Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1245984 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 cares for up to five young people. The statement of purpose states that the home is ‘a non-institutional homely living environment where employees work with young people to enable them to develop inner controls, respect for self and others and take responsibility for their actions. Staff not only aim to meet the developmental needs of young people but, through the use of individual assessment, support, guidance and opportunities, they can begin to explore and address their individual needs with a comprehensive placement plan in conjunction with the care plan.’

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has worked in children’s residential care for over 20 years. He has both level four and five qualifications in leadership and management of children’s residential care.

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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: 17 October 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1245984 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/07/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: 1245984 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 enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to— develop the child’s interests and hobbies; participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences; make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community; and that each child has access to a range of activities that enable the child to pursue the child’s interests and hobbies. (Regulation 9 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)) 15/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 15/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well- being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(iv)) 15/08/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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 15/08/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1245984 4 child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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)(2)(b)) 15/08/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; and ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(c)) 15/08/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)) 15/08/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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)) 15/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that arrangements are in place 15/08/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1245984 5 to— ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(ii)) Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home. 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 (1)(2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the register of children contains children’s addresses immediately before being accommodated so that useful liaison can take place with young people’s previous care-givers. 15/08/2018

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Recommendations

 Staff should help children to understand what makes a healthy, nurturing relationship. Staff should be skilled to recognise the signs and provide support to children in danger of, or involved in, exploitative or damaging relationships with others and where possible prevent these types of relationships. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards, page 39, paragraph 8.10)

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improvement to be good

Three young people currently live at the home. All young people are settled but are unsure about the progress they have made or how they have benefited from the help of the staff. One young person told the inspector, ‘It’s generally alright.’

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improvement to be good

Staff’s relationships with young people require improvement. Staff do not make clear, relevant plans that are based on young people’s needs and what young people tell them. Records made by staff are often unclear about how young people are supported to make meaningful progress. For example, young people’s memories books are not up to date and are not completed with them. Activity plans and records of food consumed are not used to help young people understand and develop the skills that they need to engage in healthy and purposeful daily routines.

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improvement to be good

Some staff are not creative or well organised to ensure that young people take part in activities and get to events and appointments. Staff do not organise regular mealtimes or help young people plan their time. For example, staff do not prioritise giving help to young people about keeping their bedrooms clean and organised. After many months, some young people still do not have a bank account or have not been registered with a doctor’s surgery. Inspection report children's home: 1245984 6 Staff help young people attend their exams and make plans for ongoing education or vocational training. However, young people have had no access to a home computer for many months and say they are bored. Their interests, in acting, gardening and music, are not consistently supported. Staff do not energetically plan and execute their shifts with each young person’s needs in mind.

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improvement to be good

A few staff show sensitivity and insight into young people’s needs. For example, one member of staff empathised with a young person about exam nerves and was kind and reassuring to him before and after the exam. The young person found comfort and support in this.

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improvement to be good

Young people in placement since the last inspection are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, bullying and using drugs. They all struggle to make and sustain healthy, safe friendships and relationships with peers and adults.

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improvement to be good

Staff usually follow procedures and they encourage young people to stay in touch when they are out alone. However, staff response to incidents when young people going missing from the home is not always well planned. Staff do not explain clearly to young people what their real concerns are or give reasons for decisions that are based on insightful, consistent good parenting. As a result, young people feel annoyed and confused and make little progress with their underlying difficulties.

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improvement to be good

Staff create a pleasant atmosphere, but do not provide young people with the right support to develop safe relationships and move away from exploitative or damaging ones. Staff do not work in a well-planned, proactive, skilful way to continuously assess whether a young person is at risk of harm and to teach the young person how to make positive relationships. However, staff do identify relevant support and advice groups for young people to join.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of disruption, damage and bullying in the home have lessened in recent weeks because some young people have moved on. However, staff cannot say how they helped young people be safer in their relationships and lifestyles before leaving the home.

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improvement to be good

On a few occasions, police have been called to help manage young people’s unsafe behaviour. Young people have also made allegations about staff at times of anger and distress, sometimes when staff have physically restrained them. These situations have all been managed in accordance with interagency safeguarding procedures.

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good

Inspection report children's home: 1245984 7 The registered manager and his two deputy managers adequately manage the home. One young person said, ‘Adam is a nice guy – if staff are baffled, he ‘gets’ me.’ However, the manager and deputy do many of the day-to-day care tasks. It is often the manager and the deputy who help young people see their families, celebrate birthdays, attend big events like school proms, and help young people to move into independent accommodation.

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good

The manager does not complete consultation or review staff practice effectively. This means that he does not identify or rectify weaknesses in staff practice. He continues to have difficulty achieving well-planned and executed shifts and team work between long-standing and new staff. The organisation is providing extra management and quality assurance support to try to improve this.

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good

The manager knows the strengths and weaknesses of service and promotes tolerance, equality and diversity. He is dedicated and uses good humour and warmth with young people and staff. However, he is not well organised about obtaining full information and using it to plan a comprehensive agenda of help to each young person. He does not prepare and upskill staff to meet young people’s emotional needs well or inspire them to achieve more.

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good

The manager does not devote enough time to plan and organise admissions so that young people already living here have a positive experience of new dynamics in the home. He does not keep good records of young people’s current contact details and previous addresses. This makes it hard to work well with young people and social workers before and after young people have lived at the home.

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good

Some stakeholders are positive about the home and the way it is run. The home’s independent visitor recently said that a young person was ‘comprehensively and compassionately supported by the manager and deputy’.

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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 Inspection report children's home: 1245984 8 to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: 1245984 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, Middlesex W14 8UD

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Inspector

Rachel Britten, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 1245984 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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