Children's Home run by Blue Elephant Childcare Limited in Devon

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 1

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Blue Elephant Childcare Limited

Monitoring visit 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 one child. It is one of a small group of homes run by a private company. A child was living in the home at the time of the visit.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered in November 2020.

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This monitoring visit

During a full inspection on 11 and 12 May 2022, Ofsted judged the home to be inadequate. Significant failures in safeguarding and leadership were identified. Following the inspection, five requirements were made and a compliance notice relating to the safeguarding of a child was issued.

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This monitoring visit

During this visit, the inspector found that the home has made some progress and has taken sufficient action to address the individual actions points relating to safer internet use and fire safety issued as part of the compliance notice. However, changes remain in their infancy and are yet to be fully embedded.

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This monitoring visit

Following the inspection, leaders and managers ensured that all hard copy games that were not age appropriate were removed from the home. Digital games have also been deleted, and staff routinely check the games console to ensure that these games are not re-downloaded. As a further measure, the bandwidth for the internet has also been adjusted to make downloading large content more difficult.

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This monitoring visit

The new practices have been explained to the child, who now uses the games console in the lounge with staff supervision. One staff member told the inspector that this has worked well, and they feel better supported to implement these boundaries. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 2 Leaders and managers have created a new policy specifically for social media use by children in the home. The inspector found this to contain some useful information to support staff to identify concerns and understand some of the risks. However, the policy details further reading without being clear on the expectations of staff to complete the wider reading alongside reviewing the policy. The policy further refers staff to the child’s individual online safety plan.

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This monitoring visit

Online safety plans are written generically and provide helpful prompts for the child to keep themselves safe online. The child and staff are asked to sign the plan as a form of agreement. However, the plans are not tailored to the specific needs of the child and do not provide the necessary information for staff, as referenced in the home’s social media policy, to inform staff how to supervise the child online. This makes the signed agreement redundant. A clear plan on how to monitor and supervise the child online remains unrecorded for staff to follow.

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This monitoring visit

Updating the child’s care records remains outstanding. Care records continue to use ambiguous language. They are repetitive, contain out-of-date information and are written at length, which makes them difficult to read. However, leaders and managers have created a new shorter document which provides staff with a ‘snapshot’ of the child and is written in a way that highlights what is important to the child as well as the most important information for staff to know.

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This monitoring visit

For staff who are unfamiliar with the child and the home, there is a clear handover sheet to ensure that they have all the necessary information to work in the home. The record captures who provides the information and that the staff member has read the child’s care records. This also includes fire evacuation procedures.

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This monitoring visit

The requirements raised at the full inspection remain in place and will be reviewed at the next full inspection.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 11/05/2022 Full Inadequate 08/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 3

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult; and

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the child’s plan has been updated 3 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 4 and is explicit in the expectations of staff.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

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

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that urgent action is taken to remove access to inappropriate games on the child’s games console and that managers are aware of the social media accounts the child has and develop a plan for how to manage these safely. 3 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 5 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the quality of care is closely monitored, with changes and improvements being made in a timely manner. 3 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 3 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff read the child’s updated plans before working with the child.

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure, 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)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff are aware of the fire safety procedures before they start to work at the home. 3 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children’s bedrooms are appropriately decorated. This is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care about the children and value them as individuals. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.19)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Elephant Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 30, Chivenor Business Park, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 4AY

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Inspector

Katie Ratcliffe, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2609490 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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