Children's Home, Residential special school run by Acorn Norfolk Limited in Norfolk

Unique reference number SC435322 Inspection date 19/06/2012 Inspector Stephen Halliley Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 24/01/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The children's home is registered to provide accommodation for 40 children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The home and school are owned by a private company who also own other social care services. The school is registered with the Department for Education as a school to cater for boys and girls aged from four to 19 years. Children either board for 38 weeks or 52 weeks a year, or may attend as day pupils. A total of 28 pupils currently board.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making satisfactory progress.

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Progress

This home was inspected in January 2012 and judged as good with four requirements and three recommendations being made.

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Progress

Since this time the home has evidenced their capacity for improvement by fully meeting three of the requirements and two of the recommendations. There has been good progress towards meeting the fourth requirement and final recommendation but these have not been fully addressed. There have also been significant strides made in terms of managerial progress and in maintaining a high level of quality of care for the young people.

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Progress

There has been one notification made since the last inspection and this was received within the anticipated timescales and was thorough and accurate. A new policy has been put in place which informs staff of the procedures to follow if any young person is absent without permission which includes reference to local authority and police protocols on missing children.

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Progress

The format for recording physical interventions has been greatly improved and all records relating to incidents are now held in a bound book in each home. This includes the description of the measure used and the staff debrief. There is also a picture based format for speaking to young people after an event which is in line with the communication needs and level of understanding of young people living in the home. However, some staff fail to sign their entries in this record as required in the homes restrictive physical intervention policy.

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Progress

A great deal of work has been done in terms of drawing up guidelines for the use of calming rooms and informing staff of these changes and they have already been implemented within the homes. Each young person also has a personal fire evacuation plan in place on their files. However, this information has not been added to the Statement of Purpose so this requirement has not been fully met and will remain.

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Progress

With regard to Regulation 34 reports these are being received regularly and provide good evidence of consultation with regard to the quality of care provided in the home.

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Progress

Staff supervision is now more frequent than was previously the case with all supervisors following the home's policy and procedures with regard to regularity. However, not every supervisor is recording the duration of the supervision sessions as required in the home's supervision policy.

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Progress

In terms of providing a homely environment free from avoidable hazards there has been improvement in this area and all homes are well decorated and maintained, though electrical socket covers remain uncovered in two of the homes. Therefore this recommendation has not been fully met and will remain.

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Progress

In terms of moving the home forward since the last inspection there have been many changes and improvements implemented by the newly Registered Manager. These include a thorough updating of all existing policies and procedures and linking each of these directly to the national minimum standards and regulations. He has also downloaded a number of documents around legislation, bullying, statutory guidance, national minimum standards and children's homes regulations and together these provide a resource and reference library for staff.

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Progress

All staff are being encouraged to reflect on their practice and ensure this meets required standards. This ensures the work being done with young people is of a high standard and the quality of care they receive continues to improve. The Registered Manager is also recording evidence of good practice which staff will then be able to use when they undertake a Children's Workforce Development Council Diploma course, as he is an accredited assessor. There is a new procedure in place for fire evacuations. If the alarm goes off in one house it cannot be heard in the others but the Registered Manager wants all homes to evacuate. This is an additional health and safety measure as the homes are linked by adjoining corridors and is designed to minimise the potential risk to young people through fire spreading from one home to another. This system has been used successfully in the most recent fire drill and will be in place from this point forward.

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Progress

Nightly monitoring visits are being carried out to by senior managers to ensure all jobs are being carried out and that staff are actively monitoring young people. They are done with no regularity and at different times of the night so they cannot be pre- empted. This ensures a vigilant approach from waking night staff to the care of young people.

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Progress

Senior managers have a parent/carer contact record which they complete on a rota basis. This is over and above the weekly keyworker contact and is used as a means of obtaining feedback on quality of care for Regulation 34 reports.

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Progress

Shift coordinator meetings are in place which focus on where they believe the home is at the moment in terms of meeting NMS and regulations. They then look at the relevant paperwork and identify any shortfalls in current practice which would obstruct them from achieving an outstanding judgement. This is then cascaded down through residential staff team. These shortfalls are used to formulate the development plan and continue taking the home forward.

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Progress

There is greater emphasis put on activity planning with more thorough plans in place including evening clubs and clear plans for weekends and holidays. This helps staff in terms of shift planning and has also helped the young people in different homes do activities with other staff and young people expanding their social networking. For the first time the home are running a summer holiday this year to a bungalow on the Norfolk Broads. Each young person will get a minimum of three days and two nights away and have the opportunity to take part in sailing, canoeing and river boat trips, activities they have not previously been able to experience.

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Progress

The Registered Manager has also identified that the current children's guide is not fit for purpose and does not meet the expectations of the national minimum standards. This document is being rewritten in a format more in keeping with the age and understanding of young people living in the home. Also the current document does not inform young people of how they can contact their Independent Reviewing Officer, the Children's Rights Director or Ofsted.

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Progress

The home provides a good quality service to young people and has supported them in improving their educational attendance and achievement and their social skills and interactions. Young people appear at ease around staff who were very focused on meeting their individual needs and ensuring the appropriate levels of supervision are in place at all times.

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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

(2001) include in the Statement of Purpose all areas as listed in Schedule 1, with particular reference to use of 'calm rooms' within behaviour management strategies and more detailed fire evacuation procedures. (Regulation 4 (1) - Schedule 1(16), (20)) 22/06/2012

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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 the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated and that avoidable hazards are removed as is consistent with a domestic setting, with particular regard to uncovered electrical sockets (NMS 10.3)  ensure that subject to the child's age and understanding the children's home ensures the child receives the children's guide at the point of placement and that the contents of the children's guide is explained to the child in a way that is accessible (NMS 13.4)  ensure the guide includes a summary of what the home sets out to do for children, how they can find out about their rights, how a child can contact their Independent Reviewing Officer, the Children's Rights Director, Ofsted if they wish to raise a concern with inspectors and how to secure access to an independent advocate (NMS 13.5)  ensure the home is managed in a manner which ensures all staffs work is

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Recommendations

consistent with these regulations and national minimum standards and the home's own policies and procedures; this is in relation to staff signing physical intervention records and recording the duration of supervision sessions. (NMS 21.3)

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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