Children's Home, Residential special school run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 1 SC391860 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

There are two homes near each other on the same site of a school, which young people attend. The two homes can accommodate 14 young people who have learning disabilities. The registered manager has managed the home since April 2018.

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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: 19 September 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/09/2017 Full Good 05/06/2017 Full Inadequate 27/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(2)(c)(i)) 16/11/2018

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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; staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(b)(c)(h)) 16/11/2018

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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 demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(g)(ii)) 16/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the privacy of children is appropriately protected; 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 16/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 4 premises is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a disabled child accommodated in the home is provided with access to such aids and equipment as the child may require as a result of the child‟s disability in order to facilitate the child‟s communication with other persons. (Regulation 22(4)) 16/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 16/11/2018

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improvement to be good

Overall, parents speak positively about the care their children receive. However, staff do not give sufficient attention to ensure that young people‟s aspirational targets make a positive difference to a young person‟s confidence, developing new life skills and increasing their self-esteem. For example, staff have set one young person‟s target to help with preparing a meal. However, the young person is already able to prepare and cook a roast dinner. Another young person achieved their targets a few months ago. Despite staff knowing this fact, the young person‟s targets have not been updated in four months.

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improvement to be good

Young people do not always have access to the communication aids they need to enable them to make informed choices and decisions. Despite young people having care plans in place, staff fail to invest time in reading and understanding these plans from a child- centred viewpoint.

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improvement to be good

Staff routinely lock internal doors. This can include doors to the sensory room, young people‟s bedrooms and young people‟s wardrobes. This practice is not in line with young people‟s care plans. One member of staff told the inspector, „We lock the doors because some young people will drink toiletries. The easiest way is to lock it away in the wardrobe.‟ This practice shows a complete lack of creative thinking from the staff team, and restricts young people‟s movements.

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improvement to be good

Maintenance issues are not always reported or fixed in a timely manner. For example, Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 5 staff were unaware that the sensory equipment was not working. This is despite inspectors being told that this equipment is regularly used by the young people. This lack of attention to the environment hinders the creation of a pleasant domestic environment for young people to live in and enjoy.

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improvement to be good

Despite the shortfalls found, young people are making progress. Staff are sensitive to young people who are new to the service, and plan well to help them to quickly settle into their new environment.

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improvement to be good

There is a good focus on young people accessing activities in the community. For example, young people have enjoyed a holiday to Wales, been to the beach and been on walks. Young people have also been involved in celebrations in the home. These include birthday parties.

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improvement to be good

There have been safeguarding concerns raised. These concerns have been referred to the appropriate agencies and have resulted in lessons being learned around improving communication with parents. However, these learning outcomes have not been communicated well to the staff team. Therefore, opportunities to improve practice across the staff team are missed.

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improvement to be good

The process for dealing with complaints is poor. For example, a complaint raised in June is still waiting to be addressed. This means that the complainant has been left feeling frustrated, and that any potential change in practice has been significantly delayed.

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improvement to be good

Staff only use physical restraint as a last resort. Instead, staff manage incidents well by using a range of de-escalating strategies that help young people to stay calm.

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improvement to be good

Managers ensure that staff who work at the home are safe to work with young people. This level of diligence in the safe recruitment of staff means that young people are protected from unsuitable adults working at the home.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been further changes to the management of the home. Communication between the managers and staff is poor. As a result, staff morale is low. For example, one member of staff told the inspector, „Things change so quickly we can‟t keep up – we have training, but we are not supported. The communication is poor.‟

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

The manager has not ensured that he has sufficient monitoring systems in place. As a result, record keeping is not up to date and is not of a good quality. For example, key information is missing from young people‟s files. This includes details around young Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 6 people‟s family contact arrangements and details about any allergies that could put young people‟s health at risk.

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

Staff have access to a range of training opportunities to help them to understand the needs of young people. However, despite completing a range of training courses, staff still lack knowledge around deprivation of liberty and how this links to young people‟s care planning.

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

There is no system in place to capture young people‟s views on the quality of their care. This means that the service does not benefit from the views of key stakeholders.

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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: SC391860 7

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Katherine Bridon

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Inspectors

Louise Battersby: social care inspector Gareth Leckey: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC391860 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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