Children's Home run by Broadlands Hall Limited in Suffolk

Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 1 SC060936 Registered provider: Broadlands Hall Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care and education for up to eight children with moderate to severe learning difficulties and/or autism spectrum disorders.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

There is an education provision in the grounds of the home. The inspector only inspected the social care provision.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since 21 January 2022.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 8 February 2022

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/02/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/09/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/06/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were four children living at the home at the time of this inspection. Since the last inspection, staff have supported one child to move on to supported living, in line with the child’s age and plan. Careful planning and introductions have meant that the two children who have moved to the home recently have settled quickly and made notable progress in areas of their development.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children enjoy predictable daily routines. These are reinforced by helpful visual aids. Some children’s communication skills have improved since joining the home. Children are using longer sentences and are verbally expressing an interest in others’ well-being. As a result, children are experiencing improved social interactions with peers and adults.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built trusting relationships with children. These relationships enable children to feel safe to try new activities, including eating out and shopping for their own meals. One child felt able to have a haircut at a barber shop for the first time.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend the on-site education provision. Children’s attendance and engagement in learning are good. This represents an increase in education for all children. It is a big achievement for one child, who had not attended school for months before moving to the home. Staff enhance children’s learning by reading with them each evening.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop interests. One child aspires to work with animals after spending time on local farms. Planning for children’s independence has improved. There are clear goals that staff and children are familiar with and are working towards as part of their daily routines.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff engage with relevant professionals to meet children’s health needs. This includes consulting with mental health professionals about medication and helping children access the talking therapies that they need. Staff help children to learn about healthy eating. They also help children to do exercise that they enjoy, including swimming, trampolining and walking in the countryside.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children return home regularly for weekends and school holidays. Staff and families share strategies and routines so that children experience consistency wherever they are. Family members feel welcome at the home. This includes at the recent jubilee celebration that the home organised. Parents are positive about the progress that their children have made. One parent said, ‘Staff are fantastic.’ Another parent said, ‘I’m astonished how well my child has settled. I’m so happy with the home.’ Professionals spoken with all said that the home is meeting their child’s needs. Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 4

p.3

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

Children enjoy a calm environment. There are a minimal number of safeguarding incidents. There has been a reduction in self-harming incidents, the use of restraint and in police being called to the home.

p.4

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

Staff have established clear and detailed behaviour support plans for each child. This helps staff to understand and manage the triggers that make children anxious or angry. Staff have implemented a new positive behaviour programme. This approach has resulted in a large reduction in the use of sanctions and an increase in children receiving rewards and praise for making good choices.

p.4

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

There has been one physical intervention since the last inspection. This was proportionate and used to keep children and adults safe. Staff discuss incidents to identify any lessons that can be learned. Although managers sign all incident reports, debrief conversations with staff and children following the use of restraint lack managers’ involvement. This is a missed opportunity to guide staff reflection and to obtain the views of staff and children directly.

p.4

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

Most staff have completed training identified by the home as mandatory. They have also undertaken additional training to meet children’s individual needs. Staff have access to a behaviour management trainer who works across the home and school. They have regular behaviour management training and additional support with restraint techniques as needed.

p.4

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

A safe recruitment policy is in place for permanent staff. However, this does not cover the requirement to verify reasons why staff have left previous care roles. Managers did not have full information about what checks had been made for agency staff. They could not therefore be assured that all staff are suitable to work with children.

p.4

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

Managers inform the relevant professionals of any safeguarding concerns. They have established links with community police officers and update the home’s location risk assessment regularly.

p.4

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

The home is large, with multiple communal areas, kitchens and bathrooms. A maintenance programme is in place, with identified repairs and upgrades with timescales. This includes upgrading the kitchen cupboards in the independence flat. Children’s rooms have improved and are now more personalised and comfortable. However, some required repairs had not been identified. These include rotten window frames in the lounge and broken paving slabs around the building. Broken slabs that presented a hazard were repaired during the inspection. Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 5

p.4

good

The responsible individual has been overseeing the day-to-day running of the home since the last manager left. A manager with the required qualification has recently been appointed. A planned and incremental handover is taking place to reduce disruption to children and the staff team.

p.5

good

The responsible individual has made good progress with improving practice. The staff team is more cohesive. Staff feel supported by managers and each other. There has been a reduction in staff turnover, resulting in a core staff team that knows the children well. Agency staff are used when needed to ensure that children have the right levels of supervision.

p.5

good

Managers have made careful decisions about children moving into the home. This includes assessing staff’s capacity to meet children’s needs and considering the needs of the other children. Numbers of children at the home have remained low while the manager focused on embedding improvements.

p.5

good

Managers participate fully in multi-agency meetings to review and progress care plans. Managers have established effective relationships with professionals and parents, who say that managers are available and approachable.

p.5

good

Although improvements have been made, these have not been informed by quality assurance processes. The manager has only completed one review of the quality of care provided by the home in the past 12 months. This is a missed opportunity to identify what is working well and to identify priorities for continued development.

p.5

good

The independent person’s reports are inaccurate and relate to out-of-date requirements and recommendations raised at previous inspections. There is often a delay in completing these reports and submitting them to Ofsted. Managers have recently identified that these reports are not providing the independent scrutiny that they require and have appointed a new independent person.

p.5

good

Two members of staff have not achieved a relevant level 3 qualification within the required timescale. There is a system in place for tracking staff progress and managers address issues as they arise to help keep staff on track with their learning. A member of staff is undertaking assessor training to provide additional capacity and support to staff to achieve this qualification. The system in place for maintaining oversight of other courses is not efficient, making it difficult to identify gaps in staff’s training.

p.5

good

Two of the previous requirements have not been met and have been restated. Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

p.6

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) (3)(d))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to verify why a prospective staff member’s employment with children or vulnerable adults ended, and ensure that agency staff are subject to all recruitment checks required by schedule 2.

p.6

Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 1 August 2022

p.6

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—

p.6

Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 3 Diploma’); or

p.6

Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

p.6

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1 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

p.6

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1 April 2014, 1 April 2016. 1 November 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 7 (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

p.7

Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

p.7

Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires;

p.7

Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

p.7

Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)(b) (7)(a))

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the independent person provides accurate reports that are submitted to Ofsted without delay. 1 August 2022

p.7

Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months. (Regulation 45 (1)) 1 November 2022

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s homes are nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children. This relates to implementing a maintenance system that identifies the need for repairs and actions these quickly. These repairs include updating the worn kitchen cupboards in the independence kitchen, repairing worn window frames in the lounge and ensuring that all patio slabs are secure and do not present a trip hazard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that restraint records are kept that enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice. This relates to ensuring that debrief conversations with staff and children are led by a person who can provide objectivity, support and, when needed, challenge. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

p.7

Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59) Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 8  The registered person should ensure that a workforce plan is in place that includes accurate details of training and qualifications completed by staff and identifies ongoing training and development needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

p.7

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: SC060936 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Broadlands Hall Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Greenwood House, Greenwood Court, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP32 7GY

p.9

Inspector

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC060936 10 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.9

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.10

Inspector

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

p.10

Inspector

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

p.10