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

Unique reference number SC435322 Inspection date 24/09/2013 Inspector Clive Lucas / Stephen Halliley Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 31/07/2013 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 adequate .

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Overall effectiveness

Since the previous inspection the Registered Manager and Principal have left. The new manager has applied for Registration with Ofsted. The new management team have begun work in a number of areas of development, including those to meet the requirements and recommendations of the last report. This includes work to ensure that records are clear and appropriately kept, improved consultation and communication with placing authorities and parents and beginning the process of staff appraisals and devising a development plan. This work is on-going.

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Overall effectiveness

There is strong leadership to make these improvements and improve the quality of care that staff provide for young people in the home. Staff have good relationships with young people. They provide them with choice and work to keep them safe. They mostly help them to develop skills in self- care and independence in line with the young people's individual needs and abilities, but some young people are not helped to develop to their full potential. Young people are helped to participate in education and to achieve and develop in this area. Their contact with parents and families is supported well by staff so that it can be a positive experience.

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Overall effectiveness

The vast majority of the accommodation is of a very good standard, but a few areas remain that are not up to a good standard. For the most part accommodation is safe, due to good systems and processes. However, some areas require additional attention, although the risk posed by this is low. There are not currently any advocates available for young people. The Statement of Purpose and children's guide are both need to be reviewed and made available in line with up to date information. These shortfalls limit the opportunities for young people to be fully informed and to have their views taken into account. The manager undertakes some monitoring, but this does not cover all areas such as recruitment, to ensure that the systems are working fully.

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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 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to new staff in respect of each of the matters specified in Schedule 2 of The Children's Homes Regulations (Regulation 26(3)(d)) 01/11/2013

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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)) 01/11/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of restraint in a children’s home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose of which shall include the name of the child concerned and the name of the person using the measure, and of any other person present (Regulation 17B(3)(a) and (e)) 01/11/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the matters set out in Schedule 6 of The Children's Homes Regulations are monitored at appropriate intervals. (Regulation 34(1)(a)) 01/11/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) keep under review and, where appropriate, revise the Statement of Purpose and the children's guide. (Regulation 5(a)) 01/11/2013

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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 children are encouraged to develop practical skills to their full potential (NMS12.1)  ensure that the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated (NMS 10.3)  ensure that children have access to an advocate if they need it (NMS1.5)  ensure that risk assessments of the whole children’s home environment are carried out, to identify any potential sources of harm to the children are recorded in writing and regularly reviewed, this relates to ensuring that risk assessments do not contain any inconsistencies. (NMS 10.8)

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Outcomes for children and young people

There are good outcomes for young people who live at this home and they make good progress from their starting points. Social workers comment on the positive improvements that young people make in areas of education, health and behaviour. Young people are encouraged to develop skills and to make choices that will have positive impacts on their health. This includes encouragement to clean their teeth, take part in exercise and choose a balanced diet. Young people have regular health checks including appointments with dentists and opticians, to help ensure their on- going health. They are registered with a local doctor's surgery and are provided with the option of seeing male or female practitioners. This allows young people and staff to make choices appropriate to the young people's gender.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people attend school on site. One social worker said that the young person they have at the home has made significant progress educationally. They have gone from having no engagement in education to attending every day and focusing and engaging in tasks and projects. A young person spoke of the progress they have made in education and said that their parent was proud of them. This is not only progress in education, but allows young people to develop a more positive self- esteem.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged to participate in decisions as much as they can. For some young people this includes regular meetings with staff to discuss a range of issues. Most young people at the school are not be able to participate to that level, but are still offered choice through use of a range of communication systems including symbols. There are some good examples of young people being able to participate in the community by having the opportunity of a wide range of activities such as walking to the village to spend pocket money, trips to swimming pools, a meal out with a chosen friend on a birthday and special trips to local and national attractions. Young people are also given encouragement and support to develop their independence in line with their needs and abilities. While these opportunities are beneficial to help young people develop, in a very few cases young people are not always encouraged to develop to their full potential and have high aspirations.

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Quality of care

Since the previous inspection managers have introduced new formats for young people's plans and risk assessments. These are clear and comprehensive documents that provide staff with information in order to enable them to consistently work in a way that meets young people's needs well and protect them from risks. However, these new documents are not yet used for all young people . Staff do have a good awareness of individual young people's needs which allows them to provide good care.

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Quality of care

Staff provide good support for young people to have contact with their families. This includes support for a parent while taking their child out in the community and being available to support parents and children during home contact. In one case this involved driving during the night to a parents home when there were problems with the contact. There are houses on site that parents can stay in when they visit their children. This is an important resource when so many young people are placed significant distances away from their homes. The support for contact allows young people the opportunities to benefit from positive contact with people who are important to them.

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Quality of care

Young people's health needs are clearly identified and met. A nurse is employed at the home to support staff in meeting these needs. This includes providing training for staff in the administration of medicines and assessing them to ensure that they are competent. This provides safeguards to ensure that young people's medication is given as prescribed. The organisation had previously employed a psychiatrist,and the manager is actively taking steps to ensure that the current vacancy is filled. Due to the short time without the psychiatrist in post, their absence is not currently having a negative impact on young people's health. Opticians and dentists visit the home to see young people for regular checks.

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Quality of care

The accommodation at the home is provided for most young people in a new, purpose built unit. This is of a very good standard. A few young people live in self- contained units in an otherwise empty building that was vacated when the new one was ready. The accommodation in these self-contained units is clean appropriately furnished and mostly well decorated. However, any young people who live in the one bed flat, have to walk through several areas and rooms that are no longer used and look unkempt, in order to reach the kitchen that they use for making their breakfast. The kitchen itself is large, institutional and does not provide a homely environment.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

Many of the young people in the home do not have verbal skills, but those spoken to did say they could identify an adult to speak to if they had any worries or problems. The view of placing social workers is that staff work to keep young people safe in the home. The senior managers in the home work with other agencies to respond appropriately to any concerns about the safety of young people. Currently, there are no arrangements to provide advocacy services to young people in the home. This removes an element in the protection for young people and the ability to have their wishes and views taken consistently and fully into account. Staff have a sound understanding of the diverse needs of young people and how these need to be met. For example specialist diets are provided if required for a young person's culture and they are supported in following religious beliefs. There are systems in place for recruiting and checking new staff. Aspects of these are

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Safeguarding children and young people

good, but they are not monitored to ensure they are always fully followed. For example gaps in employment history had not been explored in interview or subsequently in one instance.. While for the most part the system protects young people this constitutes a potential risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are comprehensive systems in place to ensure the safety of the premises and grounds, but the various areas had not been drawn together in a premises risk assessment. This was done during the inspection. While having the information in a single document available to those responsible for the young people's care will provide a safer environment, the basic safety requirements were in place beforehand. There were some minor inconsistencies in the document and areas that had not been implemented in practice, such as socket covers being used in all areas. There are well implemented systems for fire safety such as regular testing and servicing of fire alarms and apparatus. Fire drills have been held very regularly since the previous inspection. However, there are some shortfalls. Not all young people have taken part in a fire drill as they were not present when they took place. Additionally the fire risk assessment had not been reviewed since July 2011 and

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Safeguarding children and young people

before significant changes to the use of the property. Despite clear and evident messages from managers about propping open fire doors, there are still times when it happens. Managers continue to address this matter. The impact of these shortfalls is limited due to the high staffing ratios and fire systems that are in place. The fire officer commented on the commitment of the organisation to fire safety and that overall there is a low level of risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff have training in behaviour management including advanced restraint training. They do not use sanctions as due to the needs of young people they would not have a positive impact in changing their behaviour. The process for recording restraints is being reviewed to ensure that they are kept in a way that prevents them from being tampered with after the event. A new recording book has been produced and is about to be introduced. Some records of restraints do not contain full names of the staff or young person involved. This may make it difficult to identify who was involved if they need to be looked at in the future. A social worker commented on the positive work done by staff to manage a young person's behaviour.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

Since the previous inspection a new manager has been appointed. The manager has submitted an application for registration to Ofsted within their first 28 days in post. There is also a new principal who oversees both the school and the children's home. Social workers describe improvements they have noticed since these changes took place. They say that there is now better communication between with senior staff and that placing authorities can now have more meaningful input into how the home operates. This allows better joint working in order to provide more effective care for young people. They have also seen improvements to the recording and planning in the home. The manager and principal have begun working on the requirements and recommendations made at the previous inspection on 31 July 2013. They have made good progress, but have not yet completed all actions. New risk assessment and planning paperwork has begun to be used and appraisals of staff have also begun.

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Leadership and management

Consultation documents have been sent to parents to gather their views and provide a fuller review of the quality of care in the home. A new development plan is being drawn up and fire drills are held regularly.

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Leadership and management

The manager has already developed an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and undertakes some monitoring. However, monitoring is not yet comprehensive and for example had not identified some issues such as the need to improve recruitment checks. The manager and principal are providing strong leadership to address previous issues, but have only been in post for a short time and have further work to do. There is a Statement of Purpose for the home, but this is out of date. Consequently up to date and accurate information is not available for parents and placing authorities. The home has had a children's guide, but this not been regularly updated and used to provide young people with relevant information on how the home operates. Staff describe regular, supportive and effective supervision to support them in their work. They can ask for additional supervision at any time if they need it. This helps to ensure consistent and good care for young

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Leadership and management

people. Staff describe training as positive and helpful, providing them with the skills they need to look after young people. The principal and manager have been providing some workshops that eventually all staff will attend to address specific issues in the home.

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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 and the evaluation schedule for the inspection of children's homes.

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