Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 1 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

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

p.1

Inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected Inadequate

p.1

Inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Inadequate

p.1

Inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean 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.

p.1

Inadequate

Date of last inspection: Not applicable.

p.1

Inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection

Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is inadequate because:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are at significant risk of harm because of ineffective responses from staff and inadequate leadership and management.  Staff fail to promote young people’s safety and welfare.  Young people’s education, attendance and achievement have deteriorated since living in the home.  Staff fail to promote young people’s health.  There are systemic failures in management and administrative processes.  Young people receive poor quality care due to poor communication between staff, and staff’s refusal to respond to management directives.  Managers are ineffective at tackling shortfalls. Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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;

p.3

Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

p.3

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

p.3

Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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;

p.3

Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) and (2) (a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (viii)) 12/08/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 10 (1) (a) (b)) 12/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 4 The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour and positive responses to other children and adults. (Regulation 11 (1) (a) (b) (c)) 12/08/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

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;

p.4

Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.4

Requirement Due date

that staff have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

p.4

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) and (2) (a) (i) (ii) (iii) (b)) 12/08/2017

p.4

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 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

p.4

Requirement Due date

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

p.4

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

p.4

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the skills to meet the needs of each child;

p.4

Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

p.4

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;

p.4

Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1) and (2) (b) (c) (d) (f) (h)) 12/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 5 The registered person must ensure that children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home and is necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 21 (b) (c) (i) (ii)) 12/08/2017

p.4

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)) 12/08/2017

p.5

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)) 12/08/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4 and ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (2) (a) (b)) 12/08/2017

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people live in a chaotic environment. Staff fail to plan and prioritise young people’s needs.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people persistently go missing from the home. They have little sense of safety and nurture due to a lack of intervention from staff. Young people routinely leave the home without permission. They will then return to obtain clothing and food, in the presence of staff, and then leave again. Staff fail to follow young people or encourage them to return home. This inadequate support and lack of intervention continues even when staff believe that young people are in a nearby park, sleeping there and are in the company of an adult male. Young people remain unaware of the risks of going missing.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not safe at night due to inadequate staff supervision and lapses in security. For example, young people have gone missing in the early hours of the morning, leaving through an unlocked and open door. This lack of security means that anyone wishing to enter the property could do so without challenge. Consequently, young people are not adequately protected.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not encouraged to reach their educational potential. They have little understanding of the importance of education. This is due to poor attendance and apathetic responses from staff who do not support young people’s learning when they are excluded from school. Young people experience drift and disengagement with learning because staff make no effort to obtain and support alternative education provision. Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 6 Young people are, and feel, let down by staff. Young people spend significant amounts of time unoccupied due to a lack of daily routines and education plans. Important appointments are missed. For example, one young person who had been excluded from school for two months, with no in-house education plan, got up to attend a music lesson. However, this did not take place due to poor communication between staff, who failed to record (or confirm) the arrangements for transporting the young person to the

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not understand the importance of education (or even attending school) because staff fail to take any action to help young people work towards their identified targets in their personal education plans. For example, a recent education report, drawn up at the time of a young person’s exclusion from school, identifies that the young person responds well to incentive plans. No home-education or incentive plans are in place despite the young person being excluded from education for two months. Staff have also failed to support the young person to access an online study and revision site as recommended by a local authority education officer. Young people, who are already at an educational and learning disadvantage, are now at risk of further disadvantage in their adult lives due to the poor support that they receive from staff.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One young person remains at risk of child sexual exploitation because staff fail to carry out essential face-to-face work about an ongoing relationship with an adult male. The young person is potentially unsafe because staff now accept this relationship as ‘appropriate’ because the young person has recently become 16 years of age.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff fail to take action when young people tell them that they are not feeling well or have a health concern. During the inspection, one young person had a persistent cough and other indicators of illness. Staff simply accepted the young person’s reluctance to attend a doctor’s appointment. Appropriate medical advice was only sought after intervention by the inspector and a directive to staff from a senior manager in the home.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not make progress and they lack stability within this home. Staff and young people do not enjoy meaningful relationships. Young people are left unsupervised and unsupported much of the time. This lack of positive engagement means that young people spend time away from the home and this leads to escalating and challenging behaviours when they are in the home.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff fail to support young people appropriately. For example, staff locked a young person out of the home and refused him entry when he returned from being missing. This was inappropriate, unnecessary and failed to safeguard the young person. In response, the young person damaged the door and ran away again. The police subsequently arrested the young person. This total lack of understanding by staff exacerbated this unsafe situation and resulted in the young person being criminalised unnecessarily.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people live in an environment where some staff judge the young people to be ‘disrespectful’ and prone to making allegations about staff. Young people experience poor relationships with their carers because staff fail to understand how childhood Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 7 experiences, and the current shortfalls in care, affect young people’s emotional well- being and behaviour. All of these failings contribute to young people not trusting the staff and prevent them from developing an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

p.6

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

A combination of poor staff practice, a lack of good-quality face-to-face work and poor oversight by managers place young people at risk.

p.7

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

Young people have been missing on 58 occasions since the home was registered in October 2016. Managers and staff fail to learn from these incidents or manage the associated risks. For example, no individualised missing from care protocols were available at the time of the inspection. Consequently, staff have no clear written guidance about how to keep young people safe.

p.7

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

Staff do not always follow young people when they go missing and do not always look for them. One member of staff told the inspector that staff are instructed by some managers not to follow young people. The registered manager reinforces this poor practice. For example, during a recent incident young people were making it known that they were planning to leave the home. The registered manager and the deputy manager, who were both in the home, failed to support staff at this time. Both managers remained in an upstairs office, despite staff telling them that the young people were planning to go missing. This lack of intervention and support demonstrates a significant failure by managers to take effective action when young people are at risk of harm.

p.7

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

Young people do not receive interviews by an independent person when they return to the home after being missing. One young person has been missing 15 times since her admission in April 2017, but has only had five return home interviews. This young person is considered to be at risk of sexual exploitation. Another young person has only had six return home interviews after 15 episodes of going missing. Managers and staff have failed to make sure that return home interviews are held. This failure prevents essential intelligence from being gathered which might be useful to help keep young people safe.

p.7

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

Staff do not understand the significance of young people going missing or the risks that they face. For example, during the inspection a member of staff told the interim manager that there had been no concerns during the previous evening or night. However, all three young people had been reported missing during the night. Two had returned during the early hours of the morning. The third young person was still missing from the home. This lack of understanding and inaccurate sharing of information heightens the risk of harm to young people.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership and management of this home are ineffective. The registered manager has recently resigned. The two deputy managers are also absent from the home. While Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 8 the new interim manager wants to improve the service, a lack of information and a poorly performing staff team compromise his efforts.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager failed to address a series of shortfalls identified in independent monitoring reports before she resigned. Poor management and practice remain entrenched. Senior leaders have failed (until recent management changes) to deal with the consistent failure of managers and staff to keep young people safe, promote their welfare and help them to make progress.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A lack of staff supervision prevents managers from tackling poor practice. With the exception of one new member of staff, complete training and supervision records were not available for review during the inspection as the interim manager was unable to locate them.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing arrangements do not meet the emotional needs of young people or keep them safe. Most staff leave the home in the evening at 10pm. This leaves one member of night staff and a second member of staff who sleeps at the home. Young people are expected to go to bed at 11pm. This shift pattern leaves two members of staff to manage a period of time when young people are often unsettled. Consequently, staff are unable to support young people effectively. These staffing levels continue to be in place despite persistent incidents of young people going missing at night and during the early hours of the morning. When young people go missing, staff feel unable to follow them or search for them as this leaves one member of staff alone in the home. There are no contingency plans in place to manage these incidents.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff fail to work as a team and do not follow management guidance or directives to improve basic practice expectations such as recording, handover meetings and shift planning. Young people are being seriously let down and experience poor care due to the inability of staff to reflect on and address their poor practice.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Record keeping is poor. Tracking of young people who move in and out of the home is hindered by poor recording. This information is important as it helps young people to understand their journey should they wish to look back in later life. In addition, these shortfalls jeopardise the effective investigation of concerns and events in the home. Another weakness is that the staff rota does not show the actual working pattern of staff. Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 9

p.8

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.

p.9

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: 1245984 10

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

p.10

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Priory Education Services Limited, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

p.10

Inspector

Elaine Cray, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1245984 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.

p.10

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, 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 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.11

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.11

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.11