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

Unique reference number SC023651 Inspector Anna Williams Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered manager Simon James Bayliss Date of last inspection 19/12/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 02/02/2015

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Previous inspection inadequate Enforcement action since last inspection Two compliance notices were set following the previous inspection. These related to inappropriate behaviour management strategies used within the home and the inaccurate record-keeping of measures of control. Following this inspection, these compliance notices are now met.

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Overall effectiveness adequate

Outcomes for children and young people adequate Quality of care adequate Keeping children and young people safe adequate Leadership and management adequate

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Overall effectiveness

This children's home was judged inadequate at the previous full inspection. Since then, the Registered Manager has focused on implementing an action plan to address the shortfalls identified at that visit. This has been successful and seven requirements have been fully met, including two compliance notices. Two previous recommendations have also been addressed. This raises the overall judgement of the home to adequate. However, weaknesses still exist, in particular within leadership and safeguarding arrangements. Two requirements in relation to recruitment practice and internal monitoring reports are repeated. This is due to the Registered Manager not being able to demonstrate current practice as no new staff have started and the next monitoring report is not yet due.

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Overall effectiveness

Children are positive about living in this home. Their relationships with staff are warm and constructive. Children receive personalised care in line with their 3 of 11 individual care plans, which they contribute to. Children continue to progress educationally and have their health and well-being needs met. They keep in contact with those important to them, which helps maintain attachments. They develop life skills which assists them in preparing for the next stage in their lives.

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Overall effectiveness

The current group of children is unsettled due to a number of identified factors. Although a higher level of management monitoring now takes place, the use of restraint is increasing. A requirement is set to consider steps to minimise the use of restraint within the home as some restraints remain lengthy in duration. The home's Statement of Purpose dates back to 2011. It is not accurate and does not meet current regulatory requirements. It fails to describe what therapeutic approach the home is delivering. This means placing social workers and parents do not have a clear understanding of the methods and approaches used within the home. Care staff are 'therapeutic care workers', but their training records fail to demonstrate what therapeutic training they have undertaken. As a result, it is difficult to ascertain what skills they hold.

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager is now receiving formalised supervision and support from a senior external colleague. Through this structured supervision, he has development plans in place to further improve the quality of care and outcomes for children. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to eight children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private organisation which provides an independent school for children at the home on the same site.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2014 Full inadequate 08/01/2014 Interim good progress 15/05/2013 Full good 14/02/2013 Interim satisfactory progress

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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

4 (2001) compile in relation to the children's home a written statement (in these Regulations referred to as "the statement of purpose") which shall consist of a statement as to the matters listed in Schedule 1 (Regulation 4 (1)) 01/04/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

5 (2001) keep under review and, where appropriate, revise the statement of purpose and the children's guide; notify HMCI of any such revision within 28 days; and if the children's guide is revised, supply a copy to each child accommodated in the home (Regulation 5 (a) (b) (c)) 01/04/2015 5 of 11 17A (2001) ensure where a measure of restraint is used on a child accommodated in a children's home - (a) the measure of restraint must be proportionate, and (b) no more force than is necessary should be used; in particular take steps to minimise the use of restraint within the home (Regulation 17A (2) (a) (b)) 01/04/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that no person is employed to work at the children’s home unless that person is fit to work at a children’s home; a person is not fit to work at a children's home unless the matters listed in paragraph 3 are fully satisfied (Regulation 26 (1) (a) and (3)) 01/04/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) maintain the system that has been established to review the quality of care to ensure it improves the quality of care provided in the children's home. (Regulation 34 (1) (b)) 01/04/2015

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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 staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of the children and purpose of the setting, and training keeps them up-to-date with professional, legal and practice developments and reflects the policies, legal obligations and business needs of the home; with particular reference to therapeutic training in line with the Statement of Purpose (NMS 18.1) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Children are positive about living within this home. All children have full time educational placements. They continue to maintain full attendance at their school provision and are making progress. This includes some children who attend mainstream education within a nearby town. This supports children’s learning needs, plus some children’s integration within the wider community. Children’s health needs are well-met. Children are appropriately supported to attend routine health appointments such as going to the dentist and general practitioner. Children continue to benefit from focused therapy sessions. This ensures children’s physical, emotional and mental health needs are identified and met.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Children maintain regular contact with family and those significant to them. Staff appropriately facilitate and supervise contact arrangements as necessary. This maintains attachments with those who are important to children. Some children have made, and maintain, appropriate peer friendships within the local area. This supports children’s personal and social development. Children continue to progress with learning daily living skills. They engage in age-appropriate chores and household tasks such as ironing. This helps prepare children for their futures.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Children have access to a wide range of resources within the house and grounds. Activities such as bowling and swimming promote physical exercise and positive community engagement. Birthdays are celebrated through planned events which are organised with the children. Some children have been to the cinema or for a meal-out to celebrate their special day with chosen friends. This positively promotes children’s identity.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

While outcomes for some children continue to be good their overall experience is compromised by a high number of physical interventions and behavioural incidents which are currently happening within the home.

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Quality of care adequate

Children enjoy constructive relationships with members of staff. Planned key working sessions mean children spend regular one-to-one time with their allocated worker. This builds positive interactions and allows frequent opportunities for children to speak with their key worker. There have been no complaints from children, or any external parties since the previous inspection.

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Quality of care adequate

Most children attend the on-site independent school. Effective communication links continue to exist between all the education establishments and staff. This creates an 7 of 11 environment where individual children’s education and learning goals are fully supported by staff. Activities are well-planned and are child-focused. They include a variety of interests and opportunities, including uniformed organisations, horse riding and house holidays. This gives children chances to try new experiences and make new friends.

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Quality of care adequate

The arrangements for the storage and administration of medication are improved. Since the previous inspection, all staff have completed training in drugs administration. The medication cabinet is more orderly, and records are now consistently completed by staff. Audit systems now more robustly check that staff are administering medicines correctly. This ensures children are given their prescribed medications and this supports children’s physical health.

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Quality of care adequate

Children influence the running of the home on a regular basis. Community meetings take place daily and involve children sharing both their achievements and opinions. Since the previous inspection, the facilitation of the community meetings has been revised so all children may now contribute to these events if they wish to. Staff continue to use creative ways of gaining children’s ideas about the home. For example, in relation to the redecoration of a lounge area, children have drawn their ideas for wall coverings on a specially designed feedback sheet. This is a child- focused and imaginative way to gather children’s thoughts and design ideas.

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Quality of care adequate

Children live in a well-maintained and safe home. They personalise their bedroom space and enjoy playing games together in the communal areas. The outdoor gardens offer children space to run and enjoy the local countryside safely.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Behaviour management practices within the home have improved. Staff no longer place hands on children in order for them to comply with instructions or if they present serious disruption which does not place themselves or others in immediate danger. The children’s home’s behaviour management policy has been updated to reflect this change.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The use of sanctions within the home has reduced. Sanctions imposed now are reasonable and their effectiveness is considered. As a result, children no longer receive repetitive or inappropriate sanctions. Staff clearly understand these changes and now follow the individualised sanction plans for each child. Children’s views are now captured on a regular basis with house records. This allows the Registered Manager to consider the child’s views on whether a sanction imposed is fair.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The quality of restraint records is improved. The Registered Manager now regularly and comprehensively cross references house documentation to ensure all records are accurate. Staff now spend time with children following incidents and seek their views which are now recorded. This ensures the Registered Manager has full and complete 8 of 11 information, including children's comments, to evaluate in line with regulatory requirements.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Since the previous inspection, the number of recorded incidents involving restraint has increased. 95 incidents have occurred involving six of the children. Through his monitoring, the Registered Manager identifies specific reasons for this increase. On occasions, some children are still being held for long periods of time, such as 50 minutes. The reasons for the need to intervene are now more clearly documented, and from incidents sampled these reasons are appropriate. However, some restraints remain lengthy. Due to the continued long duration of some holds and the overall increase in physical intervention within the home, a requirement is set to minimise the use of restraint within the home.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

A previous requirement was set in relation to improving recruitment practice within the home. There have been no new staff appointed since the previous inspection. Consequently, inspectors were unable to evaluate to impact of changes made to the recruitment policy and amendments to staff application forms. Safe recruitment practice will be considered again at the next inspection.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

One child has been reported missing to the police since the previous inspection. Missing from care protocols were promptly followed and good records kept of actions taken to locate the child. The child was welcomed back to the home and spoken to sensitively about the event. This demonstrates effective systems in place to protect children if they go missing.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Significant events relating to the protection and welfare of children have been shared appropriately with placing authorities. This ensures that placing social workers are kept up to date with important events in children’s lives. Children are protected by sound health and safety routines within the home.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

No bullying behaviours were identified during the inspection. However, the group of children living in the home are currently unsettled. This is demonstrated through an increased number of incidents and restraints for some children. This in turn negatively impacts on the other children in the home who may witness or inadvertently become involved in these events. Some children tell staff or indicate through their behaviour that they are scared when some incidents occur. The Registered Manager has taken steps to appropriately review the care plans for some children. He has also formally requested multi-agency meetings to discuss current presenting behaviours. These steps will consider whether the current children's group remains appropriate.

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Leadership and management adequate

9 of 11 The manager was registered with Ofsted in July 2013. He has been working within this children’s home for the past 9 and a half years. He is currently completing the level 5 Diploma in 'leadership for health and social care and children and young people's services'. Through this course he is extending his current knowledge base and developing his leadership skills.

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Leadership and management adequate

The current Statement of Purpose dates back to 2011. It does not contain accurate information about staff who work in the home, including the Registered Manager. This document makes reference to this children’s home providing therapeutic childcare. However, it does not describe details of the therapy provided, or how the home measures the effectiveness of its approach, or details of the clinical supervision of staff. As a result, placing authorities and parents are not able to access accurate information about the therapeutic method used in the home. The Registered Manager was unable to clearly describe the therapeutic approach used. A first draft of a revised statement of purpose was produced during the inspection. However, this still lacks specific information required by regulation in relation to therapeutic interventions provided by the home staff.

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Leadership and management adequate

A requirement set at the previous inspection in relation to internal monitoring reports could not be evaluated on this visit. The Registered Manager is not due to complete another report until the end of February 2015. The effectiveness and impact of subsequent reports will be considered at the next inspection.

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Leadership and management adequate

Since the previous inspection, the Registered Manager has received a formal supervision session. This provided him with one-to-one guidance from a senior colleague who is external to the home. As a result, the Registered Manager was able to discuss areas for development and receive professional guidance and support. Other staff receive on-going supervision from senior home staff and the record- keeping of these meetings is improved. These supervisions are child-focused and include discussion about individual work with children. This ensures the quality of performance management systems is evidenced and these records can then form part of individual staff’s annual appraisal.

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Leadership and management adequate

54% of the staff team have achieved a level 3 diploma in childcare or equivalent. The remainder of staff are either completing a course currently, or remain within their probationary period. All staff undertook a child protection training course in January 2015. This means all staff now have up to date knowledge of safeguarding policies and procedures including the newest staff members. Staff are now expected to complete the CWDC induction standards as part of their probationary period within the home. All staff who had not previously completed the induction package are now in the process of finishing it. Staff keep and complete their own personal induction booklets. Consequently, no induction booklets were sampled and evaluated during this inspection. Although staff undertake in-house therapeutic training, attendance and course details are not formally recorded. This makes it difficult to evaluate which

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Leadership and management adequate

staff are trained and who is not, and whether the therapeutic training provided is adequate. 10 of 11 Previous requirements set in relation to the independent person’s external monitoring reports have been met. These reports now contain direct feedback from children about living in the home. This ensures the children’s views are heard and reported on. The independent person now samples children’s documents and cross references them more widely in order to form an opinion on the practice within the home. From this increased scrutiny, recommendations and action points are now set with clear timescales. These external reports now contain more professional challenge and this supports the home in improving.

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Leadership and management adequate

Since the previous inspection, the Registered Manager has focused on addressing the identified requirements and recommendations. This focus has been successful and seven requirements have been fully met. Two requirements are repeated as they have been unable to be evaluated at this visit. Two previous recommendations are met. Three new regulatory breaches and one good practice recommendation have been identified as a result of this visit. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management adequate

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information 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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Information 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 framework of inspection for children's homes.

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