Children's Home run by Break Charity in Norfolk

Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 1 SC025718 Registered provider: Break Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to four children who have experienced neglect, abuse or trauma along with family and placement breakdowns. The home is owned by a registered charity.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2009.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2020 Full Outstanding 31/10/2018 Full Good 21/11/2017 Full Good 17/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children said that they are happy living at the home and that staff support them well. The staff have a good understanding of each child’s needs. Relationships between the staff and the children are positive. The staff are very child-centred and provide the children with tailored care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social workers recognise that the risk to children of exploitation and engagement with county lines has reduced. The children’s involvement in criminal activity has also reduced. These reductions demonstrate progress. However, the staff have found some of the children’s behaviours difficult to manage. As a result, children have, on occasion, been exposed to risky situations. In response, the staff have liaised effectively with wider professional networks to increase children’s safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children know how to complain, and complaints are infrequent. The staff respond swiftly to complaints, ensuring that they liaise with the relevant professionals. The staff advocate on behalf of the children to ensure that the children’s feelings and wishes are respected and listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children have education placements. However, one child has been excluded from college for several months. The staff have tenaciously advocated on this child’s behalf to help him to return to college. The staff have supported the child to complete college work at home; however, the child’s engagement in this is variable. The staff have helped the child to apply for an apprenticeship to increase his education options.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have found it difficult to encourage and engage two children in education. However, external professionals said that the staff try their utmost to engage the children in education informally. One child has taken part in a fishing enterprise. This has led to an opportunity for work experience and the possibility of a job in a fishing-tackle shop. This child was recently on television, speaking about his positive experiences of engaging in the fishing enterprise. Although the staff have not managed to encourage the child to attend his formal education provision, they have been creative in engaging him vocationally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another child is also not engaging in education. The child’s social worker said that the staff ensure that she is informed about the child’s progress or lack of engagement. The social worker said that the staff work effectively in collaboration with other professionals. The staff implement alternative strategies to promote the child’s engagement. However, despite the staff’s efforts, they have been unable to sufficiently support the child’s needs and he will be moving on from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff had not obtained one child’s care plan or personal education plan. The care plan on file was almost a year out of date. The manager had made insufficient attempts to ensure that the required records were obtained. This shortfall reduces Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 4 the manager’s capacity to ensure that the child has all the necessary services and support that they need.

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

There have been no restraints or sanctions. Conflict between the children is rare. The children said that bullying is not an issue for them. Relationships between the children are positive.

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

The staff enable the children to access and engage with independent advocates. This demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that children’s voices are heard. Children’s access to advocates means that they have someone who can listen objectively to their views about the care that they receive. This empowers children.

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

The staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and whistle-blowing procedures. The staff encourage and enable children to take age-appropriate risks. This allows the children to develop their identities and learn from their experiences.

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

The staff respond effectively to episodes of children going missing from the home. This helps to reduce risks for children and helps them to feel that staff care for and value them. The staff actively look for the children and work well with other professionals to ensure that children return to the home. The staff record their actions effectively. The frequency of children going missing has reduced compared to the frequency of incidents before they moved into the home. However, two children continue to go missing quite regularly.

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

The staff work effectively with the police. This has helped to reduce risks to children by identifying people of concern in the local community. This work enables effective risk-reduction planning.

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

The location risk assessment has been created with input from external professionals, including the police and the designated officer. The staff use information from a variety of sources to ensure that local risks are shared with and understood by the staff. Effective mitigating actions are in place to reduce risks relevant to the local area. This safeguards children.

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

Some of the children smoke and there was evidence of this in the home’s garden, despite this being a no-smoking area. The staff have not provided the children with any support to cease smoking. This fails to promote the children’s health and well- being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has an experienced manager and a well-established staff team. The manager works effectively and proactively with partnership agencies. The manager attends strategy and care-planning meetings and is a good advocate for the children. Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 5 The staff said that the manager provides them with support and guidance to ensure that good-quality care is provided to the children. The manager’s practice is child-led and this is role-modelled to the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are suitably qualified and experienced and have received training that supports them to fulfil their roles. This improves the children’s experiences of living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A parent said that the manager learns from feedback and, as a result, the parent has received better communication from the staff. The parent recognised that the staff’s support to her and her child had improved her relationship with him.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has identified strengths and areas for development at the home in his six-monthly internal review. However, he has not considered the views of placing authorities, parents, external professionals, staff and children in the review. Therefore, opportunities to use these views to drive improvement have been missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has failed to monitor records effectively. Therefore, shortfalls in children’s plans and risk assessments have not been identified and addressed. Although staff know how to meet children’s needs, failure to maintain up-to-date records means that children may not have accurate information if they wish to view their records now or in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although external monitoring is generally effective, on two occasions it has taken place virtually with no clear rationale as to why. This means that the intended safeguard of the independent visits was reduced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Not all staff have received supervisions or an induction in line with the home’s policies. Lack of good-quality induction and regular supervision for staff means that opportunities to discuss and reflect on their practice are missed and that training needs may not be identified. Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 6

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s care plans are obtained from their placing authority and held on file. 4 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should discourage children from smoking and ensure that children are supported to cease smoking. 4 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and 4 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 7 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, monitor records to ensure that they remain up to date and reflective of the children’s needs and the support that they require.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(b)) 4 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(b) (7)(a)) 4 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children; 4 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 8 the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5))

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC025718 9

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Lianne Bradford, Social Care Inspector Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025718 10 to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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