Children's Home run by Little Acorns London Beach Farm Limited in Kent

Unique reference number SC023651 Inspection date 03/11/2011 Inspector Lucy Ansell Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 17/02/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service that exceeds minimum requirements Satisfactory : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Brief description of the service

This children's home provides care for up to eight children, aged between four and under 15 years. The home only accept admissions under the age of 10 years. The home caters for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties who have a wide range of needs which can be best met in a therapeutic style community. The home's independent school operates from two classrooms and an outdoor classroom within the grounds. The provider of this service also operates another children's home and other provision for adults with mental health and learning difficulties.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

There are comprehensive care plans in place and excellent communication between staff groups helps reduce unsafe and challenging behaviour. The young people enjoy excellent quality, caring and supportive relationships with staff that are based on respect and trust. Staff actively promote the welfare of children living in the home with high levels of supervision, forming positive relationships and ensuring they are risk assessed but not risk averse. While staff ensure the young people's safety is a priority the levels of training on this do not underpin this. There are variable levels within other areas of staff training. Areas of management quality assurance and monitoring are not being completed. As a result of this inspection there are three requirements and five recommendations to help improve practice. These relate to the monitoring of the service, documentation, staff training and safe care practices.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure a written record of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline is made in a volume kept for the purpose of which shall include (3)(h) and (4)(b) (Regulation 17B (3)(h) & (4)(b)) 30/03/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) establish and maintain a system for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals. (Regulation 34 (10 (a)) 30/03/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) must receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal; (Regulation 27(4) (a)) 30/03/2012

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure children receive prompt feedback on any concerns or complaints raised and the homes recording is comprehensive and robust about the progress (NMS 1.6)  ensure staff are trained in appropriate safe-care practices, including skills to care for children who have been abused (NMS 4.6)  ensure all personnel responsible for recruitment and selection of staff are trained in, understand and operate these good practices (NMS 16.2)  ensure all existing staff have attained a minimum level 3 qualification or be working towards the diploma within 6 months of confirmation of employment (NMS 18.5)  ensure the registered person has a written development plan, reviewed annually. (NMS 15.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children make excellent progress in an environment and culture that promotes and supports positive interactions and emotional growth. The commitment from staff to individualised care is reflective, informs support and promotes optimum outcomes. Staff respect young people's individual identity which has a positive impact on their self confidence and self esteem. Staff encourage and support the children to have full knowledge and understanding of their backgrounds. Comments from placing social workers include ‘different child, looks happy and healthy and is invested in progressing’, ‘down to consistency and motivation. Excellent job well looked after and they are safe.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children benefit from both their emotional and physical health needs being considered and promoted. Individual health plans clearly identify any health needs and therapeutic input. Young people benefit from the home’s access to a range of health professionals and specialist services. Young people are encouraged through discussions to make informed decisions about their health, particularly around healthy eating and undertaking physical activities.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff fully recognise the value of education and provide effective support to young people's individual educational needs. All the children attend the on-site school and all staff work together to ensure a holistic approach to care and education. A range of purposeful and enjoyable activities are available for the children to try which encourages them to develop new skills and interests. The home is actively involved in participating in local and wider community activities and partnership working with other agencies.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children benefit from maintaining contact with family and friends. This has been a real positive of the home with lots of contact reinstated and improved, which has helped the children gain a good sense of self. The home uses social stories to help prepare them for contact and also to help deal with the transition back to the children's home after an extended stay. The home also encourages children to develop friendships outside of the home and where appropriate supports them so friends can come over to play.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The children are actively encouraged to develop skills of daily living within the home that will help later on with their transition into adulthood. For example, young people help with tidying and vacuuming; they also assist with shopping and meal preparation. The young people leave the home before pathway planning to adulthood is started. However, plans for transitions to the next placement are always started early and are as carefully planned as possible to aid a smooth transfer.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

The children enjoy warm, caring and supportive relationships with staff that are based on respect and trust. Interactions are structured so care and humour are used but always with consistent boundaries being appropriately maintained. Children trust and have confidence in the staff caring for them. Staff anticipate the children’s needs and know their individual characteristics extremely well.

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Quality of care

The children benefit from having significant relationships with staff that understand them and help them to communicate effectively. Daily community meetings ensure all views are aired in a safe and non-judgemental environment. The children are offered choice on day-to-day issues and influence the running of the home with their own choice of activities or meals. Staff explain, as appropriate to the age and understanding of the child, why they cannot do something so it is meaningful to them.

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Quality of care

All children were clear on whom to speak to and procedures to follow if they needed to make a complaint. The home has produced a child-friendly pictorial version of the complaints procedure which is appropriate to the age of the children placed there. A written version for carers and parents regarding the home is available as well as their own local authority’s complaints procedure. The home’s own recording of complaints is not robust or comprehensive and does not record if the children have received feedback on their complaint.

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Quality of care

Children benefit from being cared for in line with individual placement and care plans. Personalised care ensures staff cater for each child's individual needs and identity while maximising the opportunities and choices available. Care plans also include positive behavioural support plan and individualised physical intervention plan. This substantial format ensures all information held on the child is comprehensive and individual to meet their needs. This is checked and updated at least three monthly as a minimum and reviewed annually at the statutory review. Placing social workers and any carers who share care are actively involved with how the child is being cared for. They communicate on a regular basis with the staff at the home.

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Quality of care

Children benefit from a staff team who have an informed understanding of their educational needs and are able to provide meaningful and consistent support. The school being based in the grounds ensures excellent attendance and home or school staff can provide additional support to each site as required. The school head is involved in all discussions about all new referrals; and on the suitability of the school placement. Education at the school enjoys the set curriculum and also has a specific focus on learning developmental skills. All staff know children’s targets and goals. The use of a 24 hour curriculum and good communication between the school and home staff ensures consistency. The head teacher spoke about all the children are making progress and all now have a chance to access the curriculum. Before coming to the school most children were not able to integrate with their peer group and academically were struggling to even access the curriculum due to their emotional

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Quality of care

Children benefit from their health needs being competently met by staff who promote their well-being and welfare. Children's mental health needs and social developmental needs are very well met by a variety of therapists and psychotherapist who support the service, staff and the children. Most staff have been trained in first aid; therefore, suitably-qualified staff are always available. Staff who are deemed competent, and have completed the training, are allowed to administer medications ensuring continuing safe practices. The children are encouraged to maintain healthy lifestyles by eating healthy diets and participating in lots of activities that contribute to their physical health.

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Quality of care

An excellent range of purposeful and enjoyable activities are available for the children. This includes developing confidence and skills by taking part in a range of leisure activities and trips out and being positively involved in the community. This has included children undertaking extra activities like swimming, horse riding, guides, scouts, youth club, fencing, archery, drama club, ice skating, trampoline club and chess club. The children talk about some of their favourite trips out which included the cinema, local animal centres and zoos, walking in the woods and treasure hunting, bowling, crazy golf, and the annual holiday caravanning in Devon.

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Quality of care

The unit provides a safe and pleasant environment; the outdoor garden contains play equipment and safety flooring. The home is a detached property in a rural setting, within reach of the shops and leisure facilities of the nearest town. It is set in eight acres of land, with a small holding of chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, hard play area, outside removable swimming pool, a play park, a vegetable garden and fields. The unit provides areas for individual and group activities with two lounges and separate dining room. The unit also enjoys a conservatory where the children have drums that can be played. The children all have their own bedrooms which have been personalised and decorated to a nice standard. There are sufficient toilets, showers and bathrooms. The home has its own transport.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Children benefit from individual risk assessments that clearly identify the risks, the likelihood of occurrence and what protective measures are in place. These are regularly reviewed and updated and used as a working document. The children said they felt safe and knew to go to staff if they had any concerns. While the home has clear safeguarding policies and procedures, not many staff have received recent training in safeguarding and the home’s designated child protection officer has not received any local authority training to equip them for this role; so potentially putting children at risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

While children state there can be issues of bullying within the home they are confident that staff will deal with it. The house tends to operate in smaller groups to ensure the safety of the most vulnerable children. These along with good staffing levels, because of the challenging behaviour of some of the young people, ensures the safety for all children. Appropriate systems are in place for recording and reporting if children are ever absent without consent. When this was recently tested it showed that staff knew the agreed house procedures and were aware of local police protocols, and all worked together to safeguard young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The children's behaviour is encouraged to be positive by staff who use praise and behaviour management reward charts. Each individual child has a behaviour management plan and a positive intervention plan to ensure all staff are managing behaviours consistently. All staff are trained in the use of physical restraint techniques; however the content of documentation regarding behaviour management makes it difficult to monitor as the restraint log books are not compliant with the new Children's Homes Regulations.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Children benefit from living in a home which provides physical safety and security. Fire safety checks are up to date, and regular fire drills and evacuations with the children are carried out. Risk assessments are in place for the building and for any trips out. Electrical and gas appliances are regularly checked and maintained.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has a careful vetting and selection process it undertakes which ensures the safety of the young people. The staff personnel files contain all the required information and all checks are completed prior to commencement at the home. Staff who are responsible for conducting any recruitment checks are not trained in safer recruitment practice hence may not be fully aware of the required good practice. Any visitors to the home are closely supervised to ensure the safety of all the children and there is a clear policy on signing the visitors’ book and wearing ID badges.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good .

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Leadership and management

The Statement of Purpose is clear and accessible and reflects the aims and objectives and what services the home is able to offer. It is regularly updated to ensure all information is correct. The children's guide is available in a child-friendly pictorial format that can be accessed and is appropriate to the children using the service. The home ensures the child has a copy of this before they arrive permanently at the home; and meet staff and see a video about their new home.

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Leadership and management

Children benefit from receiving care from a stable core staff group who are a caring and supportive team to each other and the children. The home employs a sufficient number of staff to ensure good quality of care for the children. Staff at the home receive lots of in-house training from psychologists and psychotherapist which helps give them the required skills, knowledge and competencies to meet the individual needs of the children, however these skills are not formally recognised. Not all staff hold the required diploma or Level 3 qualification but all staff complete the induction standards prior to working with the young people. Staff receive monthly supervision and weekly group supervisions. Staff are clear on additional roles and responsibilities to improve the home and the service provided. Overall, care records are comprehensive and well written, up to date and stored securely. All significant events

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Leadership and management

The manager has the appropriate skills and qualifications to manage the home. The manager, deputy and team leader provide a strong management lead on excellent child care practice and roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability are clearly defined. However there are not always clear and effective procedures for monitoring and quality assuring the home; and there is no development plan for the service. While the manager does complete the home’s Regulation 34 reports; these have little regard to addressing any concerns identified or to show areas of improvement in the service. The manager is fully aware of the strengths and areas for improvement in the home. The Regulation 33 visitor completes regular checks on the home and provides a written report.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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