Children's home run by Norfolk County Council in Norwich

Inspection report children's home: SC462583 1 SC462583 Registered provider: Norfolk County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This local authority home provides short breaks for children who are in a family crisis, and emergency care for children who do not have a permanent placement. Up to four children can stay at the home at any one time.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2022 and is currently on maternity leave. There is an acting manager in post. The acting manager registered with Ofsted in August 2023.

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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: 25 January 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC462583 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/01/2023 Full Good 20/07/2021 Full Good 04/02/2020 Full Good 26/09/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report children's home: SC462583 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children love coming to this home for their short breaks. They enjoy spending time with staff who help provide them with experiences which they would not otherwise have. Children’s parents and carers place huge value on the short breaks that children access. Breaks provide vital support to children and their families and have helped children to remain living in their family homes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to make progress with their social development and positive peer relationships. Staff work hard to consider which children should visit together and then help those children to understand positive relationships. This has helped children, some of whom have previously struggled with peer relationships, to make friendships and have positive experiences with friends. Children become more confident through accessing short breaks. One parent said that their child previously had significant anxieties when accessing the community. However, the work that staff had done with the child has significantly reduced this and enabled the child to have many positive community-based experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff undertake detailed planning in advance of children starting to visit for short breaks. This ensures that they have a good understanding of children’s needs. Staff make children feel welcome when they first visit. Some children have worried about staying away from home. Staff work closely with them and their families to reassure them, and plans progress at a pace that children feel comfortable with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with children’s schools to help encourage their education. These good links with schools help to ensure effective communication. When there was an issue with one child not attending short breaks regularly, staff established with them that it related to them not always having clean school uniform. Staff contacted the school and discussed this issue. The school staff were able to provide additional uniform for the child. This helped the child’s confidence and their attendance of short breaks increased.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are vigilant and responsive to children’s health needs. When one child did not have their prescription glasses, staff, with the agreement of the parent, purchased the glasses for the child. This is beyond the remit of the service and demonstrates that staff recognise the importance of meeting children’s health needs and taking all necessary steps to do this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a wide range of activities. They can request activities that they would like to take part in and staff are responsive to this. Some children have visited a famous theme park and others regularly enjoy roller skating and trips to the cinema among many other activities. Parents and social workers said that this has given children experiences that they have not previously had. Inspection report children's home: SC462583 4

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

Children feel safe when they stay at the home. Staff have a good understanding of risks chidlren face and how to manage these.

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

Children’s behaviour is generally very good. They want to visit for short breaks and this is reflected in how settled they are. When there have been some behavioural incidents, staff have responded swiftly and appropriately. This has ensured that they have not escalated to more significant incidents.

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

There have been some concerns in relation to some behaviours. These concerns have been followed up thoroughly, with managers working closely with children’s parents and social workers. Direct work took place with children to help their understanding in relation to these issues. Staff managed these concerns in ways which were non-stigmatising for children involved, while remaining vigilant to the risks.

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

Staff have a good understanding of how to respond to incidents of children going missing from the home. Managers have, alongside police and social workers, recently introduced new missing-from-care protocols for all children. This ensures that there are clear and individualised plans for all children. There has only been one incident of a child being reported as missing. On that occasion, staff were proactive in their response and worked in line with the child’s plans. The child was quickly located. The manager had excellent oversight of the incident, including considering any learning that could be taken from it.

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

Staff work to help children stay safe when they are visiting for short breaks and in their homes and the community. When issues arose for a child outside of the short- break service, managers were highly flexible and offered a short break for the child with little notice. This meant that, at a traumatic time, the child was able to stay with staff who they knew and had positive relationships with rather than needing to go to carers who they had not previously met. On other occasions, managers have responded quickly to crisis situations for children, even if the chidlren do not already access breaks. This has provided a place of safety for children at highly distressing times for them.

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

On one occasion, staff did not report a safeguarding concern to managers at the time it happened. When managers were made aware the next day they worked alongside the child’s social worker and the local authority designated officer to ensure that the concern was appropriately investigated. However, recording of responses to the concern and any work completed with staff in relation to not sharing the concern promptly is poor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager is suitably experienced and qualified to level 5. She is highly motivated to ensure that staff provide good levels of care. Managers have a good understanding of the strengths and areas of development for the service and of the Inspection report children's home: SC462583 5 progress that children make. This helps them to recognise when children need additional support and consider how this can be provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide a highly supportive environment for staff. Staff said that managers are a visible presence and available to them for advice and support when needed. Staff receive regular and good-quality supervision. Staff also benefit from detailed discussions in team meetings. Combined, these provide regular forums for staff to consider how they are working with children and any areas in which they can improve the care that they are providing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has started to embed research-informed practice into the service. She has a good knowledge of relevant theories and uses this to consider how effectively children are being supported and increase the knowledge of staff. This knowledge is used to inform the children’s care plans and highlight areas of progress made with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with a wide range of training. This includes training specific to the needs of children who use the service and training to help to continue transferring theory into practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have good links with other professionals and children’s families. Social workers said that the service is a lifeline for families. One parent said that the service has kept their family together. There is excellent communication between staff and other important people in children’s lives. This helps to ensure that all involved are working together to support the best possible outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers actively seek children’s views about the service. This includes the use of feedback forms and regular children’s meetings. Staff consider children’s views and use them to think about improvements that can be made to children’s experiences when visiting. This helps to ensure that children know their views are important and can influence the experiences that they have. Inspection report children's home: SC462583 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 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 19 December

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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 children's home: SC462583 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Norfolk County Council

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 2DH

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Children's home details

Registered managers: Andrea Bounden and Anneka Hardy

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Inspectors

Joe Matkar-Cox, Social Care Inspector Dan Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC462583 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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