Children's Home run by Flying Spur Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 1 Registered provider: Flying Spur Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2021 when the home opened.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have lived at this home since its registration in May 2021. The first child moved to the home in August 2021. Both children were living at the home at the time of the inspection. The children have developed good relationships with staff and have made progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers plan carefully in advance of children moving to the home. Managers work closely with placing authorities to understand children’s needs. Managers ensure that staff can meet these needs and that the children are well matched. Children have been involved in plans for their moves to the home. They have attended planning meetings and visited the home before they moved in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good education attendance. Staff help children to understand the importance of education. When there have been issues for children at school, staff have worked with the children and education professionals to help them to overcome these. Good support for children has helped them make good educational progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to think about their health and make healthy choices. Staff have advocated for children to receive specialist support for their mental health. One child now has an allocated mental health worker. The other child has been given the option to engage with professionals to help their emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek children’s views and respond to them. Children review their plans with staff and add their views. Regular children’s meetings take place, and the manager responds to issues that children raise. One child has been helped to access independent advocacy. This has enabled them to express their views clearly to external professionals. Ensuring that children’s voices are heard means that they can contribute to decisions about their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to build and maintain relationships with people who are important to them. Staff help children to see family members. When issues have arisen between children and their families, staff have helped children with the emotional effects of this, and with how to overcome such challenges. Staff encourage children to maintain appropriate peer relationships. This has helped children to settle in the area.

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

Staff have a good understanding of risks to children. This has helped children to become safer. Staff talk to children about risks in a way that helps them have a greater understanding of the risks that they face. For one child, the risk of criminal exploitation has reduced during the time that they have lived at the home. Staff Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 4 have helped the child think about relationships with their peers. Consequently, the child has made positive choices about their peer group. There has been a reduction in the frequency of self-harm incidents for one child since they moved to the home.

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

Behavioural incidents at the home are rare. Physical intervention has not been used to manage behaviour. When incidents have occurred, staff have responded to them effectively, and in ways that are supportive to children. The manager has good oversight of incidents, which helps to ensure that learning is taken from them.

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

There has been one incident of a child being reported as missing. This is a reduction in the number of incidents for the child, who had been reported missing more often before moving to the home. Staff took appropriate action in response to the incident and in line with the child’s plans. The child remained in contact with staff during the incident, highlighting the positive relationships that they have built. After the child returned to the home, staff worked with the child’s social worker to learn from the incident and understand the risks that the child faced.

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

Staff and the manager responded to a safeguarding concern effectively. They ensured that the information was passed on to the child’s social worker promptly. A subsequent investigation is ongoing and staff are supporting the child through the process. However, the manager failed to notify Ofsted of this investigation. This has affected Ofsted’s ability to have effective oversight of safeguarding arrangements.

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

Children’s risk assessments include clear strategies for staff to follow. However, other risks are not adequately planned for. There is limited reference to potential risks relating to how a child will be kept safe online. For another child, there is not a clear plan for how staff will help them to have a good understanding of sexual health. Gaps in risk assessments mean that there are not always clear strategies to support children to stay safe.

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

Recruitment processes for permanent staff are good. However, the manager has not always ensured that records of checks for agency staff contain all the necessary information. Full employment histories and reasons for leaving previous roles working with children or vulnerable adults have not always been explored. This means that the suitability of staff to work at the home is not sufficiently considered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high aspirations for children and a good understanding of the strengths and areas of development of the home. The manager provides visible leadership and has developed good relationships with the children. He listens to children and acts in response to their views.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have good working relationships with external professionals. Social workers said that the manager is proactive in raising any concerns relating to children. They said that the manager always attends and contributes to meetings relating to children’s care. Good relationships with external professionals mean that staff work effectively with others to meet children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 5 Staff are well trained in areas relevant to individual children’s needs. This has helped staff to develop a good level of knowledge and understanding of how to help and support children. A clear and thorough induction process helps staff to understand their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported. They said that the manager is approachable and available to them when needed. Regular team meetings include discussion about children and how staff are supporting them. However, staff have not all received regular supervision. This means that staff are not always given the opportunity for individual learning and reflection that supervision provides.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is open to external oversight and uses this to help develop the service. The independent person’s reports give clear actions and the manager considers and responds to these. However, the home’s internal quality of care review lacked good levels of evaluation and feedback from others. This affects the usefulness of the review in driving improvement at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 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 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

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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments reflect all known risks for children and include strategies to reduce these. 21 February 2022

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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; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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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)(b) (3)(a)(b)(d)) 21 February 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 7 In particular, ensure that agency staff have had all required checks before working at the home.

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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 (4)(b)) 21 February 2022

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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

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

is instigated. (Regulation 40 (4)(d)(i)) 7 February 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the quality-of-care review meets all the requirements of Regulation 45. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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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 for children’s home: 2640082 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Flying Spur Limited

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Inspector

Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2640082 9 regulates and inspects 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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