Children's home run by Phoenix Children’s Homes Limited in North Devon

Inspection report for children’s home: SC368137 1 SC368137 Registered provider: PHOENIX CHILDRENS HOMES 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

The home is operated by a private provider and provides care for up to two children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home. At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home is registered with Ofsted.

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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: 3 September 2024

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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: SC368137 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/09/2024 Full Good 23/05/2023 Full Good 19/07/2022 Full Good 14/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC368137 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive relationships with children. They spend time getting to know the things that are important to each child. Staff support children to meet clear and achievable targets. In a short period of time, staff have supported one child to build positive and trusting relationships with them and to think more about risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise how important family is to children. They build positive relationships with children’s families, sharing information about the child’s life. When it is deemed appropriate, they welcome children’s families into the home. Staff have ensured that planned activities are in line with the child’s interests. However, they have not considered all relevant risks or eventualities that could negatively impact the children’s family time. Fortunately, children have not experienced harm. Managers acknowledge that essential changes need to be implemented to improve planning family time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good focus on children’s education. They consistently advocate for the child living in the home to receive the formal education that they are entitled to and want. Staff support the child to engage in tutoring sessions. They encourage the child to maintain a positive routine and maintain boundaries around the use of technology.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to form positive relationships. They explore and promote opportunities for children to engage with their local community and with peers. Staff educate children on the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle. They actively encourage activities such as joining football clubs, bike riding and creative tasks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consider whether children would benefit from therapeutic support. Concerns that the child who no longer lives in the home was not being provided with assessments that may have improved their quality of life were consistently escalated. Staff consider children’s sensory needs and embed therapeutic care into their practice. This has supported staff to have a deeper understanding of the child’s experiences and care needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Planning for children’s moves into the home is strong and child focused. Staff prioritise meeting the child to gain their wishes and feelings about the move. Children are supported to get a feel of the home in advance. Managers thoroughly consider all available information and how the team will meet the child’s needs.

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

Staff understand children’s risks and vulnerabilities. They successfully implement informative and thorough safety planning and behaviours support to reduce risks and keep children safe. Staff educate children on risks and the dangers around them. They encourage children to reflect on their behaviours and to take responsibility for their actions. Staff have an acute awareness of the impact of blaming and shaming children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC368137 4 Difficult and emotive subjects such as unsafe relationships, behaviours and reasons for going missing are approached with sensitivity. Staff reflect on what children may be telling them through their behaviours. This has led to the child who lives in the home reflecting on their behaviours and starting to make changes.

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

Incidents and concerns for children’s safety are managed well. Staff use consistent strategies to bring about prompt endings to incidents of concern. They have used appropriate and proportionate physical intervention on four occasions. Staff have appropriately contacted the police when methods previously known to support the child effectively have been unsuccessful in ending unsafe behaviours. This has ensured the safety of the child and staff. Staff take prompt and effective action if a child goes missing. They follow clear planning, which informs a multi-agency approach to returning the child home safely.

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

Managers have a good level of oversight of incidents. Managers reflect on staff practice and children’s actions. However, they do not always support staff to reflect on their own and children’s actions during incidents. This does not support staff to determine what they did well or what could have been done differently.

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

Children benefit from a culture where information is shared. Staff build and maintain positive relationships with external professionals. They attend meetings about children and advocate for what is deemed to be in their best interests. Staff work alongside others to assess and manage risk, providing joined-up care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children and staff benefit from an experienced, reflective and committed management team. External professionals speak positively about the managers, their practice and how the needs of children are prioritised. Managers are present in the home. This has allowed them to build positive relationships with staff and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have excellent oversight of children’s lives. Reflective management oversight is present on documents about children. Leaders and managers regularly review and evaluate children’s progress. This enables them to identify where children may need additional guidance and support. Managers generally devise comprehensive and robust care planning that supports the care of children and their progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel settled and supported in the home. They have confidence in leaders and managers. There is an ethos of collaborative working and sharing of ideas about the running of the home and caring for children. Managers provide staff with supervision sessions. At times, this lacks the reflection on staff practice and the focus on the safeguarding of children necessary to support practice improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers address concerns around staff practice promptly. When it is necessary, they share information with external professionals. Thorough investigations are completed to Inspection report for children’s home: SC368137 5 determine whether staff are suitable to work in the home. On two occasions, the child was not given feedback in relation to the concerns that were raised, leaving them unaware of the outcome.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers place value on the learning and development of staff. They ensure that staff have the training that they need to meet children’s needs. They encourage staff to reflect on how training that they have completed has impacted on their practice and outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have reviewed the circumstances that led to a child experiencing an unplanned ending. They have reflected with the staff team and with other professionals who were involved in the child’s care. Managers said that this was a positive process, which identified areas of positive practice, but also areas of learning that have been acted on. This includes changing staff working patterns to ensure that children receive care from rested staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC368137 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that appropriate steps are taken to protect a child when there are concerns for their safety. This specifically applies to planning for family time. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.13)  The registered person should ensure that staff are supported in supervision sessions to reflect on safeguarding practices and how their practice may impact on the welfare of the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure that they build a culture of trust and openness in the home. In particular, that the outcomes of investigations following children raising concerns about staff practice are shared with the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.11)

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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: SC368137 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PHOENIX CHILDRENS HOMES LIMITED

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Support Hub, Unit 5, Chinon Court, Lower Moor Way, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SS

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Inspector

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC368137 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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