Children's Home run by Able Health Care Ltd in Suffolk

Inspection report for children's home: SC408714 1 SC408714 Registered provider: Able Health Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private company. The home is registered to provide care for up to six children with complex needs and who require specialist support. There is a Department for Education-run school on the same site. The inspector only inspected the social care provision on this site. The registered manager has been in post since June 2022.

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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

Date of last inspection: 1 February 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC408714 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2022 Full Outstanding 14/05/2019 Full Outstanding 28/11/2018 Full Good 12/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC408714 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection in February 2022, two children have moved out of the home and one child has moved in. Currently, four children live at the home. When children have moved on, it has been in a planned way. The staff remain in contact with the children, which enables them to maintain important relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are happy and benefit from the stability of living at the home long term. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging. Children have strong relationships with staff and enjoy spending time with them. The staff are kind and nurturing and are proud of the children’s progress. These strong and supportive relationships help the children to feel valued and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are consulted about every aspect of their care and encouraged to share their wishes and feelings. Children attend regular house meetings during which a wide variety of topics are discussed. The manager responds well to children’s wishes and feeds back to the children on the decisions that are made. This helps children to feel that their views are important, listened to and acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff actively support the children’s education. Children are making good progress from their starting points. Children who were not previously engaged in education have improved their levels of attendance and attainment. Staff support children to have a daily routine to help children benefit from education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in an incentive scheme and can earn positive rewards to reinforce and acknowledge their achievements. However, the incentives are repetitive and infrequently reviewed. This could reduce children’s interest in the scheme.

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

Staff manage unwanted behaviours well. When incidents do occur, staff use effective strategies to calm situations. Staff consistently support the children and reinforce boundaries. As a result, behavioural incidents are minimised.

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

The staff use appropriate consequences. They record the reason for the consequence, and children provide a comment. The manager evaluates the record to establish the effectiveness of each consequence. Managerial oversight ensures that consequences are analysed and learning opportunities are gained.

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

Staff understand the risks that the internet may pose to children. Staff hold individual and group sessions with children to help them understand how to keep safe. The manager identifies when children need specialist support to keep safe Inspection report for children's home: SC408714 4 online, and this is sourced. The children receive individual support to help them develop online safety strategies.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been two incidents of a child going missing from the home. Staff responded in line with the child’s plan. They were proactive in looking for the child and alerting other agencies. When the child was located, staff welcomed them home. However, they did not promptly speak to the child about the route that the child walked. This meant an opportunity to gather information to prevent future missing incidents was missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since June 2022 and is currently working toward a level 5 qualification. The manager is child-focused and dedicated to her role. She strives for the best possible outcomes for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the deputy manager work well together. They have a clear vision for the home and recognise the strengths and areas for development. There are clear monitoring systems in place. These systems support the manager to look at patterns in incidents and identify triggers to reduce incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff morale is high. Staff speak highly of the management team. They feel well supported, valued and equipped to fulfil their roles. Supporting staff in this way helps to retain staff and enables them to provide good care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff benefit from a detailed induction that helps them to understand their roles and responsibilities. Staff spoken with said that training was effective and helpful, and personal development is discussed in every supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring supports the manager to make improvements to the home. However, the independent person has not sought a full range of views from parents. This does not ensure the children’s parents are provided with an independent person with whom they can raise concerns. Inspection report for children's home: SC408714 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home staff seek to identify and provide appropriate opportunities for children to develop themselves in accordance with their wishes and feelings. In particular, ensure that behavioural incentives are varied and creative. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.4)  The registered person should ensure that the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care and how staff should support the child on return to the home are specified. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for promoting the welfare of the children

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Recommendations

in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: SC408714 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Able Health Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: c/o Argyle House, 3rd Floor Northside, Joel Street, Northwood Hills HA6 1NW

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Inspector

Paula Lewis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC408714 7 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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