives them a sound understanding of the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of the children in their care. Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 5 Independence planning is child focused, with activities, certificates and badges for completion of the various elements of the independence programme. Life skills are progressed in a child-friendly and creative way. As a result, there has been positive engagement in the activities, with evidence of children's learning being celebrated. Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 6

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Recommendation

 Any modifications to the environment of the home should only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child's welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child's needs, properly recorded and kept under regular review. This is in regard to the removal of locks from bedroom doors, which could have an impact on the child feeling safe in their bedroom, and the removal of a lightbulb in a child's bedroom, while leaving a light fitting in the room that might be unsafe. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: 2693873 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Positive Footsteps Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 43 Merstow Green, Evesham WR11 4BB

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Sanita Marshalleck

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Inspectors

Maria Calway-Kennedy, Social Care Inspector Ashley Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2693873 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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