Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 1 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited 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 six young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected Inadequate

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Inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Inadequate

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Inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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Inadequate

Date of last inspection: this is the home’s first inspection

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Inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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Inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is inadequate because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff do not meet young people’s health needs.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Risk management is poor. Staff lack guidance about how to support young people when they self-harm or go missing from home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people do not reach their academic potential because of a lack of support from staff.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff fail to work in partnership with other agencies.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Leadership and management oversight are ineffective.

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Key findings from this inspection

 New management structures are now tackling some shortfalls. Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a) (b) (c)) 04/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children and use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— protect and promote each child’s welfare; treat each child with dignity and respect; provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 6 (1) and (2) (b) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v)) 04/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 04/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 4 support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to

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Requirement Due date

maximise the child’s achievement; 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. (Regulation 8 (1) and (2) (a) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (viii)) The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met and children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to— achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans; understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and

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Requirement Due date

understanding; take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs. (Regulation 10 (1) and (2) (a) (i) (ii) (iii)) 04/08/2017

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff 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 * that staff help each child to understand how to keep safe; that staff have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a 04/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 5 child is at risk of harm; that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and 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

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Requirement Due date

harm. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2) (a) (i) (ii) (iii) (v) (vi) (b)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care in the home.* (Regulation 13 (1) and (2) (b) (f) (h)) 04/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children, the person has the appropriate skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28 (1) (b) (i)) 04/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4) (b)) 04/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 04/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people receive poor-quality care. Staff do not complete care planning targets or support young people appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not have the opportunity to reach their academic potential due to poor education attendance and a lack of support from staff to overcome barriers to learning. Young people’s refusal to go to school is met with apathy from staff. For example, staff just knock on young people’s doors in the morning, with little quality face-to-face interaction.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people experience drift and disengagement with learning because some remain in their bedrooms alone during the day with little stimulus or learning opportunities. One young person who is excluded from college has had little opportunity to reflect on their behaviour and the importance of education. Staff allow the young person to use this time out of education to go out all day to meet friends and relatives, with no education plans in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A lack of guidance and boundaries means that young people fail to understand the importance of education. Their need to learn is devalued by staff who fail to make arrangements for education and learning opportunities. Young people (who are already at a deficit in their education and learning) risk further disadvantage in their adult lives due to the poor support that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Health outcomes for young people are poor. Due to poor guidance from staff, young people have little understanding of their own medical conditions or their emotional well- being. Significant medical conditions such as enuresis are left untreated due to missed appointments and a lack of understanding from staff about young people’s medication. Young people’s dignity is compromised due to a lack of supportive strategies to help them manage their medical conditions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people often refuse medication which has been prescribed to support their behavioural and mental health needs. Staff simply accept this refusal and do little to explore the impact that this has on young people. Young people are let down by staff due to poor communication between staff and a failure to follow basic management instructions. For example, good negotiation between managers, some staff and a young person to resolve the young person’s refusal to take her morning medication was undermined during this inspection. Staff failed to follow simple instructions such as buying the young person’s favourite cereal bars. This had been agreed to help motivate the young person to take their medication. This total disregard by staff for their responsibilities has potentially serious consequences for the young person who continued not to take the medication. Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 7

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people at risk of sexual exploitation are not able to explore their experiences and develop their awareness of personal safety. Staff have failed to carry out planned key working sessions about stranger danger, sexual exploitation and social media risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people welcome ongoing improvements in the physical fabric of the home. They are pleased with their newly decorated, re-carpeted and furnished bedrooms and changes to the lounge and activity room.

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

Poor staff practice, a lack of good-quality face-to-face work and a lack of management oversight place young people at risk and fail to promote their welfare.

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

Young people are not safe. Risk management plans do not set out up-to-date strategies about how young people should be kept safe from risks such as self-injurious and suicidal behaviours, sexual exploitation, going missing from home, safe family contact and refusal to take medication.

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

Until recently, risk management plans and protocols for going missing from home lacked thoroughness, attention to detail and were poorly implemented. Attempts to keep young people safe have been process-led. Minimum partnership working and little face-to-face work with one young person have resulted in a number of significant risks related to their episodes of going missing. For example, staff have failed to intervene in a downward spiral of concerning behaviours involving gangs, drug misuse, weapons (including knives and guns) and involvement in criminal behaviour.

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

Poor risk management and lack of intervention by staff mean that young people are not suitably supported with their emotional health. Young people do not have a strong sense of well-being as staff fail to support them effectively. Staff do not have the skills to identify when a young person is at risk of harm or take appropriate action. For example, one young person with a history of self-injurious behaviours and recent suicidal plans was allowed to stay in her room all morning as she had refused to go to school. Despite the fact that this young person had informed staff that she was upset, no visual checks of this young person were carried out.

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

Young people are at risk because managers and staff fail to make changes to risk management plans or work in partnership with social workers and relatives. For example, a lack of intervention by the manager and staff has exposed one young person to unsupervised family contact, during which medication was obtained. This was part of a plan by the young person to attempt suicide, and placed them at significant risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management and oversight of staff practice are poor. Inadequate risk management plans provide staff with little guidance about how to keep young people safe and well. Managers have failed to make changes to these plans. Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 8 As a result, young people are not kept safe from going missing, sexual exploitation and self-injurious behaviours. Managers have failed to understand the impact that the quality of care provided in this home is having on the progress and experiences of the young people. Consequently, managers do not have the understanding required to develop and improve the quality of care provided in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Young people’s progress is hindered due to a lack of effective partnership working with other professionals. For example, education plans are not in place for when young people refuse education. Staff cannot help young people to return to education because they fail to contact and work in partnership with schools and colleges. Similarly, staff fail to work with health agencies to promote the well-being of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Young people’s safety is also compromised due to poor partnership working and a lack of challenge to the placing authority. For example, the registered manager has failed to challenge the placing authority effectively about concerns relating to a young person’s going missing from care episodes. The manager has also failed to work with a young person’s social worker so that the arrangements for them to see their family are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records are inadequate. Risk and behaviour management plans are not up to date. There is a lack of focus on the needs of young people. For example, daily logs are a running chronology of what staff have done, such as knock on doors to wake children, times of telephone calls and the times that young people, staff and visitors enter and leave the home. There is little context to the actions of staff or any perspective about young people’s progress and outcomes. Managers do not monitor these records. Because of these shortfalls, staff receive insufficient guidance and young people experience poor-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

While this provider has a clear complaints procedure, the registered manager and staff fail to maintain records that detail clearly the nature of the complaint or the action taken. Some complainants have not been informed about the outcomes of their complaints. Complacency by staff in their recording means that managers are unable to deliver letters of acknowledgement and outcomes of complaints. This is because the complainant’s contact details have not been recorded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing levels provide adequate cover for the number of young people living at the home. However, staff have not received regular supervision and their practice remains poor. Communication between staff and daily handover meetings are ineffective. Shift planning does not include how staff plan to work with young people so that they can achieve care-planning targets and resolve the challenges that young people present on a day-to-day basis.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring and review systems are ineffective. The registered manager has failed to manage poor staff practice or make improvements, despite numerous shortfalls being highlighted by the home’s independent person. By the registered manager’s own admission, ‘The culture of the home has hampered the progress that I’m trying to achieve.’ Inspection report children’s home: 1245982 9 This full inspection demonstrates continued failure to improve the running of the home and the outcomes for young people. Senior leaders, including the responsible individual, have failed to improve the performance of the registered manager and staff and have not made sure that young people receive a good standard of care.

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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 differences 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: 1245982 10

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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: 1245982 11 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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