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

Good

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

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 Children with complex needs are able to settle quickly and form positive attachments with supportive staff.  Moves in to the home succeed because the needs of children have been carefully assessed before they move in and there is a clear plan for their care.  The home makes strong efforts to identify the most appropriate range of therapeutic interventions for children who have experienced significant childhood trauma.  The managers regularly review the effectiveness of therapies and are flexible and creative in seeking improvements.  Staff are skilled and competent in addressing the range of challenging and unwanted behaviours displayed by traumatised children.  Staff display long-term commitment to children with complex needs and are patient in helping them to make progress.  Leadership in the home is well focused on improving the quality of care of the children and helping them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 To continue the process of improvement the home must, however, address shortcomings in aspects of its administration and deficiencies in staff engagement.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 That the registered manager must maintain a clear record and plan of staff qualifications and competencies and how these will be sustained and developed to achieve delivery of the home’s statement of purpose. This should include clear records and plans for staff induction and probation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8).  That the registered manager should embed the practice of regular staff supervision in the home and ensure that this meets the need for staff to reflect meaningfully on their practice as well as how they may be affected by the behaviour of young people. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2 and page 39, paragraph 8.15).  The registered manager must maintain a system that ensures that timely repairs and maintenance provides a safe and stimulating environment and

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Recommendations

high-quality buildings for children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 5, paragraph 1.10).  The registered manager must ensure that records of restraint are clear and enable proper review of the use of control, discipline and restraint. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59).

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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 that provides an independent school for children at the home on the same site. The home specialises in the care and accommodation of children with disorganised attachment disorder, autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, global development delay, cognitive delay and speech and language difficulties. The home offers a 24 hour therapeutic curriculum to support specialist therapies.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/12/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/07/2015 Full Good 02/02/2015 Full Adequate 19/12/2014 Full Inadequate

p.5

Good

Children with complex needs make early progress when they move in and are able to form positive attachments with staff. This is because referral procedures are thorough, and careful assessment is made of children’s needs and the home’s ability to meet these. The mutual impact between new children and children already in the home is also carefully considered. Managers are confident in their practice of appropriately accepting and declining referrals.

p.6

Good

The progress that children make after moving in includes a reduction in unwanted behaviours, a decrease in the need for physical restraint and increased engagement in education. One child who was previously accessing one hour of school per week is now in full-time education. Children’s engagement in therapy takes longer, but develops as staff’s understanding of children increases. Children’s health also improves, and one child who was experiencing clusters of seizures fortnightly when moving in, has now only had a recurrence six times in the last ten months.

p.6

Good

All personal records and plans for the care and safety of the children are written in the first person. This promotes a highly personalised approach to care and heightens staff empathy and sensitivity to the world of each child.

p.6

Good

Children develop a sense of belonging and security because staff are able to demonstrate appropriate warmth and affection to children and provide consistent routine, structure and boundaries.

p.6

Good

Staff display a powerful focus on the well-being and progress of children. They speak with affection and interest about their daily experiences and celebrate their progress. This helps children to feel valued and contributes to their sense of belonging and security.

p.6

Good

The on-site school, extensive grounds and facilities for play contribute to a sense of community for the children. A culture of shared mealtimes and social interaction creates a family atmosphere in the home. This is furthered by the meaningful display of children’s photographs, records of activities and achievements and items of art and craft.

p.6

Good

Children are helped to connect with past unresolved emotional issues and engage in therapeutic activities to address these. This is the result of the stable and warm care they experience from thoughtful staff who understand their underlying needs. This engagement helps children to reduce self-defeating behaviours, reduce anxiety, engage in learning and increase their confidence and readiness for adulthood.

p.6

Good

Children benefit from the home’s access to specialised services, which help staff to understand and meet their needs. This includes the use of sessional therapists and the local child and adolescent mental health service. Arrangements have been made for one child to undergo further assessment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, to make sure that they know how his needs can most appropriately be met.

p.7

Good

Children are helped to make the best possible progress and move on to the next stage of their care because staff provide a range of specialised therapies in a flexible and individualised manner. There is an ongoing effort to improve the effectiveness of therapies and also to consider new developments in the field. Staff training and development are carefully planned to make this possible. The home also has a relevant and useful reference library.

p.7

Good

Children help to plan activities and choose meals. They say and write down what they like and dislike and staff listen and use this feedback to plan menus. Supported by staff, they hold daily community meetings to share achievements, interests and ideas, and to give opinions. They take turns to record what takes place.

p.7

Good

Children benefit from the availability of a wide range of regular activities in the community as well as planned outings and an annual holiday. Activities include horse-riding, rock-climbing, scouts, dance and musical theatre clubs as well as trips to do activities in the woods, at the seaside and at leisure centres. Recent children’s highlights include a live performance in a mainstream dance troupe, a live performance with a specialist performing arts group and one child’s selection for a local football team. These activities expand children’s experience of the world, increase social skills and self-esteem and help to build positive, fun memories.

p.7

Good

When family contact arrangements present challenge and risks, children are well supported. They benefit from these contacts because the home liaises very closely with the placing authorities and manages arrangements with care and vigilance. One child has recently been supported to experience successfully the reintroduction of sibling contact after a long period of separation.

p.7

Good

When children move to the next stage of their care, this is planned with much thought. Good assessment of readiness, together with careful preparation, results in children making successful moves to the next phase of their care and development. During this inspection period, two children successfully moved into foster-care and mainstream schools. Judgement grade

p.7

Good

Children are kept safe, in part because staff possess a high level of respect and care for them. Staff want to understand the backgrounds of each child and use this knowledge to protect them from any further avoidable emotional and mental harm.

p.8

Good

Staff are proactive in keeping children safe because they have a detailed understanding of their particular vulnerabilities, triggers and impulses that could lead to harmful behaviour. Staff are attentive and vigilant in their supervision of children and learn from incidents involving the risk of harm, and share and apply this knowledge to help keep them safe.

p.8

Good

Detailed and relevant risk assessments guide staff in keeping the children safe and safe from each other, particularly those who may display harmful behaviours.

p.8

Good

On very rare occasions when a child goes missing, the staff response is urgent and comprehensive and the pre-planned protocol for that child is followed. Staff make all reasonable efforts to locate and safeguard the child. Police profiles for each child are in place and staff are familiar with local missing from care protocols. One child has gone missing during this inspection period and was quickly located in the immediate area and safely returned to the home.

p.8

Good

When preventative efforts have been exhausted, children who have become a risk to themselves, others or property are proportionately restrained for the shortest possible duration. Recording and post-restraint procedures are followed. However, the current recording template does not specify for how long the restraint was used or evidence whether the child was debriefed afterwards.

p.8

Good

Staff’s ability to keep children safe and maintain a high level of awareness of potential risk, is supported by a systematic programme of mandatory basic training and timely updates. All staff who are beyond their period of probation have received training in the specialist areas of child sexual exploitation, internet safety and radicalisation.

p.8

Good

Children are protected from exposure to unsuitable adults by routine safe recruitment practice that includes reference verifications, criminal record checks and obtaining full and continuous records of employment.

p.8

Good

All health and safety checks and drills are completed within the required time schedules. This includes fire safety equipment and drills. This practice ensures that the children are adequately protected from identified hazards in the home. Judgement grade

p.8

Good

The home is led by a competent and experienced manager who is in the process of registration. She is suitably supported by the registered individual who is also the former registered manager of the home. The manager has a range of formal qualifications and is currently considering the most complementary further qualification that will enable her to meet the level 5 diploma requirement and also best contribute to her development as the manager.

p.9

Good

Children’s progress is boosted by a child-focused, self-motivated and cohesive staff team, which works closely together to provide for their stable, therapeutic care. All staff have achieved, or are on track to achieve, the level 3 diploma, which is a condition of their employment.

p.9

Good

All those beyond their probation period have undergone further training and development in various models of therapeutic care. Ongoing professional development is a feature of this home. When specialist training has been accessed by selected staff, this is cascaded down to other staff through staff meetings and written summaries.

p.9

Good

However, basic staff development through induction, probation and further training is inconsistent and not standardised. Rigour and structure is required to address this shortfall.

p.9

Good

There is an innovative approach to maintaining good-quality staffing levels through the recent appointment of two apprentice therapeutic residential support workers, as part of an accredited local government scheme. Apprentices will seek to attain the level 3 diploma in childcare as part of the process. This project enables a bespoke professional development best suited for the aims of the provision, and allows flexibility in considering the permanent appointment of suitable staff.

p.9

Good

Staff supervision is neither sufficiently regular or of good enough quality at the present time.

p.9

Good

Children benefit from the strong and clear manner in which the registered manager and senior staff advocate on their behalf. This is with particular regard to making the best decisions for their optimum well-being and progress as well as best next moves. This is a stand-out feature of the home. Practice in this regard is enhanced by staff’s ability to build and establish positive working relationships with external agencies through good communication, reliability and maintaining a strong focus on the needs of the children.

p.9

Good

The registered manager is effective in monitoring and understanding how care practices affect the well-being and progress of the children. There are formal and informal practices in place, which gather feedback from children and staff about their views and experiences. These include daily children’s meetings, feedback questionnaires, individual feedback sessions and staff meetings. The most recent regulation 45 report is richly illustrated throughout with the views and feelings of children.

p.10

Good

The registered manager embraces the regulation 44 review process and finds this helpful in maintaining good practice and making improvements. The most recent regulation 45 report contains good analysis and is honest in its assessment of areas for improvement. These include a more robust system for ensuring that routine maintenance and ad hoc repairs are carried out in a prioritised and timely manner.

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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’.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 0300123 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 children looked after 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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