Children's home run by Keys Child Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 1 Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a large national organisation. The home provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2023.

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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 outstanding

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/03/2025 Full Good 13/02/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living at the home, each of them contributed to the inspection and spent time with the inspectors.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All 3 children have lived at the home for over 2 years. Children benefit from well-defined expectations, clear routines, and stability. This supports them to feel secure and settled. Relationships between children and staff are warm and receptive. As a result of these relationships children are making progress in all areas of their lives. They said that they feel happy and well supported by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are ambitious for children’s education. All 3 children have appropriate learning arrangements in place and are progressing well. One child successfully completed their GCSE’s and is going on to an apprenticeship. The manager has effectively challenged the limitations of another child’s previous college placement and has been vital in securing a more suitable education arrangement for the child. The manager and staff have shown persistence to ensure that the child receives appropriate provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s relationships with families and friends are prioritised. Staff support children to see their families and friends sometimes making long journeys to do so. Staff support children to celebration special occasions. This helps children benefit from meaningful relationships with others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported with wonderful opportunities to develop their interests. Children have picked holiday destinations abroad and have thoroughly enjoyed these trips. For some, this was their first time abroad. Staff thoughtfully captured these experiences in personalised memory books to enable children to look back at memories created with others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children’s creative pursuits. Some children have learned to play instruments and enhanced their craft skills with textiles. Staff are proud of children’s achievements and creations. They listen to the children’s music and show children that their work is valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are central to the home. Regular discussions take place regarding their views, wishes and feelings and the staff action these. Regular praise is given to the children regarding how well they are contributing. These approaches have helped the children to feel listened to and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a warm and welcoming environment. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their unique individual preferences and are suitably decorated for their ages. However, some children do not have enough storage in their bedrooms to store their belongings. The garden is spacious and provides an outdoor space for Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 4 children to enjoy, however this area needs improvement to ensure this space can be used to its full potential.

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

Due to the positive and trusting relationships children have with staff they are safer. Staff spend time with children and talk to them about the risks they face through structured discussions. Children are supported to contribute to safety plans and talk to staff about how they would like to be supported. Suggestions made by the children are implemented by staff.

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

Behaviour incidents are rare. Postive behaviour is actively encouraged though incentive schemes that allow children to influence decisions. The use of consequences is minimal and proportionate focusing on natural reparation and repair.

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

When children have raised concerns, these have been followed up by the leaders and mangers and responded to in a child focused way. Leaders and managers support staff to reflect on identified practice issues and rebuild relationships with children if these have become strained. Children are given an outcome to their concerns and supported to move forward. This supports children to understand that their concerns are taken seriously.

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

When children have struggled with their emotional wellbeing, staff respond with kindness and curiosity. Children are supported to talk through their feelings and helped to develop postive coping mechanisms. Leaders and managers work in partnership with mental health practitioners and therapists. Advice given by them is implemented by staff to further support children. As a result of the support offered by staff, children’s emotional wellbeing has increased.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. On 2 occasions, a child has been missing from home. The procedures for managing this were well co-ordinated and effective. Staff acted promptly and encouraged the child to return. Staff maintain good partnership working with local police to support children’s safe return. Children are offered independent return home interviews and opportunities to discuss incidents with staff to inform future practice.

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

Staff support children to lead a healthy lifestyle and attend regular health appointments. One child had a recent medical procedure. Staff were not administering the child’s medication in line with the prescription label or the specialist’s advice. Leaders and managers took immediate action when this was identified to gain clarification from health professionals and for the medication label to be corrected. There was no impact on the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home benefits from a stable, enthusiastic, dedicated and supportive registered manager. She upholds extremely high standards of care and staff development. The Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 5 manager leads by example, offering stability and exceptional support to staff. As a result, staff are enthusiastic and practice is consistently child focused. Children’s views and progress are central to decision-making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The team is stable, staff morale is high and there is a clear ambition for progression. The manager regularly holds professional development sessions with each staff member to support them to progress in their roles and develop their understanding about topics that interest them. Supervision sessions take place monthly, and staff have annual appraisals for their work. Supervision sessions focus on staff wellbeing and the needs of the children. These approaches help to ensure staff are well supported in their roles and enthused by their work. This contributes to the staff providing excellent care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has a proactive approach to learning from incidents and significant events. This includes learning from complaints and incidents when staff practice has fallen below what is expected. The manager encourages staff learning and reflection through incident reviews, team discussions, and evaluations. These consistently focus on learning points and practice improvements. This approach supports continuous improvement throughout the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Workshops regularly take place to upskill staff. Topics include gender identity, appropriate responses to children and understanding language used by children. These workshops and additional training have helped to develop the staff’s understanding and knowledge to enhance the care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Monthly consultations take place with the home’s allocated psychologist. These offer therapeutic insight into the children’s needs, behaviours and suggest ways for the staff to individualise their practice with the children. Suggestions made are expertly implemented into practice. This helps the staff to have the tools and knowledge to provide individualised care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager promotes exceptional effective multi-partnership working and has built postive relationships with professionals and people who are important to the children. These relationships contribute to sustained positive outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Feedback from professionals is overwhelmingly positive. Each described the care being provided to children and communication as ‘fantastic.’ One professional said, ‘They are fantastic advocates, proactive in escalating concerns, and sharing support plans. Overall, I would describe this as an amazing residential placement, they have supported [name of child] with every aspect of their needs including contact and identity. They allow [name of child] to freely express his identity.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 6

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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 registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them;

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 18 March 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children’s homes are nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children. In particular, children should have adequate storage in their bedrooms, and the garden space should be well maintained. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 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: 2737731 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen B63 4AH

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Inspectors

Syvanna Matthew, Social Care Inspector Amanda Harrison, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2737731 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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

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