Children's home run by BREAK

Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 1 SC025720 Registered provider: Break

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home, which is owned by a registered charity, provides care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 25 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children who had not attended school regularly for some considerable time have re-engaged with their education.  Staff build good relationships with the children through regular direct work. Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 2  Children do not go missing from the home. The staff are aware of the signs to be alert to if a child is at risk of child sexual exploitation.  Staff have worked skilfully with healthcare professionals to help children who have medical conditions.  The staff have developed good working relationships with schools to support children’s education placements.  Positive multi-agency work has enabled the staff to develop a better understanding of children’s needs.  Children have extended contact with important family members. Staff support these meetings to ensure that they are safe.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager has not introduced direct work to help the children understand the potential hazards on the internet.  The manager’s review of the children’s case files is not recorded. As a result, the manager cannot fully identify the how staff’s work has affected outcomes for children.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/07/2016 Full Good 17/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/01/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff help children to understand how to protect themselves, feel protected, and be protected from significant harm. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43 paragraph 9.9) In particular, help children to understand how to keep themselves safe when using the internet.  Make the best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55 paragraph 10.24) In particular, review all case files in order to anticipate and learn from incidents and difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress because they live at this home. Staff build positive relationships with the children, which has enabled the children to settle. There are regular key-work and residents’ group sessions, when the staff use good communication skills to discuss important issues with the children. The subjects for these meetings result from topics identified in the children’s care plans, or from activities or incidents that have occurred. The manager and seniors reflect on events and make changes to risk assessments and care plans. It is clear from the changes made to care plans that the manager has given very careful thought to how staff should adapt their work to meet the children’s needs. However, there is no record of the manager’s review of the children’s case files, which means that there is no clear audit to refer to. Children are making good progress in their education. School and college staff speak

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

highly of the way that staff have supported children to engage with their work. Some of the children arrived at this home having not attended school for some considerable time. They are now engaged with the curriculum. This means that children are developing skills and knowledge, and have the potential to gain qualifications and continue on to further education or work. A teacher commented, ‘The staff have the child’s best interests at heart, and communication between the home and school is good. The home listens to and takes part in discussions about the child’s educational needs.’ Another school teacher reported by email, ‘I believe we have built a good, strong working relationship to support the children. We are in regular contact, to share positives as well as discuss any issues, by phone or email. Our communications are direct and honest Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 4 and, if necessary, challenging of the other.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have worked particularly effectively with external professional colleagues to help to maintain and improve the children’s health. There has been regular consultation with doctors, and specific training has helped the staff to understand particular circumstances that have required discreet and thoughtful management. This has seen an improvement in children managing their conditions better. A nurse from the children and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) visits the children and meets with the staff. This has helped the staff to gain further knowledge about topics such as attachment disorders and the potential impact on children. The nurse commented about the care provided to the children, ‘There is a whole-team approach to meeting the children’s needs. The staff work together to ensure that there are consistent boundaries, which has seen the children make good progress.’ Other children have started dental treatment

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

which had been needed for some time, because they have received support from the staff. Children have joined local rugby and athletics clubs. This helps to maintain their fitness and secure a friendship group outside the home. Some children have established particularly good relationships. For example, one child has had overnight stays with friends following discussion with staff. Other activities include cinema trips, days out to the beach or other attractions. Decisions are made through the regular residents’ group meetings with staff. This provides the children an opportunity to express their views. Staff have worked with social workers to extend the children’s contact with the important people in their lives. Effective working relationships have developed to ensure that these contact sessions take place safely and in a way that allows the children to enjoy the event fully. Children are encouraged to develop age-appropriate self-help skills. For some, this

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

means learning to tidy and, supported by staff, to clean their room. Other, older children are learning to budget and manage their laundry. This means that they can develop confidence in these aspects of independent living ahead of any planned move.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children say that they feel safe in the home. One commented, ‘I feel safe here. I can see that I have grown up and matured.’ Another child commented, ‘The staff have accepted me and help me to stay as calm as possible. I am not worried about my safety or that of other children in the home.’ The staff have recently reinstalled the internet for the children. A member of staff is undergoing training to become an internet safety champion. Although there is regular monitoring of children’s use of social media, the manager has not introduced any direct key work to help the children to understand the potential hazards online. Children do not go missing from the home. All of the staff have completed training to raise their awareness of the risks for children who are missing from care. The staff are aware of the signs to be alert to if a child is at risk of child sexual exploitation. The manager, in partnership with senior staff, updates risk assessments. These are shared

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

with staff at handovers and updates are circulated during staff meetings. This means Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 5 that staff have the most up-to-date information to work with. Trained staff have physically intervened on two occasions to prevent children from hurting themselves or others. The manager has reviewed the restraint log and staff and children have been spoken to, in order to see if alternative action could have been taken. The children are rewarded for good behaviour. The manager and staff use restorative sanctions first to help children to understand the impact of their actions. The manager has introduced this approach, and he encourages staff to look to support the children to be positive in their relationships with each other and the staff. This approach has seen a reduction in negative sanctions. The support from the nurse from CAMHS has helped to focus the staff on consistency.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

This includes how they work together to help children to recover from their early life trauma. As a result, the staff understand the children’s responses and actions better.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been appointed to this role during this year. He has worked for the organisation for a number of years as a deputy manager and senior worker. He has started to undertake a relevant level 5 diploma. The manager skilfully encourages the staff through his leadership and supervision to focus on developing strong and stable relationships with the children. Alongside the deputy manager and other senior workers, he is strengthening the understanding that staff have of the children’s needs. The manager achieves this through working together with other professionals to bring their expertise into the home. As a result, staff knowledge and confidence has grown. All eligible staff have completed the required diploma level qualification. In-house induction and further training ensures that staff have the skills to meet the children’s needs. The manager encourages open conversations with the children. He participates in

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

activities along with other staff. This means that he can observe the staff working directly with the children. It also gives him the opportunity to listen to the views of children and take action if needed. The manager has worked with the children directly to discuss the relationships that exist between the children, to ensure that the relationships remain good natured. Placing authorities are positive about the outcomes that children are achieving. The manager has a good working relationship with those authorities. He is able to question decisions made if he feels that these are not in the children’s best interests. The manager works alongside the placing social workers to plan for safety-assessed family contact that prioritises the needs of the children. As a result, children’s relationships with these important people are maintained. The manager monitors the children to ensure that they achieve the best possible

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

outcomes. He uses the report of the independent visitor to guide him in areas that need improvement. For example, the recent report highlighted that carpeting on the landing needed to be renewed. The manager has costed this as part of the development plan for the home. This plan also identifies the development of the training pathway for staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 6 The manager has ensured that one consistent member of the agency staff is used in the home to cover maternity leave. The children have been able to build a rapport with the staff member, rather than having the disruption of many different agency staff coming into the home. The manager arranged for an induction for this agency member of staff, and the deputy manager assisted with mentoring to ensure that the staff member was aware of the policies and procedures of the home ahead of their initial shifts.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Break, Spar Road, Norwich NR6 6BX

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Inspector

Michael Mulvaney, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025720 8 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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