Children's Home run by Acorn Norfolk Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 1 Registered provider: Acorn Norfolk Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to two children on either 38- or 52-week residential options. Care is provided for children with autism, complex needs, moderate or severe learning difficulties and communication difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is in the grounds of a special school and other children’s homes that are all operated by the same national provider. The school is independently registered.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been on a pre-arranged leave of absence since March 2023. An acting manager has been in post since March 2023, and her application to register with Ofsted is in progress.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision.

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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: 30 November 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/11/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home. The children have lived together for a significant time. Staff help the children to maintain their friendship. They organise activities for the children to do together. This helps them to have fun and share experiences. If the children are feeling upset with each other, staff intervene. This helps the children to develop their emotional and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise spending their time with children. Staff understand that building relationships is an important factor of gaining trust. Staff use enthusiasm, care and empathy in their approach. They know what the children like and dislike. This helps the children to feel comfortable with staff and want to spend time with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made good progress. One child has learned how to keep himself safe and consistently uses the correct sign to check if an activity may cause him harm. One child has made progress in accepting change and learning how to communicate through signing. An external professional said, ‘[The child] has made exceptional progress. His mum and I are just so pleased.’ Staff help children to learn new skills and make healthy choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are creative in organising new experiences for children. Children have been to trampoline parks, woodland experiences and climbing walls. Staff create sensory activities for children that help them to feel calm and explore materials that interest them and develop their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents are involved in their child’s care. Staff speak with parents on a regular basis and encourage them to give their view on how their child is supported. Staff help children to spend time with their families. On one occasion, staff took a child to a family celebration. Without the staff’s support, the child would have missed this important opportunity. Children have access to devices that help them stay in touch. Staff understand the importance of children feeling a sense of belonging to their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children go to school, and their attendance is good. Staff use routines that help children to prepare for the day. Staff speak with the school staff daily to share important information about children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of how disability can influence children’s development. This is because children’s care plans are comprehensive. Information helps staff to provide tailored approaches to care. As a result, staff help children to have good outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a modern and welcoming home that meets their needs. Staff have placed symbols and pictures around the home to help children tell staff what they Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 4 need. However, the symbols are placed too high for the smaller child to reach. This means that they are unable to communicate their wishes and feelings independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff record the daily activities of children in good detail. However, some of the language used is institutional and child-blaming.

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

Behaviour plans and risk assessments guide staff to provide consistent care through agreed strategies. Staff regularly review and update these plans when there are any changes, and they discuss any changes with other staff and the manager. This helps staff to consider the function of behaviour, review approaches and find alternative methods of communication for children.

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

Staff carefully balance the need for children to take measured risks with keeping them safe. Staff help children to explore their environment independently. Staff assess new activities in detail. This helps them understand how children may be harmed. Staff are skilled at observing children and taking immediate action when needed. They help children to develop self-confidence and independence.

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

There have been no incidents of children leaving the home without permission since the last inspection. Before living at the home, one child’s risk of going missing was high. Staff have helped the child to understand that they need to hold hands when in the community. This was noted as progress by staff and has reduced risks to the child.

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

Physical interventions are only used as a last resort. Staff are skilled at using de- escalation strategies and sensory distraction to avoid restraint. On the rare occasion when restraint has been used, it has been for a minimal amount of time and has been the least restrictive intervention. The manager meets with staff after these incidents to reflect on what happened and consider alternative approaches. The manager uses meaningful methods to understand how a restraint has affected a child. Parents are always informed of any hold used. This collaborative and reflective approach means that practice is transparent.

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

Staff have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. The manager regularly uses safeguarding scenarios to make certain that staff understand the organisation’s safeguarding procedures. Any concerns about children are reported to relevant professionals without delay. Social workers spoken with agreed that communication from staff is good and that children are safe living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager is experienced and is working towards a relevant level 5 qualification within timescales. The manager is supported by a responsible individual who has built good relationships with staff and children. The management team is ambitious for children to have positive experiences and outcomes. Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 5 The staff team is small and consistent. There have been no changes in the staff team since the last inspection. This helps children to receive consistent care from people with whom they have trusting relationships. One parent said, ‘The staff are amazing. They keep in contact with me, and they are always open and honest with everything.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good-quality supervision. The manager encourages staff to reflect on and consider their practice. Staff are encouraged to focus on their professional development. Children are discussed in detail, and any concerns are explored. Action plans are used to make sure that goals can be measured. Staff spoken with said that they feel supported by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has monitoring systems that help them have a good oversight of all areas of practice. The manager is effective in evaluating what the information tells her and making changes to practice. This is particularly evident in the oversight of staff decisions. The manager is professionally curious about staff practice to ensure that children receive good care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are either qualified or are working towards a relevant level 3 qualification within the required timescales. Staff are trained to meet the children’s complex needs. The manager ensures that staff receive specialist training on disability. This helps staff to expand their knowledge and develop their skills to support children. Staff are also trained to use a variety of communication methods. However, this specific training is not included on the staff training matrix. While this does not directly affect children, it means that the manager is unable to evidence competency or review the skills of individual team members in this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager follows safer recruitment procedures. Staff move through a probation and induction period. Staff said that they had completed a full induction. However, the manager was unable to provide evidence of this. Although the impact of this is minimal, a lack of records of induction makes it hard for the manager to assure themselves of staff’s competence. Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the child’s views, wishes and feelings are considered when planning and undertaking their care. In particular, they should ensure that children have access to picture exchange systems that they can reach with ease. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.5)  The registered person should ensure that they can evidence that staff have successfully completed their induction. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.21)  The registered person should ensure that records can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view them and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. In particular, they should ensure that staff induction records are accessible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about a 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: 2642113 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorn Norfolk Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 33 Roebuck Road, Hainault Business Park, Ilford IG6 3TZ

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Inspectors

Mandy Start, Social Care Inspector Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2642113 8 regulates and inspects 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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