Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 1 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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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 part of a private organisation and is registered to accommodate up to eight young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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: This is the home’s first inspection

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Key findings from this inspection

 Leadership is strong. The recent transition of ownership of the home has had minimum impact on the stability of children and young people, who continue to make progress in all aspects of their lives. Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 2  Children and young people are able to identify and take pride in the progress that they make at the home. They credit improvements in their behaviour to staff support, saying that they are calmer because they can talk to staff about their worries.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people’s comments, such as ‘The home is good – because it is all about the children,’ demonstrate the central focus of consultation with children and young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 All children and young people attend and enjoy education. All have improved their attendance from their educational starting points.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Partnership working promotes sound safeguarding. Staff awareness has been integral to addressing the possible radicalisation of children and young people in the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Improvements to the physical fabric of the home are much appreciated by the children and young people. Redecoration of corridors, new carpets and a range of pictures improve the ambience of the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development

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Key findings from this inspection

 Extending the home’s connections within the community in terms of combating radicalisation.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff to embed necessary medical protocols into the admissions process.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Records do not yet fully reflect a child-centred approach. Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 3

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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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

(b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. 21/07/2017

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Recommendations

 Administer medicines in line with a medically approved protocol. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15). This is with particular regard to the transcribing of prescribed medication onto young people’s medication records.

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Recommendations

 Record information about the child in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 Support children and their parents to understand the nature of records kept in the home and how to access them. Staff should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. Staff should keep and encourage children to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children and young people admitted to and discharged from the home over the past six months (since the home has changed ownership), have made good progress across all aspects of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people develop good qualities. For example, they are now able to treat others with kindness and manage their anger more appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s and young people’s progress also includes a decrease in going missing and being involved in criminal activities. There are no concerns regarding child sexual exploitation at the home. Children and young people also have a greater understanding of the risks of radicalisation due to staff members’ vigilance and interventions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive education outcomes are a key strength and include the reintegration of children and young people into mainstream education. They all improve their education opportunities, improve attendance and some are looking forward to completing their GCSEs alongside their peers at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultancy with children and young people is also a key strength. This is best evidenced by the improvements in the physical fabric of the home. The majority of the children and young people now take pride in the home. Most no longer damage their living environment and their involvement in choosing colours, furniture and choosing pictures for their bedrooms gives them an added investment in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between children and young people are positive. They show good levels of respect for each other. When this is not the case, they appreciate how staff help them talk things through so that they can better resolve differences. Children and young people believe that this approach reduces the potential for bullying in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As they forge positive relationships, children and young people grow in confidence, value each other and feel more able to take part in a greater range of social activities. For example, all children and young people now enjoy going out for a ‘family’ meal with each other and the staff. One young person’s confidence has grown so much that they are now a representative on the Children in Care Council.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive relationships with staff enable children and young people to express their worries and develop good emotional stability. Young people remain in contact with staff after moving on. They give credit to the staff and say that the support they received while at the home was integral in helping them settle in their new placements. These ongoing relationships show the positive attachments that children and young people experience with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As children and young people grow in self-esteem, they are more able to express their views and meaningfully influence their future plans. For example, one young person felt Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 5 strong enough to explain that he did not feel comfortable with the fostering arrangements that were planned for him. His confidence has been suitably rewarded and alternative arrangements are being made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people’s behaviour improves and they measure their own progress. They develop a greater understanding of growing up due to the strong and realistic boundaries in the home. They enjoy receiving rewards and their incentive charts are proudly displayed in the office. Their opportunities to negotiate their own individualised incentives enable them to have a greater sense of self-determination and greater investment in their behaviour management plans and outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Increasing confidence and maturity enable children and young people to broaden their life experiences. For example, gradual, progressive and well-measured risk management supports children and young people to earn trust and embrace their responsibilities for keeping themselves safe. They enjoy more free time away from the home with new- found maturity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people thrive in the home and their health improves. They appreciate the help and support that they receive from staff to attend regular health checks. Eating healthily and thoroughly enjoying a new range of more physical activities keeps children and young people physically fit and they experience a great sense of achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people settle well at the home. They appreciate having other children and young people to show them around and talk about the running of the home. The young people’s written guide is child-friendly and children and young people say that talking to staff about the guide, their own individual care and expectations of the home really helps them settle in.

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

The ever-developing care planning framework comprehensively places safety and emotional welfare at the forefront of staff practice.

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

The acting manager and staff share information effectively. Consistent management reviews and audits of files ensure that children and young people’s plans are needs-led, contemporary and reflect the placing authority’s and safeguarding agencies’ expectations.

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

Recording in the home is much improved and there is a clear shift towards more child- focused recording. However, some key working records contain complex wording which may not be clear and meaningful to children and young people.

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

Children and young people’s transitions into the home are tailored to their individual needs. However, there are still some areas of improvement to be made to make sure that records are meaningful. For example, some individual medical protocols and Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 6 medication procedures lacked detail. This is due to staff not cross-referencing medical information shared by parents and social workers on admission. While these issues were addressed at the time of the inspection, new procedures for transcribing medication and medical protocols for conditions such as epilepsy are yet to fully embed.

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

Partnership working is key to the positive outcomes experienced by children and young people. For example, staff work in conjunction with young people, families and social workers to plan and facilitate safe and appropriate family contact. These positive relationships also facilitate greater consistency in behaviour management. Staff, parents and family members work alongside each other to reinforce behaviour management strategies. This consistency not only supports children and young people’s behaviour, but also improves the quality of family relationships.

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

Partnership working positively affects young people’s school attendance. Good information sharing ensures that children and young people receive a consistent message about the importance of education and very clear expectations about their behaviour. Children and young people re-engage with, and enjoy, full-time education because staff work alongside teaching staff and mental health agencies.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures. They are constantly vigilant and make sure that effective supervision keeps children and young people safe. The understanding that staff have about children and young people’s family backgrounds, childhood experiences and identities provides a firm foundation for what needs to be in place to help children and young people feel safe and be safe.

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

Safeguarding protocols and inter-agency liaison are effective. Staff respond appropriately to the risks that children and young people face and their vulnerabilities. The acting manager is proactive and effective in identifying and referring safeguarding concerns. For example, partnership working with the local authority designated officer and the police demonstrates good safeguarding practices and reduces the potential exposure of children and young people to radicalisation.

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

Children and young people are safe because staff work collaboratively to ensure that risk management practices are well organised and bespoke to each child or young person. For example, quick intervention and joint working with the police and school staff ensure clear strategies for managing the challenging behaviour of one young person.

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

Missing from care procedures promote high levels of vigilance and close partnership working with the police keeps young people safe. While there are no current concerns regarding children and young people going missing from the home, the manager and staff have worked tirelessly to update and improve missing from care protocols. Staff are proactive; they embrace the new recording systems because quality and simplicity give staff more time to go out and search for children and young people.

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

Improved recording of physical interventions reflects the challenging behaviour of children and young people and demonstrates why physical interventions are necessary to keep people safe. Records are closely monitored by the acting manager. She uses Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 7 patterns and trends to track progress and monitor staff practice. Physical intervention records show a significant decrease over time and reflect the positive progress that children and young people make in managing their own behaviour.

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

High regard for health and safety ensures that all staff take responsibility for keeping children, young people and themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During an extended absence by the registered manager, the acting manager (with effective support from her management team and line manager) managed a significant period of change over the past six months in an effective manner. She has successfully motivated the staff team to embrace recent organisational change, specifically the transfer of ownership of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the staff team are very motivated and enthusiastic in their drive to provide positive outcomes for young people and improve the operation of the home. As staff embrace and embed a range of new policies, procedures and administrative systems, they have also sustained stability so that children and young people continue to thrive and progress in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager has good insight into the home’s strengths and areas for development. She demonstrates a clear understanding of her monitoring responsibilities, including responding to the comprehensive independent monitoring reports. The manager and staff are quick to tackle any shortfalls. Their efforts to drive improvement can be seen through the significant reduction in shortfalls and greater regulatory compliance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing arrangements are well managed. Staff are very positive about working together to ensure that children and young people remain central to their practice and have good outcomes. Although several established staff members have left, the remaining staff work cohesively. They welcome newly recruited staff in order to provide children and young people with a firm sense of stability and permanence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training and development opportunities ensure that staff keep abreast of social care issues. For example, they have recently completed training in radicalisation. Staff knowledge and action have been instrumental in keeping children and young people at the home safe. Staff have shown effective skills in partnership working with safeguarding agencies. However, the acting manager is yet to make links with external agencies who can independently support children and young people to develop their own sense of identity safely. This would also allow children and young people to develop their own skills and their ability to identify potential risks, specifically the dangers of radicalisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Ongoing stability for children and young people is possible due to good assessment of referrals to the home. The service operates according to the home’s statement of Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 8 purpose because members of the management team now ensure that they assess new children and young people effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Thorough recruitment processes for new staff protect children and young people. Good management of agency staff means that children and young people experience a good sense of permanency. Children and young people’s inclusion in the recent recruitment of new staff also highlights the integral role that children and young people’s participation plays in the running of this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff value children and young people’s views and complaints are addressed effectively. Children and young people experience a clear sense of safety and confidence because they believe that they are listened to. Their concerns are taken seriously and this can be evidenced in the effective referral of safeguarding concerns in the home over recent months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management and staff team are to be congratulated for the improvements that they have made to the home.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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: 1245981 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Priory Group, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector

Elaine Cray, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 10 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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