Children's home run by Clover Childcare Services Limited in North Norfolk

Inspection report children’s home: SC424897 1 SC424897 Registered provider: Clover Childcare Services Limited

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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 is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to seven children who have a history of insecure attachments and challenging behaviour and/or who have experienced breakdown of numerous placements in foster care or children’s homes.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered on 28 June 2019.

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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: SC424897 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2018 Full Outstanding 28/11/2017 Full Outstanding 27/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/12/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC424897 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Managers and staff provide very high quality individualised care for children. They meet the children’s needs exceptionally well so that children make significant progress and feel that this is their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One child has recently moved from the home to a foster family. The move was exceptionally well planned. Staff helped the child to come up with questions that were important to him that they could ask the carers. The child made exceptional progress during his time at the home and this has led to him being able to live in a family again. Some of the other children are now considered ready for foster homes and their social workers are looking for suitable places.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff do life-story work with the children to help them understand their past and why they are in care. The life-story work for the child who has recently moved to foster care was very detailed. The child was involved in choosing how it was recorded. The process involved helping him to understand why a previous plan had not worked, as well as his successes and the very positive experiences that he had at the home. During his time at the home, the staff helped him to develop an understanding of his cultural background and this is reflected well in his life-story book.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children form very strong relationships with the staff. A social worker said that their child had targeted a member of staff with negative behaviour, but because of the way in which the staff member dealt with it, this is now one of the child’s most secure attachments. The children feel valued and cared about because the staff do not give up on them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All the children are in full-time education, which for some of them is a notable improvement. Staff work very closely with the organisation’s school to help the children continue their learning outside of the school environment. The children make strong progress in their education and improve their later life chances because of the support that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff make sure that children’s health needs are met very well. They explore health issues thoroughly so that the children can get the services that they need. Staff also help the children to understand their health issues, such as foetal alcohol syndrome.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Managers and staff are trained in and use research-based practice, including consultation for staff and individual work for children with a consultant psychologist. Some social workers said that the approach used by the staff had been very successful for the children at the home. One social worker said that their child had learned to manage his emotions better because of this. Another social worker said that their child had really good opportunities to ‘be a child’ in a really homely environment. Inspection report children’s home: SC424897 4 Staff promote and, in some cases, drive children’s opportunities to spend time with their families. For some children who live further from their home areas, this is really important and helps them to maintain important relationships.

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

There is a very low level of risk-taking behaviour among the children at this home. This is largely due to the high levels of staff supervision, which are appropriate to the ages of the children. This makes the home a safe place. There have not been any instances of children going missing from the home, bullying or concerns about exploitation since before the last inspection.

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

Staff help the children to understand about risks and how to manage them. They also help the children to take age-appropriate risks within the safety of the home. Examples of this are spending time alone while on holiday, attending community groups and going on cub camp. This all helps children to learn how to keep themselves safe.

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

Children are thoroughly involved in thinking about their safety. They were included in reviewing the home’s location risk assessment so that their views on potential risks could be included and they could understand the risks in the local area.

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

Children have been included in thinking about how staff de-escalate behaviour and when it is necessary to physically hold children. The manager organised a workshop in which the children could discuss these issues. Staff have fed children’s views into their behaviour plans. This not only helps children to feel listened to, it helps everyone to come up with more effective strategies to help manage children’s behaviour.

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

The way that staff help the children to manage their behaviour is highly effective. Social workers spoke about the difference this had made for children. One child has been able to stay in full-time education. Before moving to the home, that child had frequently been excluded from education. For other children, the frequency with which the staff have to physically hold them has reduced. A social worker said that the staff are managing their child’s behaviour ‘really well’ and ‘doing an absolutely brilliant job’.

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

At the suggestion of a social worker, the staff have had training in sensory integration, which they have been able to align with their research-based approach to provide better behaviour management for one child. The staff have also been able to identify how it can help other children at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers, including directors, are highly ambitious for the children and want the best for them. The leadership and management that they provide make a real difference to the outcomes for children. They set the tone for a loving and caring home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The relationships that managers and staff have with parents and other agencies are highly effective. Staff communicate well with other people and challenge them in an Inspection report children’s home: SC424897 5 appropriate and professional way when they need to. This helps to make sure that children get well-planned and very effective care that helps them to make progress in many areas of their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers know the children very well and monitor the outcomes for them. They are currently working with a consultant psychologist to review how they monitor outcomes, so they can be even better at it. This reflects an ethos of continual improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers continue to look for ways to be better and to develop creative and innovative ideas about how they work. Examples of this include the involvement of children in risk-assessing the local area and the implementation of sensory integration. They have also introduced high-quality bound books to use with the children to compile their profiles in the search for foster placements. Managers did this in response to the children’s views that they did not like just filling in forms. Other initiatives, such as a first aid course for the children, are being organised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff, including new staff, feel well supported by managers to do their jobs well and develop their practice. New staff have very effective inductions to help them begin to work with the children. Regular supervision and high-quality training equip staff to look after the children very well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff promote equality and diversity very effectively. This includes helping children to learn about their cultures [one child has had lessons in his family’s language] and helping them to develop an understanding of other people’s differences. Staff took children to the local Pride parade and talked to them about different people’s sexuality. Children regularly visit a home for older people and spend time with them. It is always the children’s choice whether they go or not. Three children chose to visit on Christmas morning, which shows a strong commitment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children’s views are central to the operation of the home. Staff picked up on a child’s views of a proposed placement and this influenced the decision about that placement. Other children’s views make a difference to whether they spend time with their families, their life-story work, how staff help them with their behaviours and the activities that they do. This inclusion helps the children to feel valued and to be an active part of their planning and their daily lives.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC424897 6 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC424897 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Clover Childcare Services Limited

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Inspector

Clive Lucas, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC424897 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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