Children's home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 1 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns the home. It is registered to provide care for up to 3 children with autism spectrum disorder and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living in the home. The inspector spent time with both children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: 1247776 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/07/2024 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 30/11/2022 Full Good 05/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are settled living at the home. Staff know children very well, spend time with them and promote their well-being. It is because of this that children have positive and trusting relationships with staff. Children’s family members provided positive feedback about the quality of care and support provided to children and the impact that this has on their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress in many areas of their lives, such as communication skills and speech, independence skills and their ability to understand and manage their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care, health and communication plans provide staff with a good understanding of children’s needs and communication styles. Children communicate using a variety of skills that include British Sign Language (BSL), Makaton, social stories and individual strategies such as use of white boards or countdowns. Staff use a consistent approach with children to ensure that they are supported to develop their preferred communication style.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The support provided by staff to promote children’s attendance and engagement in education is positive. Following a breakdown in one child’s school placement and an extended period out of education, staff have supported the child to overcome barriers to education. A planned transition is being taken at the child’s pace to help them to settle into school once again.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team work with a range of health professionals to ensure that children’s health needs are reviewed regularly and met. This includes occupational therapists, speech and language and emotional well-being professionals. Staff take prompt and appropriate action to respond to children who have epilepsy. They understand the process for emergency rescue medication. Seizure management plans provide staff with clear guidance about how to support children during and post seizure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff implement clear routines and boundaries that children understand and respond to well. Children participate in planning their routines and activities. Individual targets are set to develop children’s self-care and to support their preparation for adulthood. The targets guide the direct work and activities that staff undertake with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views, wishes and feelings are sought in different ways. Children are support to access advocates. Direct work and my voice matters sessions are meaningful and engage children well. Staff also use feelings boards and zones of regulation processes to help children communicate things they need help with and how they feel about their home. This ensures that children’s voices are central to their care planning and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has been renovated throughout to address damage and wear and tear identified at the last inspection. The last of the maintenance work was being undertaken Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 4 during the inspection to make the home more comfortable. The third children’s bedroom is being used daily as a second lounge. However, this is not the purpose of the bedroom. Leaders and managers plan to review the layout of the home to ensure that the number of bedrooms available for children is reflective of their registration conditions.

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

Children are kept safe. This is because staff have a good understanding of children’s risks, triggers to their behaviour and risk reduction strategies. There is a multi-agency approach taken to implementing children’s positive behaviour support (PBS) plans. This is led by the manager who is a qualified PBS coach. Staff support children with positive behaviour and making safe choices. They do not use consequences as part of their behaviour management.

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

Restrictive practice, such as the use of harnesses to transport children in cars and walking harnesses are reviewed by an occupational therapist and agreed by children’s social workers. They are built into children’s individual plans, such as Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards order and PBS plans. Professionals regularly review restrictive practice reduction plans to actively assess children’s risk level and when it is possible to give them more independence.

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

Safeguarding incidents are managed well with staff using their knowledge of children to good effect in deescalating situations. Staff use a trauma informed approach that supports children to develop strategies to support self-regulation. Consequently, there has been a significant reduction in the use of physical restraint and incidents for both children. The managers reflection of incidents is given in a timely manner and the same is offered to children using their preferred communication tools.

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

The current staff team understands their roles and responsibilities in raising any safeguarding concerns without delay and how to escalate concerns with the appropriate professionals. Children are provided with forums to raise complaints but have not felt the need to do so. There has been one complaint raised externally by a member of the public. It was fully investigated and action taken to revisit staff practice, share lessons learned and to implement additional training.

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

Leaders and managers have responded promptly to an isolated medication error. They have ensured that staff have been retrained, reflected on the error and addressed the shortfall with the wider team. There are routine checks and audits in place to ensure that medication is accounted for and managed safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

On one occasion, staff have failed to report external professional practice concerns to the senior leadership team. Once senior leaders were made aware of the concerns, they reported the safeguarding matters to the relevant professionals without delay and so the Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 5 child did not come to any harm. However, there is no evidence to demonstrate that senior leaders have reviewed or scrutinised staff’s failure to follow safeguarding procedures. Furthermore, a referral to the local authority designated officer (LADO) has not been made. On the managers return from leave, he has failed to ensure that the matter was managed suitably in his absence. Staff did, however, undertake additional training and engaged in a focused supervision to review their safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has not notified Ofsted of all serious medical incidents. This specifically relates to an ambulance having been called for a child on several occasions and the need to be taken to hospital on some of the occasions. Leaders and managers assessed this as not meeting the threshold for notifying Ofsted due to it being a known and managed medical issue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been a high turnover of staff, which has meant a high reliance on agency staff. The manager makes every attempt to use the same agency staff that know children well. However, this cannot always be achieved and this has caused some anxiety for one child. The manager has recruited against staff vacancies and has a full staff team and he recognises that the staff team requires stabilising to provide children with continuity of care and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Several staff are working towards the relevant qualification for residential care. There are some gaps in training that staff require for their role and children’s needs led training. The manager’s training matrix identifies these needs. However, this requires immediate action to ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to meet children’s needs to the best of their ability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The senior leadership team advocate well for children, by challenging other professionals when required to benefit children’s outcomes. The manager’s review of the quality-of- care report provides a clear analysis of the impact of the service on children’s experiences. It is used effectively to monitor trends and patterns. The independent person visits have also been key in providing a level of additional scrutiny of the effectiveness of the service and the management of safeguarding matters.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The managers workforce development plan is detailed and provides an oversight of probation reviews, appraisals and supervisions conducted with staff. This ensures that the manager understands his staff team and their personal development. Team meetings are used as a valuable opportunity for the full staff team to come together and review each child’s progress and care needs. Staff reported that they feel supported by the leadership team and well guided in the work that they do with children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers should ensure that they report staff practice concerns to the LADO and evidence the action they have taken to review and scrutinise staff practice as part of the process. 10 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers should ensure that they notify Ofsted of all serious medical incidents. 10 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers should review the layout of the home to ensure that the number of bedrooms available for children is reflective of their registration. 10 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. Specifically, leaders and managers should ensure that all staff undertake training for their role and additional child needs led training. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that the use of external agency staff is a positive choice to complement the skills and experiences of the permanent workforce. The use of agency staff should be carefully monitored and reviewed to ensure children receive continuity of care. Specifically, leaders and managers should ensure that the staff team provides children with continuity of care and support. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.16)

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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: 1247776 8

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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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Inspector

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1247776 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 children who are looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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