Children's Home, Residential special school run by Acorn Norfolk Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report children's home: SC435322 1 SC435322 Registered provider: Acorn Norfolk Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to 28 children who are on 38-week or 52-week residential placement options. There is an on-site school that is registered with the Department for Education. There are currently 17 children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home specialises in providing care for children with autism spectrum disorder, complex needs, moderate to severe learning difficulties, communication difficulties and associated behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2020.

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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 home on 6 October 2020 to carry out an assurance 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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted. Inspection report children's home: SC435322 2 Date of last inspection: 25 February 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC435322 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 08/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/11/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/08/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: SC435322 4

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improvement to be good

Most of the children have positive experiences and make steady progress from their starting points. However, the shortfalls identified in safeguarding and managerial monitoring, combined with a period of staff shortages, have reduced the overall quality of care.

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improvement to be good

The staff work hard to provide children with a welcoming and stimulating environment. The accommodation is spacious and well appointed, to meet children’s recreational and leisure interests. There are significant improvements to the house interiors. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and individual spaces are adapted to meet the children’s sensory needs. Children enjoy large outdoor grounds and a range of play equipment. However, the garden areas have not been maintained to a reasonable standard, which detracts from the overall standard of accommodation.

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improvement to be good

Children experience well-planned moves to the home. The staff spend time with children prior to them moving in and carefully consider their individual needs. Adapted guides and the effective use of social stories help children to feel reassured and minimise their potential anxiety. Matching assessments that consider group dynamics are carried out. As a result, children have warm introductions and settle into established routines.

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improvement to be good

All the children have education plans. The staff actively encourage children with their learning. For some children, school attendance is variable; however, links with the school staff minimise gaps in children’s learning. In most cases, the children are making sustained progress towards their education targets from their starting points.

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improvement to be good

The multi-disciplinary staff team provides a coordinated approach to the children’s care. The staff work effectively with speech and language therapists, occupational health practitioners and specialist behavioural teams. This level of support ensures that the children’s health and communication needs are consistently responded to.

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improvement to be good

Staff celebrate the children’s unique differences and support equality and diversity well. This includes helping children to learn about different cultures and to actively follow their religious beliefs. Children maintain a sense of cultural identity and belonging and broaden their understanding of the world around them.

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improvement to be good

Children take part in daily household routines. They help with cooking, shopping and other household tasks. The staff help children to develop these skills with techniques such as using visual schedules and graduated levels of prompting. This active participation enables children to develop some independence skills in line with their individual abilities. Inspection report children's home: SC435322 5

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improvement to be good

The children have highly complex needs and these can link to incidents when they are at risk. Staff usually manage incidents in line with children’s support plans. Generally, the staff intervene in ways that safeguard children at times of high anxiety. However, the managerial oversight of these incidents is not always effective. Following incidents, future actions are identified. However, these actions are often not added to the children’s risk assessments. There have been three incidents of a child gaining access to the home’s car keys. One of these incidents ended with a child moving the home’s car a short distance. This significant risk was not added to the child’s risk management plan, despite this being identified as an action from the manager’s review. Therefore, the risk assessments do not always give staff appropriate guidance about how to manage emerging risks for children. The overall lack of oversight and follow-up after some incidents mean that learning from

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improvement to be good

incidents does not consistently inform practice to prevent recurrence.

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improvement to be good

There have been nine allegations about members of staff. Six of these allegations have been managed effectively. However, three have not been managed in line with the home’s safeguarding policy. One incident, when a child alleged that a staff member had caused them harm, was not reported by the staff involved using the correct safeguarding procedures. The house manager failed to identify this delay during the review of the incident. The allegation was only identified two weeks after the incident, by the independent person, and subsequently investigated. A second allegation of emotional abuse was not referred to the designated officer. Another incident involving a staff member was not thoroughly investigated or notified to the designated officer or Ofsted. The potential for significant harm because of staff practice during this incident was not recognised. A failure to follow the safeguarding policy means that investigations are delayed and learning from incidents when

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improvement to be good

The use of physical interventions has decreased for children over time. However, the monitoring of the supporting records is not effective. The duration of specific holds is not always recorded and some corresponding body charts are inaccurate. Following interventions, the staff do not always have access to debriefs and children’s views are not gathered. For some incidents, it was unclear if medical attention had been offered. The records fail to capture the required safeguards and compromise the effectiveness of managerial oversight. Recording and managerial oversight that lacks effectiveness hinders learning opportunities to identify risks and reduce the occurrence of further incidents.

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improvement to be good

The managers make appropriate and thorough recruitment checks for most staff. However, a minority of staff who are employed at the on-site school also work in the residential houses. Managers have failed to ensure that all appropriate checks have been carried out for these staff, specifically in relation to the vulnerable adults barred list. This fails to provide effective and consistent recruitment practice. Inspection report children's home: SC435322 6 Staff support children to understand risk in ways that are appropriate to their needs and levels of understanding. This has included work on staying safe online, which helps to reduce children’s vulnerabilities in this area.

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improvement to be good

Thorough health, safety and fire checks are regularly undertaken. The children are included in fire drills and have personal evacuation plans in place. Support for children to understand risks, combined with good health and safety procedures, helps to ensure children’s physical safety.

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good

The registered manager is experienced and qualified to level 5. She works with the responsible individual to provide a consistent management presence. However, there are areas of managerial monitoring and oversight that are not effective. This has resulted in a number of shortfalls in safeguarding children and the monitoring of incidents. Combined, these shortfalls have the potential to compromise the children’s safety.

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good

The two requirements raised at the assurance visit are met. However, several of the shortfalls identified at this inspection have been raised at previous visits.

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good

The manager is mainly aware of incidents and allegations. However, she does not always address practice concerns to an effective level. There is not enough oversight of the records of physical interventions, medication errors, children’s risk assessments and staff rotas. The managerial reviews of incidents are inconsistent, undated and sometimes unsigned. This makes it unclear who has undertaken the managerial review and when. Some reviews do not include a comment on staff’s responses, particularly when there are areas for improvement or recurring incidents. The management team has failed to show enough curiosity regarding one incident. This lack of oversight fails to provide the extra safeguard to children and reduces the opportunities for staff to improve their practice.

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good

An ambitious recruitment drive has reduced the number of staff vacancies. The children have ratios of staffing, agreed with placing authorities, that match their individual needs. These ratios are not always adhered to as there are several shifts when the number of staff on duty does not match the agreed ratio. This is difficult to monitor because the rota of staff does not accurately capture the number of staff working. Staffing shortages have been raised by the independent person and are highlighted by staff in incident reviews and supervisions. Although staff morale is improving, some staff have expressed concerns about being able to safely supervise children.

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good

There continues to be a small number of staff who have not achieved a relevant level 3 qualification in the requisite timescales, and over half of the staff do not have this required qualification. This is something that the organisation is working to address but the increase in new staff has made this hard to achieve. Inspection report children's home: SC435322 7 The internal quality of care review is objective and captures the views of interested parties and children. However, it has not been submitted to Ofsted within the required timescales after completion. This reduces Ofsted’s capacity to monitor the home effectively.

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good

The management team is aware of some of the shortfalls identified and has plans to reduce the scope and size of the service by separating the registration into smaller homes with a more accountable management structure.

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good

A new online system has been purchased to aid and improve report writing and managerial oversight.

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good

Inspectors spoke to five parents during the inspection. Three of these parents have provided positive feedback. They have confidence in the staff and feel that their children are safely cared for. Some of the parents are particularly positive about the level of communication with the staff and the support given when children move into the home. There are other parents who raised issues that were discussed with the manager at the inspection. There has been one complaint from a parent which raised a number of concerns about the care provided. This has been investigated fully and concluded to the parent’s satisfaction. Inspection report children's home: SC435322 8

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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—

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

all allegations against staff are managed in line with the home’s safeguarding policies and referred to the designated officer; and

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Requirement Due date

staff update children’s risk assessments following incidents. 20 October 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

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)) 30 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC435322 9 In particular, ensure that children are supervised by the number of staff agreed between the home and the placing authority.

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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

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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, ensure that the manager has clear oversight and understanding of any allegations, behavioural incidents and medication administration errors to identify lessons learned, and ensure that risk assessments and staff rotas are checked and reviewed for accuracy. 30 October 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.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d)) 30 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or 31 March 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC435322 10 a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual—

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Requirement Due date

does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or

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Requirement Due date

works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part- time basis. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b) (6)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(viii)(b)(i)(c)) 30 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC435322 11 Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is an accurate record of persons working at the home and a true record of the actual hours worked. 30 October 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 an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; or

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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)(c)(e)) 30 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation (45) (4)(a)) 31 December

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Recommendation

 The registered person should provide a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. In particular, ensure that the gardens and patio areas are maintained to a good standard. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report children's home: SC435322 12

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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: SC435322 13

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorn Norfolk Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atria, Spa Road, Bolton, Lancashire BL1 4AG

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Inspectors

Deirdra Keating, Social Care Inspector Mark Anderton, Social Care Inspector Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC435322 14 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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