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

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Information about this children’s home

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

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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.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/06/2022 Full Good 08/02/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/09/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC060936 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Six children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. Since the last inspection, one child has moved back to live with their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are relaxed and happy at the home. Staff interactions with children are warm and friendly, which helps to create a nurturing environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has been at the home for nearly five years. Staff have built trusted and secure relationships with the child. These relationships support the child to make significant progress. Since moving in, the child has learned how to speak English and has a vast vocabulary. The child has learned to reflect on their behaviour and says that they now make ‘good choices’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are individualised and decorated with themes they like. Before children move in, they choose the design of their bedrooms. This helps children to settle in quickly and feel cared about.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to attend the on-site school. There are close links between the home and the school. Informative educational material relating to famous people, holidays, religious festivals, food and hobbies is displayed in the home. Some children who missed education for some time now attend school regularly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. Staff liaise with specialist agencies when required. One child has made considerable progress with their health, particularly around their diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children receive a rich variety of positive activities. Children regularly go swimming, attend youth club and have meals out. They have also recently been to the beach, bowling, trampolining and laser tag.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a beautiful old building. However, there are several areas that have not been well maintained. The windows upstairs do not open, part of the ceiling needs to be repaired, some bathroom flooring requires replacing and one child’s bathroom is damp. These issues affect the quality and overall homeliness of the environment.

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

Staff provide consistent care to the children. Well-written, up-to-date plans provide staff with clear guidance. These help staff to understand children’s individual triggers and to implement strategies to support children if they become upset.

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

Staff manage children’s behaviour well. They recognise and promote positive behaviour and use de-escalation techniques consistently. As a result, physical Inspection report for children’s home: SC060936 4 intervention is rarely needed. There is a clear ethos that physical intervention is only used as a last resort. Consequently, children live in a calm and happy atmosphere.

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

The manager ensures that recruitment processes are managed efficiently. A good structure is in place to ensure that all required recruitment checks take place. This reduces the potential for unsuitable people to work at the home.

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

The manager shares allegations with the local authority designated officer promptly. However, on one occasion, Ofsted was not notified of an allegation. This affects Ofsted’s ability to monitor the provider’s response.

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

Managers have not always ensured that fire safety checks take place. In addition, at the start of the inspection, there were safety issues with two fire doors. Although these issues were quickly rectified during inspection, health and safety checks had not identified the risks posed. Consequently, the actions to mitigate risk were delayed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified. He works well alongside his deputy manager. As a result, the management team has made improvements since the last inspection and staff morale has improved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work proactively with the local community. This has led to children volunteering at the local food bank and cooking at the community kitchen. This helps children to make a positive contribution to, and feel part of, their local community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have ensured that external monitoring has improved. Used effectively, this monitoring has the potential to contribute to further improvements to the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes child-centred decisions about children coming to live at the home. Good care planning ensures that staff have the skills to meet the children’s needs. Consequently, children are given the best opportunity to succeed in a shared environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good training. They have completed all the training the provider deems mandatory and there is a wide range of additional training that staff also complete online. This helps to ensure that children are cared for by a knowledgeable staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management monitoring of restraint records is hindered by the records not being easily identified in the incident logs. This has contributed to management monitoring not identifying some missing information and the manager not initially being clear on how many incidents have taken place. Inspection report for children’s home: SC060936 5 Leaders and managers do not always ensure that all staff receive regular supervision. For example, at the time of the inspection, the manager had only received one supervision sessions since January. This does not ensure that all staff receive the support they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not ensured that one recommendation made at the last inspection has been acted on. No workforce development plan has been completed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC060936 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

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that fire safety checks take place, identify shortfalls and result in risks being mitigated. 1 June 2023

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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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)) 1 September 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  The registered person should ensure that a workforce development plan is in place that includes accurate details of training and qualifications completed by Inspection report for children’s home: SC060936 7 staff and identifies ongoing training and development needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that they have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that they have a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. The system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at the weekend or on a public holiday. Notification must include details of the action taken by the home’s staff in response to the event. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)

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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: SC060936 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Broadlands Hall Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Mary Costello, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC060936 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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