Children's Home run by Little Acorns London Beach Farm Limited in Kent

Inspection report children's home: SC023651 1 SC023651 Registered provider: Little Acorns London Beach Farm Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to eight children who may have behavioural and/or other difficulties. Therapy is available to all children if required. There is a registered school on site.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since October 2018.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 6 October 2020 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: Requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: SC023651 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/11/2018 Full Good 16/10/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC023651 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a spacious home environment in which to play and to have quiet time and fun with each other. This includes a therapeutic sensory room, a large garden and a good range of outdoor and indoor play equipment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by a committed and skilled workforce who use positive relationships as the focus for their work. Staff talk with pride about the ‘family feel’ of the home and the care that they provide to children. The emphasis on relationship-based work is evident both in interactions between staff and children and the way that records are written.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of individualised care and support is good. Care plans offer clear guidance for staff and are written in child-centred language. Photographs throughout the care plans offer a personal aspect to this work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children attend the organisation’s school. They access a range of therapies during the school day, including equine therapy, yoga, music therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. There is a regular review of these therapies by professionals to ensure that they meet individual children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Admissions into the home are carefully considered. There is a good initial assessment of needs completed by a dedicated care co-ordinator and key workers. This is used to plan therapeutic interventions for the child as well as ensuring health needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say they are happy in the home. There are a wide range of activities available, including planned trips and holidays away. When some activities were restricted recently by COVID-19, staff were creative in using local nature reserves and other nearby facilities.

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

Safeguarding systems and practice are good. Staff understand the children’s needs and vulnerabilities and promote children’s welfare. Children spoken to during the inspection say that staff listen to them and take their concerns seriously.

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

Risk assessments identify clear strategies for staff to use in response to the known behaviours of the children. Effective positive behaviour support plans are in place for all children. These give direction to those working with the children on how to manage problematic behaviours and how to support children to make safer choices. This has led to a reduction in incidents. Inspection report children's home: SC023651 4 Staff use team meetings and daily reflective groups to monitor the impact of their work with the children. This allows changes to be made when necessary and for there to be a prompt response if any concerns arise about the children.

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

Managers and staff ensure that there is a good level of oversight and understanding of children’s behaviour when incidents occur. Children are always spoken to after any incident, ensuring that they have the opportunity to share their views and to understand the impact that their behaviours may have on others.

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

There have been no incidents of children going missing from the home. There is a missing person’s protocol in place that informs staff of the steps to take to safeguard children in the event that they do go missing from the home.

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

Fire evacuations are not undertaken regularly. One child has not participated in a fire drill since he moved into the home in October 2020. This misses the opportunity to give staff and children practice in how to act in the event of a fire.

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers is judged as requires improvement due to a number of regulatory breaches identified at this inspection.

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good

Leaders and managers have not met a previous requirement in relation to completing and submitting to Ofsted the manager’s report of the quality of care in the home. This undermines the manager’s ability to demonstrate effective oversight of care practice. Leaders and managers did not notify Ofsted as required when there was a significant incident in the home.

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good

Safer recruitment practice is inconsistent within the home. Interview notes are not clear and references contain very little information. Gaps in employment history are not fully explored and they are not always signed off by a decision-maker.

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good

Leaders and managers have not challenged the poor level of scrutiny applied by the independent visitor during their monthly visits to the home. There has been a lack of engagement with children or external professionals in the monthly visits. This means that the value of the independent visitor reports is limited with regard to informing service development.

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good

Despite the shortfalls identified at this inspection, leaders and managers have high aspirations for the children. Achievable expectations are set for each child as part of their therapeutic life plan and the child’s progress is reviewed on a monthly basis. Children make good progress and enjoy living in the home.

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good

Leaders and managers advocate well for the children to ensure that the best interests of children remain at the heart of decision-making. This then ensures that the care plans remain child focused and effective. Inspection report children's home: SC023651 5 Staff benefit from regular and good-quality supervision and support. They speak highly of how accessible and approachable managers are. Training is well regarded by staff and any gaps are identified by managers or individual staff and specific training is arranged. However, the manager does not have a clear workforce development plan in place to identify how staff training will be planned and delivered to ensure that staff continue to learn and deliver good practice. Inspection report children's home: SC023651 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

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. (Regulation 45 (1)) 30 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any [other] incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 30 May 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32 (1))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that employment gaps are fully explored. 27 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d)) 30 May 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). ( The guide to the children’s Home regulation including the quality standards (2015) page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children's home: SC023651 7 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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Little Acorns London Beach Farm Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: c/o A1, Marquis Court, Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE11 0RU

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Inspector

Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC023651 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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