Children's Home run by Norfolk County Council in Norfolk

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children who have histories of placement breakdowns and aggressive behaviour have engaged positively with the staff.  Children have used advocates to challenge decisions about their education. This has led to children accessing an increased education timetable.  Staff support the children to rebuild their relationships with their families.  Staff are working effectively with a child to reduce his criminal activity and the number of incidents of going missing from care.  The staff team remains largely unchanged and offers children a high degree of continuity.  Staff celebrate and reinforce children’s achievements.  End-of-placement reports examine how the placement met the needs of the child.  Some areas of the home are poorly decorated or need repair. This includes peeling paint in some areas, dirty marks on doors and painted-over skirting boards.  Staff do not receive formal supervision at the frequency specified in the

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Provide a nurturing and supportive environment that is homely. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, decorate the home to a good standard  Ensure that staff receive supervision in line with the home’s supervision policy. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home is registered for two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 01/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/08/2015 Full Good 25/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/10/2014 Full Good

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Good

The two children currently living at the home have been admitted since the last inspection. They have each experienced several placement breakdowns in recent years and have both, historically, found it difficult to settle in their placements. One child has lived at the home for nine months and the other child for five months. Both children have settled in well and are experiencing the longest placements that they have had. This demonstrates the positive relationships that the children have developed with the staff team and with each other. A parent said, ‘Since being at the home, my child has changed a lot. He seems more confident and talks a lot more.’

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Good

The manager conducts a compatibility assessment to ensure that prospective admissions to the home would be an appropriate match with the children already living there. This consideration helps to minimise risks and identify strategies to ensure smooth transitions and positive group dynamics.

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Good

Staff support children to complete an ‘all about me’ document soon after they move in. These records detail information about the children, such as the names of their friends, pets and favourite foods. The child-friendly format helps the children to share some initial information and gives staff a starting point for conversations that help them to populate the child’s placement plan. This helps the children to know that their views, likes and preferences are at the centre of their care planning.

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Good

The children have a history of extended periods out of education. One of the children was successful in challenging the minimal education package that he was initially offered by the local authority. The staff supported him to access advocacy to make this challenge. The staff also challenged the local authority and this has resulted in the child accessing an increased education timetable for four days each week at an alternative education provision. Initially, the education package provided by the local authority was e-learning. The other child is gradually increasing the number of days on which he has home tuition. He finds it easier to engage in educational activities that do not feel like formal education. A tutor described the creative ways in which she engages with the children. One child said that he was ‘getting used to the tutor’. Staff value the importance of education and actively seek education placements for children.

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Good

Staff are knowledgeable about the levels that the children are working to and use positive reinforcement to recognise when the children have made great efforts to engage with their education programmes. This emphasises the importance of education to the children.

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Good

Children’s healthcare plans detail all aspects of their health and well-being. They include details about any regular medication, appointments and mental health input. Staff track and monitor any referrals to specialists and improvements in the children’s health and development.

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Good

Staff support children’s family contact arrangements in line with their care plans. This includes staff supervising contact and working with the children and their families towards increased levels of contact. This allows the children to build on their relationships with their family members.

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Good

Staff use the ‘signs of safety’ format for key-work sessions. The approach enables the child to say what they are worried about, what is going well and what they would like to happen. A child said, ‘I tell staff what I think and they write it’. This format gives the children opportunities to explore their feelings and wishes in a straightforward way. Staff are creative in trying to establish ways to obtain the children’s views, as the children often decline to attend house meetings. More recently, staff have adopted the same format used in key-work sessions to facilitate conversations about life within the home and activities that the children would like to try.

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Good

Both of the children are due to commence their pathway plans as they work towards independent living. Staff know the children well and recognise their individual needs. The staff use key-work sessions and placement plans to support the children to learn how to increase their levels of independence.

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Good

The home has been redecorated in places. However, parts of the home have peeling paint, there are marks and stains on the doors, and the skirting boards were painted over when the walls were decorated. This does not make the home feel as homely as it could be.

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Good

Upon admission to the home, the children presented with extremely challenging behaviours and histories of assaulting staff. They are both working well with the staff and are settling in to the home in a way that they have not done in previous placements. One child’s file notes that he said, ‘This is the first place that I have been and not kicked off.’

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Good

Children benefit from one-to-one staffing levels. This level of supervision means that the number of missing from care episodes are usually minimal. On the occasions when children have been missing from the home, staff have made regular phone calls to the children’s mobile phones to make contact and they have searched the local area to find them. Staff work effectively with the police, emergency duty teams and other professionals to ensure that they are all updated. ‘Return from missing’ interviews are conducted on each occasion. This supports the staff to build a picture of the factors that trigger the episodes of missing from care, with the aim of preventing further occurrences.

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Good

Staff use behaviour management plans to agree strategies to address the children’s negative behaviours. This gives the team a clear approach to use with each child. One child has agreed that when he is angry staff will allow him to walk away and he will come back a short time later. He has built on this and has increased planned periods of unsupervised time out, something that he says he has never had in previous placements due to the level of concern about his behaviours. Staff maintain phone contact while he is out and report that he is managing this well. Children benefit from this personalised approach and develop the personal responsibility that they will need in adult life.

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Good

Each child’s risk assessment takes into account their historic and current behaviours, and the approaches that the team is taking to minimise the level of risk. Staff assess children’s vulnerability to sexual exploitation, self-harm behaviour and substance misuse. Staff update the risk assessments as behaviours change to ensure that they are working with current information.

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Good

Staff are trained in physical intervention. However, this is rarely used. There has been one incident since the last inspection. The success of de-escalation and diversionary techniques is due to the rapport between the staff and children.

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Good

There are no recorded episodes of bullying, but it is a regular agenda item at staff meetings and house meetings. The manager considers potential issues in respect of bullying when placement matching is undertaken. Although bullying is not an issue currently, it is revisited regularly to ensure that staff are mindful of the potential for incidents to occur.

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Good

Children know how to make a complaint. However, there have not been any complaints or allegations recorded in this inspection period. Children have access to an independent advocate and the home’s independent visitor, should they wish to complain to someone unconnected with the home. This provides the children with an additional layer of safeguarding.

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Good

The suitably qualified and experienced registered manager has been in post since 2009. He has been absent from work for a number of months and an acting manager from within the organisation is covering the post to provide continuity for the team. The acting manager holds a level 5 qualification, has a number of years’ experience and is managing the home effectively. Staff report that they find the acting manager supportive and approachable.

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Good

A qualified staff team cares for the children, as all of the staff hold the relevant level 3 or equivalent qualifications. The acting manager has completed the annual staff appraisals. These identify the progress that staff have made in the past year, and highlight individual training needs and goals for the coming year.

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Good

Staff receive regular mandatory and developmental training at the required intervals. However, staff do not receive regular supervision in line with the home’s supervision policy. Although staff report that they receive ongoing informal supervision, the lack of regular sessions means that staff are not provided with a formal space to reflect on their practice.

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Good

Team meetings are used to discuss the children and enable the team to develop strategies to work positively with each of them. The meetings provide a forum for staff training and the local community police officer attends periodically. This helps the team to learn as a group and, consequently, the children benefit from a consistent approach by staff.

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Good

The acting manager conducts a monthly file audit which helps her to identify gaps in records. Staff follow up with external professionals to ensure that children’s files are fully reflective of the support and services that they receive.

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Good

An independent visitor monitors the home on a monthly basis and produces a report detailing events, strengths and any shortfalls. The acting manager uses these reports as an additional monitoring tool to drive improvement within the home. The reports also form the basis of the six-monthly review of the quality of care. This addresses both of the requirements made at the last inspection.

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Good

The acting manager attends multi-agency planning meetings and actively advocates on the children’s behalf. This has included challenging, jointly with the children, the local authority to provide an appropriate education programme for each of the children.

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Good

End-of-placement reports examine how the placement met the needs of the child. The process includes seeking children’s views once they have settled into their new placement. This enables the acting manager to assess how well the placement met the objectives and assists in identifying any lessons learned that will help the home’s future development.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’. An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements

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What the inspection judgements mean

are in place, however, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance, ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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