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

Unique reference number SC435322 Inspection date 31/07/2013 Inspector Clive Lucas Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 03/10/2012 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

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 inadequate progress .

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Progress

At the previous inspection in October 2012 the home was judged to be good. One requirement and three recommendations were made relating to the recording of physical interventions, frequency of supervision and testing fire alarm system. The previously identified shortfalls in restraint recording have been addressed. Consequently, the records now provide a better record of the incident and are signed by managers. This helps to ensure that managers can monitor records of restraint and identify any practice that is not appropriate, or alternative approaches that may be more beneficial to young people. However, the records of restraints are kept in a loose-leaf file, with only very brief details in a bound book. This system is not robust as records are not tamper-proof and this removes a level of protection for young people.

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Progress

Staff who were spoken to during the inspection said that the supervision they receive is good and helps them develop. Levels of supervision have improved and most staff are now supervised at appropriate intervals, but for a few staff these levels are not always attained. This limits the manager's ability to ensure that all staff are working safely with young people and meeting their needs through good practice.

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Progress

Fire alarms are now tested regularly and this is recorded. However, there is no record of a fire drill in one of the houses since September 2012. In addition, some internal doors are wedged open at times preventing the automatic closure from working. Immediate action was taken by managers to remove the wedges during the inspection, but the use of wedges and a lack of fire drills reduce the efficiency of fire protection systems to keep children safe from the risk of fire.

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Progress

There are a number of changes and developments have been completed since the last inspection. Further changes and developments are taking place and planned. A new grade structure for care staff clearly sets out the expectations and responsibilities for each level. This helps staff to be clear about what is expected of them in caring for young people and what they need to do to move to the next level.

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Progress

There has been recent training in safeguarding for all staff as well as training for working with young people with autism. A new model of de-escalation and physical intervention has been introduced which managers feel will help staff to respond more appropriately to challenging behaviour. These are all changes that help to improve the quality of care for young people by providing clear expectations and guidance for staff.

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Progress

The changes that are underway and planned are not included in the home's development plan. Therefore, there is no clear record of them including deadlines and targets, making it more difficult to measure the progress in meeting these and benefits for young people. Staff surveys carried out earlier in the year did include some negative comments from staff about supervision, training and induction. Work has taken place, or is underway, to address these issues. Staff appraisals are planned, but have not yet taken place. This is a weakness in staff development that will limit the development of staff to provide better care for young people.

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Progress

There are monitoring processes in place that include monthly external monitoring and monthly monitoring of records by the Registered Manager as well as the ad hoc identification of issues. This system does identify shortfalls and plans are put in place to address these. However, the system is not fully effective in that it has not identified the shortfalls in this report and it does not include consultation with young people, parents, placing authorities and staff in order to improve the quality of care. In responses to surveys, some parents, staff and social workers indicate that they did not feel their views are sought. Not having a robust and comprehensive monitoring system does limit the manager's ability to identify shortfalls and ensure that the quality of care for young people is improved.

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Progress

There have been some issues with staff practice which have been dealt with robustly by the organisation and changes in practice and lessons have been learned from them. Nevertheless the practice itself has resulted in the care of some young people being compromised. The managers work closely with other agencies to deal with such matters, which helps to ensure appropriate responses and actions for the better care of young people in the future.

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Progress

Risk assessments for young people do identify potentially risky behaviour and how the risks may be reduced, but are repetitive and in places not sufficiently clear. This makes them harder for staff to use to consistently and effectively to provide the best care for young people.

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Progress

Staff spoken to expressed positive views about working at the home. Surveys had been completed by some staff and parents before the inspection. While some parent surveys include negative comments, such as not feeling consulted, many positive comments were also made. One parent said, 'Some of the care staff are excellent and really understand (the child's) very specific needs,' and another said, 'They have changed my son into a wonderful young man, from quite a violent young boy. I owe them so much.' These comments show some of the positive work done with young people to meet their needs and help them develop.

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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) ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 are complied with (Regulation 32(1A)(b)) 29/08/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that there is a system for improving the quality of care provided in the children’s home which provides for consultation with children accommodated in the home, their parents and placing authorities (Regulation 34(1) and (3)) 25/09/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that all persons employed at the home receive appropriate appraisal. (Regulation 27(4)(a)) 25/09/2013

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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 that all records of restraints are in formats that cannot be tampered with after the event (Volume 5, Statutory Guidance, paragraph 2.91)  ensure that there is a written development plan, reviewed annually, for the future of the home, either identifying any planned changes in the operation or resources of the service, or confirming the continuation of the home’s current operation and resource (NMS 15.2)  implement a proportionate approach to risk assessment, this relates to ensuring that risk assessments are clear and usable. (NMS 4.5)

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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.

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