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

The home is one of a group of five homes run by a private organisation for young people from the Birmingham local authority area. The home’s statement of purpose says that staff aim to make a difference to the lives of young people by protecting them, improving their engagement in learning, and reducing health inequalities. Staff aim to establish stability in the lives of young people and identify further support and resources to meet their needs. The registered manager has a level four leadership diploma for residential childcare and has been registered to manage the home since November 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 23 November 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/05/2017 Full Good 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

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; 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 help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect and help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(v)(vi)) 14/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour; and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(iv)(ix)) 14/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(vii)) 14/06/2018

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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. 14/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Recommendations

 Support children and their parents to understand the 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. 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)  Information about the child must always be recorded 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)  Staff should understand factors that affect children’s motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way. Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the child’s

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Recommendations

relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13)  Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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improvement to be good

Some young people do not make enough progress during their placements to make their moves out of the home successful. As a result, two young people recently moved back into the home following a number of placement breakdowns. Staff are kind and spend time with young people. Staff work hard to establish young people into routines of sitting to complete some learning if they are not attending school. A few young people are attending school full time and are no longer being excluded from school. This is real progress for them. Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 5 Staff do regular key-work sessions with young people, but staff are not creative, empathic or focused enough on helping young people with their insecurities and low self-esteem. Staff focus too much on the negative consequences of poor behaviour and engagement, such as criminal records and prison sentences. This means that young people’s resilience and social skills remain poor.

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improvement to be good

Staff know what young people are interested in and they find clubs and activities for them. However, staff do not always do what is needed to help young people sustain attendance and achieve success. As a result, young people often withdraw from positive, healthy activities. Staff records state that young people ‘fail to complete’ or ‘fail to engage’. Staff do not write or use records and reports about young people in ways that help them. For example, staff do not read the detail of what other staff are doing with young people. Staff, therefore, do not build on the help being given by others. Young people are not interested in reading their records or motivated about what they need to do to achieve their plans for the future. Staff start memory boxes, photo albums and life story books for young people, but lock these away in case young people destroy them. Staff do not get around to printing off photos and do not spend time with young people putting together and looking back on

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improvement to be good

Young people’s behaviour rarely improves during their placement. This is because staff do not show a clear understanding of the impact of negative previous experiences on young people’s behaviour. Staff do not give young people the help that they need to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. Many young people display violent and damaging behaviour that can result in other young people and staff being hurt. Staff sometimes need to physically restrain young people. Staff do this in accordance with regulations, but they do not use creative, positive behaviour strategies and restorative practice that are more likely to help young people to change. Staff and the manager show warmth, care and concern for each young person, but their response to poor behaviour is ineffective. For example, they issue sanctions such as fines and stopping young people from going on activities. Young people say that staff

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improvement to be good

give them mixed messages. This demoralises young people and many of them get involved in more incidents as their placement goes on. Staff and managers do not review sanctions to see if they have worked. Instead, they interpret worsening behaviour as young people deliberately ‘breaking their placement down because they want to move on’. Young people go missing from the home quite frequently, sometimes with other young people from the home. Staff supervise young people closely and keep them separate on occasions to minimise incidents. Staff follow young people when they know that they are going missing from the home. After every episode, staff make sure that they talk to Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 6 young people about it and offer them the opportunity to speak to someone independent. Staff and the manager follow procedures properly when young people disclose that they have been harmed. They refer to safeguarding professionals and ensure that risks of

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improvement to be good

further harm are minimised. Some placements end quickly following harmful behaviour towards other young people or staff.

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

The registered manager is passionate and knowledgeable about each young person. She is well supported by the organisation’s leadership team. However, the manager and staff struggle to give young people consistency or to keep records up to date. The manager has not done enough monitoring and reviewing work. For example, she has not identified that some required records for sanctions, missing from care episodes and restraints have not been completed in full. This prevents her from identifying trends, strengths and difficulties in the delivery of care to young people. It also means that the home’s reports and contributions to care planning are less reliable and useful.

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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: 1245981 7

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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

Rachel Britten, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1245981 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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