Children's home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 1 SC357077 Registered provider: Acorn Education and Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. It is registered to provide care for up to three children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

p.1

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.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

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.

p.1

outstanding

Date of last inspection: 27 January 2020

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

p.1

outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/01/2020 Full Outstanding 11/12/2018 Full Outstanding 23/01/2018 Full Outstanding 13/12/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 3

p.2

outstanding

Children’s progress is exceptional in all areas of their lives and development. Staff provide a nurturing and extremely supportive home environment for children. Staff show a great deal of empathy towards the children. They are playful with children and the home has a fun atmosphere with a great deal of laughter. This means children enjoy their lives.

p.3

outstanding

Staff have a thorough understanding of the children’s histories and reasons for being in care. This understanding helps the staff to support the children to achieve excellent outcomes. A staff member said, ‘We want them to have a purpose, have better outcomes and we want them to thrive and have every opportunity they can. It’s very much like a family here.’

p.3

outstanding

Children’s views are important to staff. These views shape how the home is run. The children are encouraged to express their views about all aspects of daily living and the care they receive. Children are helped to attend meetings about their placement and contribute their views. This ensures that the voice of each child is heard by all the agencies supporting them.

p.3

outstanding

Children’s bedrooms are personalised. The children’s guide is an excellent document. It is personalised to children’s age, understanding and developmental stage. Children choose their activities and menus every week at the community meeting. Children have professional support external to the home, such as advocates, social workers and independent reviewing officers.

p.3

outstanding

Children have made significant progress in their education. All the children attend school on a full-time basis. All the children’s relevant plans are fully up to date and kept under constant review by the manager. The manager is a strong advocate for children. For example, one child was excluded from school, but the staff and managers worked with other professionals to find a suitable school to support the specific needs of the child. Because of this work, the child is now thriving in education.

p.3

outstanding

Some children have lived at the home for a long time. One child has been there for eight years. She has thrived at the home. She has made significant progress from when she first moved to the home. The child’s outcomes for health, education and behaviour have significantly improved.

p.3

outstanding

Children are active. They thoroughly enjoy attending a range of clubs and activities. These include football, trampolining, hiking, bowling, cinema, swimming and day trips. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, staff were creative in arranging a range of activities in the home, for example themed nights and a mudslide activity in the garden, which children and staff enjoyed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 4 Family connections are central to the care provided to children. Where appropriate, staff include parents and people who matter to children in their day-to-day living arrangements. Staff support family members in improving the time spent with the children. The staff show commendable tenacity in engaging family members. A relative said, ‘There has been amazing progress since she [the child] has started here. She is a completely different person and staff keep me involved with all aspects of her

p.3

outstanding

care. I really enjoy my visits to the home.’

p.4

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

The staff work hard to ensure that children are safe. Children’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans are in-depth. They reflect the risk and vulnerability of each child. Risk assessments and plans are reviewed, using a whole team approach. The staff respond quickly to any potential risk to children or concerns with children’s behaviour. They use de-escalation techniques well. Consequently, there has been no physical interventions in the past two years.

p.4

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

Staff understand the children very well, including their vulnerabilities. Staff educate children on how to keep safe. For example, they hold ‘family chat’ meetings with the children. Staff explore scenarios with children where they may put themselves in danger. Staff explore strategies with children to stay safe. These sessions cover a wide range of issues from road safety to stranger danger.

p.4

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

Children say they feel safe. Staff have developed warm and nurturing relationships with children. This enables children to feel safe and secure. Staff provide good emotional support to children. This means children can discuss their fears and anxieties. For example, following an incident of self-harm by a child, the staff responded quickly and ensured that therapeutic support was available immediately.

p.4

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

Children are well cared for and loved by adults who are sensitive to their needs. Secure relationships help children to regulate their emotions. As a result, incidents are rare. The staff set good behavioural boundaries. Children do not go missing and there is no need for behavioural sanctions. There have been no incidents of physical intervention for over two years. Children are happy and feel safe. Children are polite, helpful and thrive at this home.

p.4

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

Staff and managers track children’s progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The children’s social workers receive comprehensive monthly update reports. These are pictorial and evidence what children have engaged with and achieved. Communication with key agencies is exceptional. External professionals are very happy with the care provided. One professional said, ‘Children are safe, well cared for and loved.’

p.4

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

Staff have a preferred therapeutic approach to support children. This approach is embedded into their care practice. This means that children not only make substantial progress in their emotional well-being, but there are also very few incidents. Staff Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 5 have open and honest conversations with children. This helps children understand the impact of their behaviour on others.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and registered with Ofsted. The manager is currently away from work as a result of a long-term illness. The deputy manager, two senior care staff and the head of care are managing the home. This has led to some inconsistency with staff supervision and management oversight. Although staff supervisions take place, there has been an occasion where three different supervisors provided supervision to a member of staff. This led to some gaps in actions being followed up.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management oversight of the home is good. However, at times, documents from meetings are missed. For example, paperwork from an annual review of an education, health and care plan was not on the child’s file and was not followed up. The deputy manager has been meticulous in carrying out her management checks. She is working additional hours to ensure the children and staff receive consistency with management arrangements.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training is of a high standard. Training is tailored to meet the specific needs of children. For example, staff attended training to understand attachment and trauma, epilepsy, and a range of important training that helps staff provide very good care. The provider has its own consultant clinical psychologist who provides therapeutic input for children. The psychologist also provides therapeutic consultation for the staff team.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a recent turnover of staff. Recruitment is ongoing to fill several vacancies. However, the core staff group has been stable and it is very experienced. The group provides mentoring and support to new staff. There are several members of staff that have worked in the home for over a decade. Staff say they enjoy working here. One staff said, ‘I love working here, it is like a second family.’

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have strong working relationships with partner agencies. External professionals are very positive about the care and support provided for children. One professional said, ‘I wished all homes were like this, they are very enthusiastic, empathetic, and really good.’ Professionals spoke about the progress that children make, and the collaborative work staff engage in. This ensures that staff provide a consistent and proactive response for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 6

p.5

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: SC357077 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorn Education and Care Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

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

p.7

Inspector

Pradip Panchmatia, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC357077 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8