Children's Home run by Oakley House Children’s Home Limited in Staffordshire

This monitoring visit

This monitoring visit was conducted due to concerns received by Ofsted. These concerns relate to the safety of young people, staffing levels and suitability, the condition of the premises and management arrangements for the home.

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This monitoring visit

The home is currently experiencing a turbulent period due to the departure of some key staff, including the registered manager. This has affected the stability of the home and has impacted on young people’s attachments. There is no manager currently in place, and the organisation is not effectively supervising or monitoring the home. One of the organisation’s directors is regularly working shifts. The responsible individual claims to be currently in day-to-day charge of the home. However, there is a lack of appropriate management oversight, and young people are not benefiting from appropriate behaviour management or boundaries. As a result, the safety and welfare of young people are negatively impacted.

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This monitoring visit

An incident occurred and a young person alleged harm from an adult working in the home. As a result, the young person contacted the police. However, the management of the home has not sought advice from the designated officer in the local authority and there are no arrangements in place to support the young person or staff member. This has the potential to affect relationships between young people and adults.

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This monitoring visit

There has been a recent increase in challenging behaviour and a corresponding increase in the use of physical intervention. There have been occasions when restraint is not appropriately used. A young person was restrained for attempting to leave the home. On another occasion, a young person was restrained as they refused to leave a peer’s bedroom. These shortfalls are compounded by a failure to ensure that young people are spoken to about the use of restraint. This means that any concerns or complaints from young people are not captured or acted upon.

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This monitoring visit

Not all young people are purposefully engaged in education. Consequently, they lack routine and expectations, and are unoccupied during the school day. This means that young people are able to sleep during the day and stay awake until the early hours. The disruption from young people awake at night impacts on those who do attend education. The responsible individual said that the impact on another young person in the home was that they were scared.

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This monitoring visit

The home is poorly maintained. Several areas of the home have been affected by recent incidents. Walls are damaged and the carpets are stained. Also, the rear garden is overgrown and a discarded kitchen appliance is yet to be removed.

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This monitoring visit

Over half of the staff team is not permanently employed, but drawn from agencies and from bank employment. There is no system in place to ensure that agency staff are appropriately qualified and have been robustly recruited. For example, some staff lack full employment histories, appropriate training and qualifications. This lack of rigour means that there is a potential for unsuitable adults to come into contact with young people. The responsible individual states that agency staff are not permitted to use restraint. However, there have been occasions where only agency staff have been on duty. Staff are therefore not equipped to manage the challenging behaviours of young people. On one occasion, staff locked themselves in the office during an incident. This means that young people are not effectively protected and there is the potential for young people to experience harm.

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Information about this children's home

This is a children's home for up to three young people aged between 10 and 17 years, with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities. The home is operated by a private company.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that must be taken so that the registered person(s) meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‘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

In order to meet the education standard, the registered person must ensure –

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Requirement Due date

(1) children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

(a) that staff— (viii) help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible; 30 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure –

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Requirement Due date

(2) (a) that staff— (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at 30 July 2016 risk of harm; (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) 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; (c) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are

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Requirement Due date

located so that children are effectively safeguarded; (d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and (e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

(a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 30 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing— (a) injury to any person (including the child); (b) serious damage to the property of any person (including the child); (2) Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate (Regulation 20(1)(a)(b)(2)). 30 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that 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)(c)). 30 July 2016 The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that— (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2 (Regulation 32(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(d)).

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children's home since its last Ofsted inspection. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. in the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’ which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of this guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234 or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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