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

Unique reference number SC435322 Inspection date 03/10/2012 Inspector Stephen Halliley Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 19/06/2012 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 23 pupils currently board.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people receive care of the highest quality on a day to day basis from a passionate and dedicated staff team. This intensive support and the relationships this helps develop are imperative in assisting young people to achieve their potential. Young people make clear progress in all aspects of their lives while in this home.

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Overall effectiveness

The welfare of young people is extremely important and clear, detailed policies are in place to support this. Safeguarding young people in all aspects of their lives is important in this home. Clear and robust systems and checks are in place to protect young people from risk of harm, but these checks are not consistently carried out. Additionally there are shortfalls in the recording of incidents of restrictive physical intervention.

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager is intent on continuing to drive this home forward. There is a balanced and focused development plan in place to support this progress. Monitoring of the home is carried out regularly but is not sufficiently robust in terms of identifying patterns which have emerged relating to shortfalls in recording.

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Overall effectiveness

Additional shortfalls were noted in the frequency of staff supervision.

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Overall effectiveness

This inspection was conducted as part of an aligned inspection of the educational provision and a separate report will be produced relating to this.

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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 that where a restraint is used on a child the record must include the duration of the measure of restraint. (Regulation17(B)(4)(a)) 16/11/2012

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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 all staff have access to support and advice and are provided with regular supervision by appropriately qualified and experienced staff (NMS 19.4)  ensure the manager regularly monitors in line with regulations all records kept by the home to ensure compliance with the home's policies to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends. This specifically relates to signing restraint records and entering whether a restrictive physical intervention was used (NMS 21.2)  ensure all staff's work is consistent with the regulations, national minimum standards and the homes policy and procedures; this specifically relates to the frequency of fire alarm testing. (NMS 21.3)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make good progress in many aspects of their lives during their time in this home. They develop confidence in their self-care skills and social skills are greatly improved. The ability to self-regulate their behaviours shows a much improved level of emotional maturity. One social worker commented, 'he is beginning to engage more, is showing signs of learning and is beginning to communicate with others.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are in good health and they have ready access to a range of services which support and improve their physical and emotional well-being. This has been strengthened by the appointment of a school nurse. Young people all attend the on-site specialist educational provision and attendance levels are excellent. This ensures academic and social education combine to provide a holistic approach to young people's learning.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Effective communication between staff and parents ensures a consistent approach to the care of young people. Contact with family and friends is facilitated either by parents visiting the home or by young people going home at weekends or during school holidays. This maintains young people's relationships with their families and other people who are important to them.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are actively involved in the day-to-day running of the home as appropriate to their abilities and understanding. They plan and review menus, choose paint colour and decorations and choose their own beds and bedding. For young people with complex needs and learning disabilities this is an important step in ensuring they feel valued and that their needs are seen as important. Young people are also involved in planting raised beds to improve the external appearance of the home. Young people attend community based activities and clubs and go for meals in restaurants. These activities help develop their social skills and are a valuable support in the 24 hour curriculum of academic and social learning.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are effectively prepared for transition to adult life as appropriate to their age and understanding. Improving self-help skills and self-care practice is built in to the day to day ethos of the home. Self-regulating their behaviour is a major step in this process as this enables young people greater community access as a direct result of less socially unacceptable behaviour. This approach supports young people to be as prepared and as independent as possible when they move on from this home.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people have very positive relationships with staff. This is based on staff providing a very supportive, calming influence on the young people. Those young people who require constant reassurance through touch or other intensive support receive this unfailingly. Staff are extraordinarily patient in their approach to young people. They have worked consistently to enable young people to understand the routines within the home such that they are now able to follow these to varying degrees with minimal staff direction. Staff use a variety of communication tools appropriate to individual young people to ensure views and feelings are heard. One parent commented, 'we are impressed with the way the support for learning team integrate with the residential side to provide a full waking hours curriculum and consistency especially over the holiday periods.'

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Quality of care

Young people are informed how they can make a complaint in their handbook. This information is also available on the young people's noticeboards throughout the home. The handbook has recently been updated and is available in written, pictorial and widget format appropriate to the understanding of the young people.

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Quality of care

The home has excellent ‘All about Me’ individual books. These provide extremely in- depth and thorough information for staff relating to individual strategies for working with that young person. There are comprehensive care support plans in place which are regularly reviewed and updated. Risk assessments and behavioural triggers plus effective de-escalation strategies are also recorded. Strategies for working with young people in different environments are also available. This attention to detail ensures all staff work in a consistent manner with young people to support overall development and enhance their outcomes. One social worker stated. 'the care provided follows the care plan well and the home are working very well with this young person.'

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Quality of care

Young people live in a healthy environment that actively promotes their physical and emotional well-being. This support has been strengthened by the employment of a school nurse whose primary role is to promote the general health and well-being of pupils through regular health checks. Young people have excellent access to additional support services in the community and the medical procedures within the home are clear and well documented. Staff ensure young people receive suitable medical advice and health care when they are unwell or have had an accident. This ensures staff are fully able to meet young people's health needs on a daily basis. Diet and menus are reviewed regularly and the home are able to respond flexibly to individual need. Parents are able to send in specific menus following consultation with a dietician and can discuss this fully with the cook manager. This helps ensure young people's needs are fully met in all aspects of their health.

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Quality of care

The activities offered by the home have increased significantly since the last inspection. For the first time this year the home ran a holiday for all residents over the summer to the Norfolk Broads. All young people went away for two days/one night and did activities including canoeing and sailing. There is good picture evidence of this and an individualised photo album has been sent to each parent. Activities already being planned for the October half-term include tubing, an open-top bus tour, swimming and a possible boat trip. This wide range of stimulating and challenging activities ensures young people receive a depth of life experiences they may otherwise miss out on. All activities are risk assessed and young people are supported to take managed risk according to their individual abilities and understanding. This home is a cluster of smaller homes set around a central courtyard. The homes are well maintained and decorated. Damage is repaired or replaced promptly and the

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Quality of care

colour schemes are becoming more cheerful and varied. There is a capital investment project underway which is putting £1 million into developing new residential provision which will be a in a larger building with two corridors to include three semi-independent flats. The current provision will then be refurbished including reducing the number of bedrooms and making them all en-suite. The plans are expansive and ambitious and will provide for a higher standard of accommodation for young people than is presently available.

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Quality of care

The staff team provide a diverse mixture of knowledge, age, experience, cultural and ethnic identity and this supports the home in working proactively with young people in these areas of their own identities.

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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

Young people are kept safe in this home through one-to-one staffing levels or above and extremely good supervision of young people. This helps ensure young people feel safe in their own home. This is enhanced by a wide range of health and safety checks being regularly carried out. However, a prolonged gap in the frequency of fire checks over the summer could potentially have put young people at increased risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There has been one incident of a young person going missing since the last inspection. This was taken very seriously and the home responded in line with its recently improved missing from care protocols. This includes the local authority and local police force joint protocols on children who go missing from care. This includes guidance for when young people goes missing while away from the home on an activity and also on supporting young people upon return. Each young person has an individual plan completed with photo and crucial information in the event of them going missing. This ensures a coordinated approach to the incident and allows for young people to be fully reintegrated into the day-to-day running of the home on their return.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's behaviour management plans are individualised and highlight preventative, pro-active and reactive strategies for managing this. This provides consistency of approach and heightened awareness of potential triggers for staff, helping reduce the incidence of negative behaviours. Restraint is used only when necessary to prevent injury or serious damage. There is a shortfall noted in recording the duration of the measure of the restraint. Additionally, clarity is lacking in some recording as to whether restraint was actually used and records are not being signed by all staff involved in the incident.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Recruitment and selection procedures and vetting of staff are thorough and include clear verification of references. Adults visiting the home have their identity checked on arrival and are required to sign the visitor’s book. Visitors who have not been vetted by the organisation are escorted by staff throughout their stay. This ensures young people are protected from potential harm by people working in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff have a very clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in terms of safeguarding young people. This is informed by detailed, robust and effective bullying, safeguarding, and whistleblowing policies. There have not been any suspicions or allegations of harm in this home recently.

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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 home is effectively and efficiently managed by a dedicated, committed and passionate Registered Manager. He leads an experienced team who provide a range of role models for young people and are equally committed to providing a high level of quality care to young people.

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Leadership and management

There have been two complaints since the last inspection. One has been concluded with clear evidence of investigation and outcomes. The second is complex but the Registered Manager and Executive Principal are managing this difficult situation effectively and sensitively.

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Leadership and management

All requirements and recommendations from the previous inspection have been met. The home can further evidence its commitment to improvement through progress made in a number of areas. The missing from care policy has been significantly strengthened, a nurse has been employed and the residential provision is being expanded, improved and developed for the future. There is a rolling programme for employment of new staff and all established staff are revisiting the Children's Workforce Development Council workbook to ensure they maintain a sound understanding of all tasks relating to their job. This will help ensure that, as their roles expand, staff continue to provide the highest quality care to young people.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and he has a written development plan in place to address these and to continue to move the home forward. This has recently been revised and is a comprehensive working document which will support the expansion and development of the residential provision. There is regular monitoring of the home by both the Registered Manager and external visitor. However, monitoring systems within the home are not sufficiently robust. The Manager's monitoring fails to identify trends and patterns relating to restraint recording quickly and the response to this is not immediate or consistent.

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Leadership and management

The home is very well resourced in all areas. Money continues to be spent on a continual redecoration programme in the home. Additionally a large capital investment is underway to majorly improve the residential provision. There are very high staffing levels appropriate to the needs of young people. Staff receive comprehensive training in core areas such as safeguarding, administration of medication, Autism awareness, fire safety, first aid and food hygiene. This ensures staff can safely meet young people's needs to a consistently high standard. All staff receive supervision from suitably experienced and qualified colleagues, but there are gaps in the frequency of this supervision.

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Leadership and management

Records held are clear, detailed and appropriate to each young person. They provide a clear picture of what life is like for young people in the home. All records are stored securely and confidentiality of information is well preserved. Notifications of significant events are infrequent. They are sent to relevant authorities within appropriate timescales and clear action is taken following incidents which are well recorded.

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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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