Children's Home run by BREAK in Norfolk

Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 1 SC040191 Registered provider: Break

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a registered charity and provides long-term care for up to two children who may have social, emotional and behavioural support needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 17 February 2025

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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: SC040191 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/02/2025 Full Good 06/09/2023 Full Good 12/07/2022 Full Good 30/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has recently been divided into two semi-detached properties offering solo accommodation for two children. Two children are currently living at the home and both children spoke with the inspectors.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has moved in since the last inspection. Leaders and managers planned the child’s move into the home sensitively. Although the children do not share accommodation areas, the needs of both children were considered as part of this planning. Children are offered opportunities to meet with staff prior to moving in. This helps children to develop relationships with staff, reduces their anxieties and helps the children begin to settle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with the individualised care that they need. Consequently, the children are making progress in comparison to their starting points. For example, one child no longer requires staff support at night. Staff tailor their support to the individual child. They help one child to make sense of their day-to-day care and routines by using a blackboard wall as a daily planner. The social workers for both children said their children were making positive progress because of the help and support from staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children maintain good health and well-being. They support the children to attend routine appointments as well as relevant specialist services. Staff have successfully advocated for the children to have access to specific mental health support and services to cease substance misuse.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to promoting the children’s education. They support the children to attend school or other bespoke learning opportunities. The staff have helped one child to build their confidence. As a result, the child’s engagement with their tutor and learning provision has improved. Staff provide extracurricular additional enrichment activities such as music and drama sessions. This helps the children explore new talents and interests. Staff continue to support children to explore their post-16 education and work opportunities. Staff have supported one child to gain some work experience. This is helping the child to prepare for their independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff help the children to understand their feelings. Staff listen to children and ensure that their wishes and feelings are acted on whenever possible. Staff recognise and celebrate children’s achievements to help them to know they are doing well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is generally decorated to a good standard. Children’s bedrooms reflect their preferences, and they are involved in deciding how they want their home to be decorated. However, one child’s garden space has not been well maintained. This does not give the child suitable outdoor space to play.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 4 Children who live at this home have complex emotional and behavioural needs. Despite some challenging incidents, the children overall receive good care and support from staff at these difficult times.

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

One child has court-ordered restrictions in place, which limit how they are able to go outside of the home. These restrictions are in place to keep the child safe. Staff are responsive to this child’s changing needs and work flexibly to help the child take age- appropriate risks.

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

Children have good relationships with the adults caring for them. Staff and children enjoy spending time together. Staff have conversations with the children to try to help them better understand how to keep themselves safe. This helps children to share their worries and to learn from their mistakes.

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

The manager and staff work closely with other professionals to keep children safe. The manager has worked very closely with the local police to support one child who has required frequent support from emergency services. The linked police worker said, ‘The manager and staff have worked extremely well with police to the benefit of children, which has been shown in the decrease of demand for emergency services.’ This partnership approach helps the staff to better manage situations without the need for crisis responses. This, in turn, helps children to have confidence in the adults around them and to feel safer.

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

Staff are proactive when children go missing from home. They look for children in the local area and share information with the relevant professionals. However, staff have not always asked children’s local authorities to offer independent return home interviews. This does not give children the opportunity to share concerns they may have with an independent person. This is a missed opportunity to gain better insight into why children may go missing and any risks they are facing.

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

Sometimes, staff have needed to physically hold children to keep them or others safe. When children are held, this has been necessary and proportionate. However, on one occasion, a staff who did not have current suitable training physically held a child. Management oversight of incidents of physical intervention is not consistently strong. On some occasions, physical interventions lack management review, and conversations about the situation with staff and children have not always occurred. This potentially undermines leaders and managers’ ability to learn from these events.

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

Staff help the children to learn about their complex feelings. However, on occasion, when staff have not felt confident to manage highly complex situations, children have harmed themselves and required hospital visits. The manager has identified further training for staff to better equip them to respond to children in crisis, but this is yet to take place.

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

Sometimes, staff have failed to be vigilant about unsafe items in the home. This is despite it being an identified risk for a child who would frequently use items to harm Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 5 themselves. This child was able to access unsafe items on several occasions. The manager did not quickly identify and address this shortfall. However, the manager has since provided staff with extra guidance and training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been significant leadership changes, and the effectiveness of senior management oversight has reduced. The previous responsible individual left the home in March 2025. The new responsible individual is aware of the shortfalls in leadership and management oversight and has a plan to address these issues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers’ oversight and monitoring of the home is not always effective. Several opportunities to address issues have been missed. Two requirements and two recommendations from the previous inspection are restated. Leaders and managers have not yet applied learning from the last inspection to monitor and improve outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The majority of staff are new to the home. Some staff have said that team morale is low. As a result, some staff have left the home. The manager has not had consistent deputy manager support. This has potentially undermined their ability to provide consistent leadership at times of change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management monitoring is missing across some records including missing from home incidents, physical interventions and other serious incidents. This undermines the manager’s ability to understand the care provided to children or how staff can learn from these events. The manager has made a plan with the new responsible individual to improve their oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has not challenged professionals effectively about having all the relevant information about children when they move in. One child does not have an up-to-date care plan from their local authority. This potentially reduces the effectiveness of the manager’s understanding of children’s needs. Despite this, the manager has developed some guidance to help staff understand how they need to care for this child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager and staff notify Ofsted of any significant events. However, the recording of these incidents is not always clear and concise. This does not help Ofsted to have good oversight of incidents at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has not maintained sufficient oversight of staff training. Staff have some core training such as first aid. However, not all staff have had refresher training on the home’s approach for physical interventions. Most staff are new. However, not all staff have completed their relevant induction training. This lack of training does not help staff to learn how to meet children’s needs safely. Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 6 Despite it being a time of change and some staff reporting low morale, other staff said that they are well supported by the manager. Staff have regular supervision sessions and regular team meetings. Conversations in team meetings focus on children’s needs and how to support them. Staff also consult the home’s therapeutic worker to try to better understand the children’s behaviour and how best to support them. These arrangements provide staff with an opportunity to reflect on their practice and learn from events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 7

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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, The 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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 5 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c) 5 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 8 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire 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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(h)) 1 December 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should challenge (under regulation 5(c)) any placing authority who asks them to accept a child in the absence of a complete and current relevant plan. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.5)  The registered person should ensure that they request that the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview each time a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of children. The garden should be well maintained and provide a welcoming environment for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  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. They should ensure that recording of incidents is clear and detailed about Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 9 what actions staff take to support children and when. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events are notified. The notification should include details of the actions 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: SC040191 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Break, Schofield House, Spar Road, Norwich NR6 6BX

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Inspectors

Priscilla Koroka, Social Care Inspector Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC040191 11 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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