Children's home run by Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd

Inspection report children's home: 2567607 1 Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to five children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is owned by a private provider. The recently registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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 1 December 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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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2567607 2 Not previously inspected Inspection report children's home: 2567607 3

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outstanding

The progress and experiences of children living in this home are outstanding. The home provides stability and a sense of belonging. This enables children to form very strong relationships with staff. A child said, ‘I love it here. Staff are so kind and genuinely care. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me, moving here.’

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outstanding

Children’s emotional health and well-being is a priority for staff. When children experience trauma, staff ensure that every available support is provided. This includes more specialist support services. Staff work well with health agencies. One health specialist commended staff and managers for their comprehensive understanding of trauma and continued support for a child.

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outstanding

Children are supported to keep in touch with family, friends and others who are important to them. Staff promote and fully support them to maintain important relationships. One social worker praised the home for taking a child a considerable distance to see a relative who was not able to travel.

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outstanding

Children form positive attachments to staff and the manager. Over time, they learn to trust and share their feelings with staff. One child said, ‘staff were so nice they could talk to them about anything’. The child recognised making the right decision in an incident at school and said, ‘It made me feel proud of the progression I’ve made.’

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outstanding

The home has been beautifully renovated and now is a warm and inviting physical environment. Children have had strong involvement in deciding the home’s decor and in creating their own personalised spaces and bedrooms.

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outstanding

Children are helped to understand the importance of education and employment opportunities. One young person has recently completed her GCSE exams. She told staff she would not have sat her exams if she had not lived at the home and had the support of staff. Another child has been supported to gain work experience, volunteering in the local community. This has supported her to develop her independence and self-esteem. All children have secured college placements for September.

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outstanding

The views of young people are respected and valued by the manager and staff. Children know how to complain if they are unhappy. They meet with staff on a regular basis for house meetings and they express their views about issues affecting their lives. As a result, children influence how the home is run.

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

The current risk assessments identify all known risks for each child. They are regularly reviewed and updated. However, the layout of the information does not Inspection report children's home: 2567607 4 provide staff with a clear or easy sense of what strategies they should use if a child is at risk. The manager accepts this observation and is working closely with the IT systems provider to make the required changes.

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

Staff understand that children will not always make consistent progress. Children will occasionally revert to patterns of challenging and harmful behaviour. As a result, staff are resilient and confident in their responses. They work closely with therapists to review their strategies and to develop new interventions. One health practitioner said, ‘The child feels loved and nurtured by the home. They do this very well. They remain supportive and committed to her.’

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

Incidents of children going missing from care are rare. Staff respond quickly and appropriately to any such incidents. There is a clear learning culture in the team. They adapt their practices and risk assessments to further reduce the risk of children going missing.

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

The use of restraints has reduced. Staff have an excellent understanding of children’s complex needs. They use their relationships with children to de-escalate behaviours quickly, responding sensitively and adapting their approach as needed.

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

Staff undertake a range of training opportunities. These include extensive courses in subjects such as attachment and trauma, equipping them to understand children’s needs and provide a stable and nurturing home for children.

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

Systems for administering and recording medication are not robust. Staff failed to administer one child’s medication and a separate recording error was identified within medication records. Daily medication audits are completed; however, they are not always clearly recorded. The manager took immediate steps to rectify this shortfall, including introducing a separate record for audits.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recently registered manager has a wealth of childcare experience. She has made significant changes to the home following her appointment. There is a clear vision shared by all, that is ambitious, with improving outcomes for children the main objective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is a strength of the home. The manager works closely with multi-agency bodies to ensure children’s plans identify and meet their individual complex needs. The manager is a strong advocate for children and effectively challenges when children’s needs are not met. For example, she challenges educational services when there is a lack of progress in identifying a suitable education provision for a child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff morale remains high, despite recent challenges. The manager has created a supportive working environment for staff. This helps staff to be resilient as they care for children through unsettled periods. Inspection report children's home: 2567607 5 Staff feel supported. One staff member said, ‘The manager offers all her support to us. She really is the best.’ Staff receive regular supervision and speak positively about how helpful they find their supervision sessions. However, supervision would benefit from being more reflective. Some learning opportunities have been missed as a result of this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Matching of children placed at the home is robust. This was previously identified as a shortfall. There has been organisational learning from this situation. Managers now understand the importance of careful matching of children and the skills of staff, ensuring staff have the required skills and experience to meet children’s needs. Inspection report children's home: 2567607 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 make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b)(c)) 28 July 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Supervisions to include reflective practice following incidents, physical interventions, this is a missed opportunity for lessons to be learned. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (Guide to Children’s homes regulations including the quality standards Page 42, 9.5) Risk assessments identified all risks. However, they did not contain all measures identified to manage risks. Inspection report children's home: 2567607 7

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 4 Everitt Close, Wellingborough, Northants NN8 2QE

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2567607 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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