Children's home run by Clover Childcare Services Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2682205 1 Registered provider: Clover Childcare Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately operated and provides care for up to two children. The home offers therapeutic care to children with complex behavioural and social care needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since April 2023. A new manager was appointed in April 2023 and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: 29 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: 2682205 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2682205 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. The provider opened the home in specific response to the needs and wishes of a child who had outgrown the provider’s sister home. This child still lives at the home. One further child has moved into the home since the last inspection. This child’s move into the home was carefully considered by the manager, staff and their social worker.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individualised care suitable to their age and needs from a staff team who know them well. Both children were seen during this inspection, but neither child wanted to share their views with the inspector.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to develop skills to help them live independently. Children participate in daily tasks like cooking, doing the washing and cleaning. One child is being supported by staff to develop confidence on public transport and recently managed to travel by train independently. This is progress from this child’s starting point. Staff help children to think about their future independence skills, and their life when they move out of the home. A social worker said that since moving into the home, their child has made ‘a huge amount of progress’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The model of care that the provider uses is embedded in staff practice. This helps staff to think about children’s needs in different ways. Staff provide sensitive and empathetic responses when children show distress. Social workers said children have good relationships with the staff and that children have become more confident at sharing their feelings and worries with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a range of social and recreational opportunities in their local community. Staff help them to travel to new places and cities to experience new things. For example, one child went away on a weekend break. Staff support children, in line with their age and independence, to participate in activities in the community without staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is furnished to meet the needs of the children living there. Children have personalised bedrooms and one child has their own dog living with them at the home. A recent leak in the bathroom led to the dining room ceiling having to be taken down. At the time of the inspection, the ceiling had not been repaired and the bathroom unit was still to be replaced. The responsible individual has made arrangements to resolve the issues.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children require alternative education provision to meet their needs. One child is in full-time education and is making progress, with increased attendance. The child’s social worker said staff and managers have worked hard to help this child, whose needs have increased, to engage in education. The other child was making progress previously. However, having left secondary school, they are not currently in any education, training or employment. No education plan has been made for this Inspection report for children's home: 2682205 4 school year. Leaders have acted to escalate this with the local authority, but this action has not been as persistent or effective as it could have been.

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

Children are safer as a result of living at this home. Since moving in, one child more frequently asks for help with behaviours and feelings that they struggle with. Their incidents of self-harm and aggression have reduced. This has helped the child to feel more settled.

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

Children have good relationships with staff and staff know them well. Staff help children explore some of their health needs and advocate for them to access the right support and specialist services. This is helping children better understand their additional needs.

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

Children at this home have not gone missing from care. Children have not needed to be physically restrained because staff manage children’s behaviour through the relationships that they have developed with them. Consequently, children are more settled living at the home.

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

Children sometimes struggle with low mood. Staff continue to try to engage with children when they withdraw from staff and peers. Staff use different ways to communicate with children to express concern and encourage them to participate in life at the home.

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

Risks to children are well understood by staff. For example, staff work with children to help them think about keeping themselves safe online. Staff have worked with the police to support one child to learn about possible consequences of their behaviour online. Staff continue to monitor this child’s online interactions to help keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager left the service in April 2023. A new manager, who knows the home and children well, was appointed at the time. Currently, the manager does not hold a recognised qualification in leadership and management but has recently enrolled on a course to gain this qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said the new manager has good communication skills, is approachable and has good knowledge of the children living at the home. The manager has worked for the service for several years and has worked in both settings where the children have lived. Other staff working at this home also work at the provider’s sister home. This has helped the children benefit from consistent care from people who are well known to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has built good relationships with children’s family members. One child benefits from regular time with their family, in line with their wishes. This has helped Inspection report for children's home: 2682205 5 family relationships to develop. This child’s social worker said the manager has been ‘instrumental in helping [name of child] keep their family network’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has taken steps to improve the frequency of staff supervision. They ensure that staff receive supervision that explores topics relevant to them, the children and the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular training and the majority of staff are trained in the home’s therapeutic model of care. However, several staff have not received training in a specific area relevant to one child’s needs. This has the potential to limit staff’s understanding of this particular need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The majority of staff working at the home have their level 3 qualification or are working towards it. However, not all members of staff have achieved the qualification in the required timescale. For one member of staff this was beyond the providers control. Inspection report for children's home: 2682205 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should act as an effective advocate for or on behalf of a child who may be experiencing difficulties with education or training matters, including, but not limited to, attainment, admissions, attendance or behaviour, as a good parent would do. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.12)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, they should ensure that staff have additional appropriate training to meet the specific health and development needs of individual children in their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that all staff work towards achieving a

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Recommendations

relevant qualification and where staff have an alternative qualification that the registered person considers may be equivalent any equivalence is clearly explored and recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)

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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: 2682205 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Clover Childcare Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Old Rectory, Old Rectory Road, Brumstead, Norwich NR12 9EU

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Inspector

Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2682205 8 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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