Children's Home run by Pilgrims Corner Limited in Kent

Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 1 SC473877 Registered provider: Pilgrims Corner 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 privately owned home is registered to care for two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and is one of four within the organisation. The company also owns a school, which some of the young people may access.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 21 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people feel safe and secure and properly cared for.  Staff display a strong interest in the young people and are able to support them to make progress in their normal development, as well as in areas of challenge. Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 2  The young people are settled and feel a sense of belonging and attachment to their home.  The young people feel free to express themselves and make their views known to staff who listen to them.  The young people make progress in their education, expand their experience of the world and, together with staff, celebrate their achievements.

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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

 The core staffing arrangements for the home need to become established and team working improved.  A culture of regular and meaningful staff supervision needs to become established.  The formulation of plans of care and risk reduction needs to be more explicit and accessible to all staff.  Further improvement is required to creating a homely atmosphere, including appropriate sleeping arrangements for staff.  Facilities need to be upgraded to include the young people being able to have ready and safe access to the internet.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/11/2016 Full Good 30/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 29/12/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 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

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 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)(b)) In particular, that plans to keep children safe are clear and focused on the key areas of identified risk. 29/01/2018

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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)) 29/01/2018

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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 ensure— that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child‟s learning. (Regulation 8(1) and (2)(b)) In particular, to ensure that this includes safe and ready access to the internet. 29/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16(1)) In particular, that covers the arrangements for the professional supervision of staff. 29/01/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 4

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Recommendations

 That the registered person ensures that the home provides a nurturing, welcoming and homely environment and that this is reflected in all the sleeping arrangements, including those for staff. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  That the registered person ensures that record keeping is relevant to the daily care of the young people and that they are encouraged to contribute to this process. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Receptive and committed staff help the young people to engage with the world and explore and develop their strengths and interests. The young people feel affirmed and secure because staff show strong interest in them. The young people say that they feel that the staff genuinely care about them. An assertive and confident staff team displays a detailed knowledge of the professionals and family members most significant to the young people. Staff are able to maintain professionality in their dealings with these key adults. This enables them to ensure that the young people benefit from these relationships and also ensures that they have access to all the available services. Because the young people feel accepted and valued, they are able to express their wishes and feelings, including in areas of difficulty. This enables the adults to meaningfully support their progress in all areas, including their education and normal

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

adolescent development. The young people are, however, being hindered in their learning about positive, constructive and safe daily use of internet technologies in the home. This is because equipment is outdated and staff are overly cautious, despite having a sound e-safety policy in place to guide them. The young people are able to reflect insightfully on their day-to-day experiences in the home as well as their outside activities. They display a reasonable and balanced attitude to the necessary restrictions placed on them. The young people are meaningfully prepared for the adult world because the adults who care for them are clear and consistent in the way that they impose reasonable boundaries. This also helps the young people to build realistic and meaningful plans for the future. Although the young people like their home, and the facilities are able to meet their needs, inconsistent standards in cleaning, decoration and maintenance do not always

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

clearly convey to them that they are respected and valued. A lack of dedicated space for staff to sleep downstairs also undermines a homely, family-like atmosphere. Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 5

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

The young people have become increasingly safe during this inspection period and incidents of young people placing themselves at risk have substantially reduced. The young people‟s reaction to emotional turmoil and upsetting events has become more controlled. A more consistent and nurturing environment enables them to deal with distressing events in an increasingly open and constructive manner. When young people do display behaviour that is harmful, or potentially harmful, to themselves, staff respond swiftly and decisively and sustain strong efforts to safeguard the young person until the risk has sufficiently reduced. This is shown, for example, in the tenacious responses of staff to locate young people when they go missing. Staff display a detailed understanding of the risks for each young person. This knowledge and awareness is, however, not always translated into clear and relevant plans to keep the young person safe. Neither do staff reduce conditions that contribute

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

to young people becoming impulsive and making poor decisions. These deficiencies in formulating effective plans undermine consistency in staff safeguarding practice and do not readily enable new staff to quickly understand how best to keep the young people safe. Staff have undergone key safeguarding training and have acquired the skills and knowledge to follow procedures and keep the young people safe from risks, such as radicalisation and exploitation. Staff need to learn, however, how to effectively implement the home‟s e-safety policy in order to support the young people to keep themselves safe during normal, daily internet use when this is made available in the home. Staff follow health and safety procedures, including those for fire safety, and also have a good working knowledge of the hazards, risks and opportunities in the home‟s locality. They have developed positive working relationships with police, railway police, missing

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

person‟s co-ordinator and the designated officer for the area. These practices add to the breadth and depth of the home‟s capacity to safeguard the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The leadership and management arrangements for this home are shared with a same- sized sister home in the nearby vicinity. One person manages both homes and he is currently applying for registration with Ofsted. Both homes were inspected during one continuous period due to these arrangements. The aspects of leadership and management that are strong, improved and require further improvement are common to both homes. During this inspection period, the home‟s leadership and management has experienced times of turbulence and difficulty. This has resulted in reduced staff cohesion and motivation, as well as shortfalls in management activities. This includes poor staff supervision practice and inadequate monitoring of the care being provided. This has resulted in some disturbance to the consistency and stability of care provided to the young people. In recent months, however, there has been significant improvement in

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 6 the management structure of the home, as well as the continuity of care being provided. The home has a new, experienced and qualified manager who is in the process of making an application to register with Ofsted. He has a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home, as well as the priorities for improvement. He has gained the trust and respect of the staff, many of whom reported a renewed sense of focus and direction following his appointment. This inspection identified a number of significant shortfalls. Although improving, the practice of staff supervision and appraisal has been neglected and does not yet currently meet the requirements for regularity and sufficiency. This undermines the stability of the staff team in providing consistent and high-quality care to the young people. The young people are not currently deriving the full benefits of the collective efforts and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

commitment of the staff team. This is largely the result of a recording system that has become onerous and does not work in effectively supporting staff in their daily practice. Also, the recording system is not helping the young people to engage in the live recording of their lives. The experienced staff team is focused on improving the outcomes for the young people. Staff have high ambitions for the young people to achieve their potential and make best use of their opportunities. Leaders and managers understand and accept the identified shortfalls. They are determined and committed to achieve the improvements necessary for this provision to become settled and to provide the highest possible quality of care to the young people. There are effective monitoring systems in place to track progress in this regard.

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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: SC473877 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pilgrims Corner Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 5, The Links, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7GQ

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Inspector:

John Pledger, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC473877 8 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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