Children's home run by Acorn Children’s Home (Branston) Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1276706 1 Registered provider: Acorn Children’s Home (Branston) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home accommodates up to four children. It is one of two children’s homes run by a small limited company. Its aim is to stabilise children and to ensure that they feel safe, secure and cared for. The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2019 and holds a level 4 qualification in leadership and management.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home was issued with five compliance notices. These have all been met. The home has also had a restriction of accommodation and a suspension of accommodation issued. These have both now expired. Inspection report children’s home: 1276706 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 02/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1276706 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)) 02/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 1276706 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the home re-opened, it has accommodated three children. One child stayed at the home for one week. The latest children to move into the home have been at the home for a short period of time. One child moved in eight weeks ago and the second child moved in three days ago. Despite these short periods, both children are making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use their good links with the in-house therapist to help them to understand the therapeutic approach used by the organisation. This well-coordinated approach gives children the help and support that they need so that their emotional well-being improves over time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy personalised care from staff who have quickly got to know their needs and interests well. For example, children are encouraged to pursue their interests, such as playing computer games, attending ballet lessons and singing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to be part of the community. For example, they often help to cook for a local homeless charity. One child recently made and sold cakes to help to raise funds for the charity.

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improvement to be good

On the whole, staff manage children’s challenging behaviours well. However, on one occasion, comments made by the staff resulted in a child’s behaviour escalating. The records completed by the staff following an incident are not always written in line with the company’s policy about who should talk to the child afterwards. This causes unnecessary confusion.

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improvement to be good

Staff put safeguarding strategies in place to protect both the staff and the children. However, staff have not always considered the impact this may have on everyone’s fire safety. For example, fire doors are propped open in the lounge on occasion. This has the potential to compromise everyone’s safety in the event of a fire. Inspection report children’s home: 1276706 5 The registered manager has missed some of the necessary recruitment checks to ensure that staff are suitably vetted. For example, two agency members of staff have not had the reasons why they left their employment when working with vulnerable adults and children verified by the organisation.

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improvement to be good

Children feel safe in the home. They do not go missing from the home and staff have undergone training that enables them to understand the risks and vulnerabilities that children may face.

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improvement to be good

Staff meet up with the local police regularly and share essential information. This joined- up approach helps to enable children’s welfare to be protected. One police officer told the inspector that they had ‘no concerns’ as to the ability of the staff team to care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new manager has worked hard to address most of the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. The manager is reflective in his practice and is making ongoing improvements. Staff feel supported by him and refer to him as a ‘teacher’ and that he is keen to ‘share his knowledge’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff show a genuine commitment to helping children to make good progress in all areas of their lives. Staff have high aspirations for the children and are keen to develop their practice so that children experience high-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Diversity and culture are celebrated by the staff and the children. For example, staff share their cookery tips in using different spices to flavour foods and children are currently learning about the Chinese New Year.

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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: 1276706 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorn Children’s Home (Branston) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Claremont House, 223 Branston Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire DE14 3BT

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Inspector

Louise Battersby: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1276706 7 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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