Children's Home run by Flying Spur Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 1 SC470585 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 privately owned home provides care for six children who may have experienced neglect and/or emotional abuse or had traumatic experiences that have left them vulnerable.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2017.

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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 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.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/07/2022 Full Inadequate 21/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 3

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improvement to be good

Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection. Recently, children have been more settled, with a decrease in incidents. Some improvements have been made in relation to the requirements made at the last inspection. However, the shortfalls identified at this inspection have reduced the quality of children’s overall experiences.

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improvement to be good

Generally, children’s care is well planned. Placement plans contain information about how staff will meet most of the children’s needs. However, the arrangements for children to see their families are not clearly detailed in the children’s plans. There are some associated risks without plans or strategies to reduce these. The specific arrangements for children to see different people are unclear. This lack of planning has the potential to lead to inconsistent responses and risks to children.

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences are mixed. Although one child enjoys regular fishing trips, the staff failed to plan a range of summer holiday activities. One child asked to go away on an overnight trip and these plans were not adequately explored. A limited range of activities has meant that children’s experiences have not been varied and fulfilling.

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improvement to be good

Children have made progress in education. One child was previously not attending education due to safeguarding concerns. However, managers worked with the school and other professionals to address the concerns and supported the child to return to school. Good planning and working with other professionals have helped to improve children’s engagement in education.

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improvement to be good

Children receive limited support to learn the skills that they will need to live independently. The children have books to record their independence work. One child’s book showed minimal progress. The other child had no work recorded in their book at all. This does not support children to prepare properly for their futures or allow staff to monitor and review their progress.

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improvement to be good

Some staff talk about the children and record their care using terms that are unhelpful and not child-friendly. This influences children, who also use this language. The children can access their records, which, written in this way, could give a negative impression.

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

Since the last inspection, managers have undertaken work with staff to help them understand how to ensure that children are kept safe. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the risks to children and how to respond to these. Improvements to children’s risk assessments include information about all known risks for children and strategies for staff to manage these. Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 4 Three have been no recent incidents of children going missing from the home. When incidents have occurred that could lead to children leaving the home without permission, the staff have been proactive in their responses to prevent this from happening. One child commented on how staff kept them safe during an incident in the community. Staff’s approach to preventing children from going missing has helped keep children safe.

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

There have been no incidents of self-harm or substance misuse. One child had previously been involved in a number of incidents and this significant reduction demonstrates that the child is feeling more settled.

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

One child is assessed as being at risk of sexual exploitation. Managers work with other professionals to put appropriate plans in place to reduce this risk. The child’s youth support worker spoke positively about how the staff have encouraged and helped the child to engage in support work.

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

The quality of key-worker sessions has improved. Staff have followed up incidents by spending time talking to children about their behaviours and associated risks. This helps give children clearer expectations and learn about socially acceptable behaviour. The children have some identified risks related to their online safety. There are some measures in place to reduce these risks. However, despite several requests, evidence of the work to help children understand how to stay safe online was not shared with the inspectors.

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good

The manager is experienced and qualified for the role. Changes to the management team include the appointment of a new and experienced assistant team manager. This has led to improvements in some areas.

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good

Managerial monitoring has failed to identify the absence of records and the lack of internet safety work with the children. Managers have failed to monitor summer activity plans adequately or directed the staff to help the children to learn independence skills. Delays in responding to a historical disclosure from a child were not followed up by managers. This is despite this being identified through external monitoring. Combined, these failures demonstrate that the quality of monitoring and oversight is not always good enough. There are some new monitoring systems in place, which have improved the quality of risk assessments and follow-up work undertaken with children after incidents.

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good

Managers have failed to ensure that staff working with children are suitably skilled and experienced. A number of new staff have joined the team in recent months. On occasions, new staff have worked with agency staff, who had not worked at the home previously. On one occasion, a behavioural incident was poorly managed. This failure to ensure that staff are suitably experienced and deployed affects the quality of care provided to children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 5 Feedback from external professionals is somewhat mixed. Some raised concerns about the levels of progress that children have made. However, they also commented that there have been improvements in communication and that managers regularly attend and contribute to care-planning meetings.

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good

There are significant improvements in relation to staff training. Staff who had previously not completed mandatory training a number of months into their roles now have. New staff complete safeguarding training before starting their roles and undertake other mandatory training in their first few weeks. Good-quality training helps ensure that staff have the skills that they need to care for children.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision. This includes a good level of discussion about the needs of children and how these are being met. Team meetings are also used as a forum to consider how staff are working with children and to identify any areas for development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 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 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

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. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff support children to learn independent life skills. 24 October 2022

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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

ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

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Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3). 24 October 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 7 The conditions are—

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Requirement Due date

that the care is delivered by a person who—

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Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care. (Regulation 6 (1)(b) (2)(d) (3)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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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

participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences. (Regulation 9 (1) (2)(a)(ii)) 24 October 2022

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are helped to understand how to stay safe online. 24 October 2022

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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— 24 October 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 8 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 issues identified through monitoring are followed up and that managers have effective oversight of work undertaken with children in relation to online safety and supporting them to prepare for their futures.

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s plans contain information about arrangements for them to see family and friends and detail any risks related to this. 24 October 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC470585 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Flying Spur Limited

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Inspectors

Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Paula Lewis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC470585 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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