Children's home run by BREAK

Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 1 SC424271 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 home, which is operated by a charitable organisation, provides care for up to four children who have learning disabilities and/or sensory impairments.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2011.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 18 December 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2018 Full Outstanding 08/11/2017 Full Good 30/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 29/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 3

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, ensure that mobility fixtures are removed if they are not required by a child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children continue to make exceptional progress while living at this home. A highly committed, dynamic and ambitious staff team that understands the children’s individual needs enables this progress. Children’s quality of life and future opportunities are enhanced because of their experiences at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have forged strong relationships with staff. External professionals spoke of the love and genuine care that the staff give the children. Because of these relationships, the children develop the sense of security and stability that they need to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children make significant developments with their independence skills. The staff help the children to develop these skills through using techniques such as hand over hand and verbal prompts. Highly individualised approaches are tailored to children’s developmental stages and continuously adapted so that children make progress that is significant for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff are tenacious advocates and ensure that the children access their rights to education. In one example, staff challenged the lack of suitable education for a child, which resulted in financial recompense. As an interim measure, the staff provided this child with a high level of support at the home, which enabled him to achieve an ASDAN award. Another child benefited from exceptional support that contributed to his successful exam results. The staff at the home have maintained strong professional relationships with the school staff. The strength of these relationships means that they can withstand challenge from the home because the school staff understand that the home has children’s best interests at the centre of practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff are particularly creative in their approach to gaining children’s views and helping them to communicate. Because of the strength of these approaches, children can express themselves, make themselves understood and make informed choices. Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 4 The children enjoy a diverse and wide range of meaningful activities. The staff are committed to furthering children’s social experiences. Planned holidays, going to concerts, trips to theme parks, short breaks away and a range of local trips help to widen children’s experience of the world around them and give them opportunities that they have not had previously. The staff find local clubs for the children that relate to their interests and hobbies. These opportunities provide the children with new experiences and friendships. One parent said, ‘The staff have a passion to ensure [my child’s] happiness.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff have very strong relationships with the children’s families. An example of the support that families receive was a trip to Harry Potter World that included a parent. This gave the parent and the child an experience that had previously not been available to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The manager has been instrumental in planning, with other professionals, a successful transition for one of the children to adult living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff work hard to provide a welcoming, spacious and stimulating environment. The children have contributed significantly to the design of the communal areas. A thoughtful and creative approach to the layout of the home has resulted in individual spaces that meet the children’s sensory needs. An area for improvement is to consider the impact of having a hoist in a child’s bedroom even though this child does not require this aid.

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

Because of the staff’s highly dynamic risk assessment processes, the children are enabled to take balanced risks. This has resulted in a reduction of significant incidents. The staff respond to the children’s progress by reducing levels of supervision when it is safe to do so. For example, one child has moved to one-to-one staffing from two-to-one staffing in some situations. Written risk assessments are concise and provide clear strategies. Staff are therefore guided effectively. The risks to children have reduced.

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

The staff successfully implement the clear behaviour support plans. The children, who have complex needs and have been described as challenging in other settings, have flourished. The stable relationships and strong behaviour support have led to a significant reduction of incidents. The management team’s robust oversight, review and analysis of all incidents have enabled effective identification of triggers to behaviour. The managers have used the learning from this analysis to inform future strategies. For example, tracking tools identify precursor signs to anxiety and enable the staff to moderate their responses accordingly.

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

The staff rarely use restrictive physical interventions. There has been one physical intervention since the last inspection. This incident was recorded well and was subject to good managerial oversight. The reduction in the number of physical interventions is a direct consequence of the high-quality relationships and strong behaviour support. Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 5 The staff have used a particularly creative approach to develop a child’s sense of internet safety. The staff used one of the child’s computer games to engage him in understanding online risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A highly dynamic, experienced and effective registered manager is supported by an equally dynamic deputy manager. The management team and the staff have extremely high aspirations for the children. The impact on children is profound. The children’s lives are enriched because they live at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff and management teams have sustained overwhelmingly positive relationships with parents and professionals, who provided consistently good feedback about the quality of care and effectiveness of communication.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff meetings are highly attended, child focused and reflective. Guest speakers attend, which helps to develop the staff’s breadth of knowledge and improve their skills. The management team meetings are creative and innovative and include various models to reflect on and identify areas for improvement. Senior staff members attend these meetings and they take on delegated responsibilities that empower them and make them feel valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Highly effective training equips the staff well to meet the children’s needs and to continuously update their knowledge and skills. The staff implement this knowledge in their daily practice. Following training courses, the staff continue to reflect on their learning through supervisions, team meetings and practice discussions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supervision is of extremely high quality. The manager has high standards and expectations of the staff. She scrutinises staff practice and helps the staff to reflect on policies by using quizzes and creative approaches. This helps the staff to take in information and contribute to policy review. The staff benefit from detailed appraisals that identify development needs and targets. Consequently, the staff feel valued, empowered and motivated to provide good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager recognised shortfalls in independent monitoring visits. She challenged the visitor to improve the quality and level of scrutiny, particularly by gaining views from parents and other professionals. The independent visitor’s reports have since improved. Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 6

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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 differences 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 whom 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: SC424271 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Schofield House, 1 Spar Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR6 6BX

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Inspector

Mark Anderton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC424271 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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