Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Hampshire

Unique reference number SC449307 Inspector Jennie Christopher Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Priory Education Services Limited Registered person address 5th Floor 80 Hammersmith Road London W14 8UD Responsible individual Helen Sharpe Registered manager POST VACANT / Michelle Anne Wyatt Date of last inspection 07/01/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 08/05/2014

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Previous inspection inadequate progress Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness adequate

Outcomes for children and young people adequate Quality of care adequate Keeping children and young people safe adequate Leadership and management inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make progress in relation to their starting points as a result of living in the home. Young people are positive about the home and feel supported by staff to overcome barriers in their lives. Young people generally feel listened to and say staff are interested in their lives and concerned for their well-being. Young people are encouraged to form positive relationships with staff and each other in a safe environment.

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Overall effectiveness

The home has not had a Registered Manager since April 2013. A home manager has been appointed and an application to be registered was received during the inspection. In addition to a new home manager, a service manager has recently joined the management team. Both are working effectively together and have adjusted care practice, alongside identifying further areas for improvement. Staff benefit from varied training opportunities and increasingly regular supervision.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are starting to benefit from an increasingly consistent staff team providing continuity of care over all shifts. Young people are encouraged to live in a group and value others opinions and beliefs. Bullying is not currently raised as a concern. Young people are actively involved in consultation about their care and the development of the service through individual and ad hoc sessions. 3 of 11 Staff have formed effective relationships with parents, carers, education and a wide range of specialist services to ensure an increasingly cohesive approach to care and placement planning. Parents say they are ‘impressed’ with the new home manager and that staff are ‘excellent’.

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Overall effectiveness

The newly formed management team is striving for improvement in all areas within the service. They are aware of the strengths of the home and are rectifying the weaknesses, including the organisations focus on a residential school rather than a children’s home model. There are several areas identified for improvement as a result of this inspection, mainly in relation to records. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for seven children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2014 Interim inadequate progress 20/08/2013 Full adequate 17/05/2013 Full inadequate

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that all records of sanctions detail the child's behaviour leading to the use of the measure (Regulation 17B(3)(b)) 30/06/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that consent is gained for the use of external CCTV from the child's placing authority and where appropriate, the child in question. Furthermore include the use of the measure in the child's placement plan. (Regulation 22 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30/06/2014

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s): 5 of 11  personalise young people's care plans to reflect individual's cultural identity, including how they celebrate events. (NMS 2.1)  prepare young people to develop skills that will prepare them for independent living (NMS 2.6)  ensure staff promote and support positive behaviour, including challenging behaviour all young people accommodated display, with specific regard to kicking the office door (NMS 3.2)  ensure all polices are up to date and regularly reviewed (NMS 22)  implement a system to monitor the quality of records and language used within the records (NMS 22.1)  ensure information recorded about young people is clear and is recorded in a way which will be helpful to young people when they access their files now or in the future. (NMS 22.5) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people benefit from individualised care and are provided through learning with tools to improve confidence and self-esteem. Young people are valued as individuals and increasing stability within the staff team has led to some strong attachments, enabling young people to start developing the foundations to sustain appropriate relationships with peers and family. Young people are supported to gain an understanding of their personal history and how this influences their current behaviour. As a result, young people make progress in all aspects of their lives, in relation to their starting points.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Health promotion within the home supports young people have a good understanding of healthy lifestyles and what this means for them. Young people mostly enjoy good health with limited use of prescribed medication, although there is reluctance on the part of some young people to access specialised support to increase emotional wellbeing.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Encouragement from staff enables young people to have a greater understanding of the causes of their risk-taking behaviours and work towards reducing them. As a result, incidents of being missing from care have reduced while living in the home. Where young people continue to struggle with risk taking behaviours, specialist support agencies engage with staff and young people, with varying degrees of engagement and success.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Attendance in education is excellent. Joint working between the home and schools and colleges enables young people to progress and achieve in line with their peers. Plans are in place for the forthcoming academic year to ensure engagement in education or training continues. Young people have positive relationships in the community, accessing age appropriate leisure activities independently or with staff and maintaining friendships.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

While living in the home young people learn essential self-care skills and have begun to learn some practical skills, such as household cleaning tasks and cooking meals. However there is little evidence of young people gaining practical skills appropriate to their age and to prepare them for independence.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people are beginning to develop as a result of relationships with an increasingly consistent staff team. Under the new management team’s guidance, staff are increasingly demonstrating they are concerned with all aspects of young 7 of 11 people’s welfare. Young people are positive about staff and observed interactions are nurturing and supportive. Young people are supported well to express themselves and be an individual.

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Quality of care adequate

Consultation with young people through individual meetings and key work sessions ensures their views are sought and when possible acted upon. Where young people are reluctant to engage in house meetings or key work sessions, their views are sought on an ad hoc basis. Records demonstrate changes that have been made as a result of young people’s views, such as a later settling time in the evening. Young people are encouraged to be involved in their reviews and care planning.

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Quality of care adequate

Staff have high aspirations for the young people in their care. There is a renewed focus on the well-being and development of individual young people, which has become central to all planning. Staff are beginning to work with greater efficiency as a team, increasing the consistency of approach to care. On-going training and support from the new manager is developing their work with young people.

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Quality of care adequate

Staff effectively support educational placements with good communication between home and schools and colleges. Where appropriate they support young people in their educational establishments to enable them to learn and be safe. The changing needs of young people are monitored monthly and care plans are updated by staff to reflect changes in approach to care and support. While they are individual, the plans do not necessarily reflect cultural identity beyond ethnicity and religious beliefs. Plans are however, completed in consultation, where appropriate, with young people, parents and social workers, with a parent commenting that the paper work produced by their child’s key worker, is ‘excellent’.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people attend all required medical appointments and assessments. Mental and emotional health specialists, such as Community Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and educational psychologists are available to work with staff, despite young people’s reluctance to engage with these professionals. Medication is stored appropriately and there is a thorough system to ensure safety when administering. In case of emergency, there is a first aider in the home at all times.

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Quality of care adequate

Young people can access independent advocates when required and know how to make complaints and who to complain to. Further information on how to access a range of advocacy and support services is available in an easily accessible folder. There have been no complaints since the last inspection and there is a clear process in place to manage any concerns. Young people say bullying is currently not an issue. Where there have been issues in the past, they have been managed swiftly and in a robust manner.

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Quality of care adequate

The building is well maintained with a homely feel. There are many areas for independent or group interaction, and young people have been involved in the layout of rooms and their décor. Since the last inspection the number of signs displayed around the home has greatly reduced, resulting in a much less institutional feel. 8 of 11

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people say they feel safe in the home and that staff do all they can to keep them safe in the community. Young people feel staff are concerned for their welfare, and identify at least one member of staff they would go to if they are worried or upset. Staff promote young people’s welfare and have training to protect young people from abuse or harm, including exploitation. Staff are confident of child protection procedures and processes to follow should they be concerned for a young person's welfare. Current safeguarding concerns have been responded to appropriately and promptly by the home. Staff understand individual young people’s vulnerabilities and work effectively to promote a safe living environment.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people do go missing form care and there are robust measures in place when this happens. These include following and staying with young people, to the extent of following them onto trains, while encouraging them to return home. Staff explore triggers and reasons for going missing with young people and update care practice and risk assessments to reflect this. Joint working with specialist police officers helps to protect young people who are at risk of exploitation when they are missing. Incidences of being missing from care have reduced over time. An Independent Reviewing Officer, while still concerned about the number of missing episodes, did not feel the home could do anything more to prevent the young person being missing. Individual files contain up-to-date photographs of young people in case of them being missing or other emergencies.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Comprehensive plans identify support and protective factors for those at risk of self- harming. Examples include removing implements young people could use to harm themselves. However staff do not consistently implement these procedures.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Individualised positive behaviour plans reward young people through positive reinforcement and monetary rewards when appropriate. Sanctions are proportionate, although the reason for the sanction is not always clear in the records. Young people have the opportunity to reflect on their behaviour and consider how responses could be different in the future. Restraint has not been required since the last inspection due to proactive responses to unwanted behaviour. However, observed low level negative behaviour, such as kicking the office door instead of knocking by all young people, was not challenged by staff.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Young people are protected from fire and other hazards through regular checks and procedures in place. The use of external CCTV has not been authorised by the placing authority, young people or included in placement plans to ensure they do not compromise privacy while considering safety. The organisation’s recruitment policy is thorough and ensures young people are protected from harm by robust personnel checks. Young people’s risk assessments are robust and allow young people to enjoy age-appropriate activities and take controlled risks in line with individual abilities and 9 of 11 vulnerabilities.

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Leadership and management inadequate

The home has been without a Registered Manager since April 2013. A home manager has been appointed and submitted their application to be registered during the inspection. The home manager alongside the recently appointed service manager has a sound understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Many areas identified as requiring improvement have been remedied, including creating an increasingly stable staff team. The rota has been amended to better meet young people’s needs, ensuring there are experienced staff on all shifts. Recruitment is an ongoing concern and the home manager is currently interviewing for new staff.

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Leadership and management inadequate

The manager monitors the home’s building and records monthly. There have, however, been failures to identify non-compliance with the requirements of regulation; firstly to record the reasons for all sanctions clearly and secondly to gain consent from young people and the placing authority for the use of external CCTV.

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Leadership and management inadequate

The manager’s monthly checks demonstrate an acceptable level of evaluation and the impact that living in the home has on young people. However the quality of young people’s daily records are not sufficiently evaluative and do not have sufficient content for young people to find them helpful should they view them now or in the future. Policies and procedures also require review to ensure they are up to date and relevant. Reports in relation to visits made to the home to monitor its conduct in line with Regulation 33 are sound. The organisation employs a visitor who is independent from the children’s home. Within these processes, the views of young people are sought, with evidence of how their views have changed some aspects of their care or living environment. The development plan identifies key areas for improvement and is continually under review.

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Leadership and management inadequate

The provider meets the aims and objectives as set out in the Statement of Purpose and staff fully understand the functions, purpose and ethos of the home, although in places it remains school focused. The current aim of the home and service manager is to ensure the home is run and organised as a children’s home and not a residential provision for the organisations school. The young people’s guide is in an appropriate format and contains information on external advice and advocacy services.

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Leadership and management inadequate

The home demonstrates some excellent multi-agency links to improve outcomes for young people. Joint working with specialist police officers and education providers amongst others, ensures increasingly positive outcomes for young people. Services that are not performing are challenged appropriately, although this is not currently a concern. Procedures are in place for young people complain when necessary about 10 of 11 services they receive including within the home. There have been no complaints from the community and relationships are mostly positive.

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Leadership and management inadequate

An increasingly consistent staff team care for young people. Staff comment that the new management team have made positive changes within the home and they feel supported and listened to as a result. Changes to the shift pattern have increased flexibility to undertake activities with young people. Training needs are identified in yearly appraisals and through increasingly regular supervision. Newly appointed staff complete an induction programme specific to the service, based on the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s induction standards. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management inadequate

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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Information about this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the framework of inspection for children's homes.

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