Children's home run by Aurora Care and Education Opco Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1243958 1 Registered provider: Aurora Care and Education Opco Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children's home

The children‟s home provides care for up to 48 young people, irrespective of gender, who have learning and physical disabilities.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

p.1

Inadequate

Date of last inspection: 6 February 2018

p.1

Inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

p.1

Inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 1243958 2 17/07/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/11/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children's home: 1243958 3

p.1

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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children's home that—

p.3

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home‟s statement of purpose;

p.3

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

p.3

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

ensure that the home's workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

p.3

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.3

Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— 08/10/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1243958 4 research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

p.3

Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

p.4

Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry (Regulation 36 (1)(b)(c)) 08/10/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

p.4

Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children‟s home‟s premises; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home's premises—

p.4

Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

p.4

Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

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)(iii)(iv)) 08/10/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

*The quality and purpose of care standard

p.4

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— 08/10/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1243958 5 understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

p.4

Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children's needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home's statement of purpose;

p.5

Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home‟s statement of purpose;

p.5

Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child‟s welfare;

p.5

Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

p.5

Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child‟s needs, as recorded in the child's relevant plans, taking account of the child‟s background;

p.5

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

p.5

Requirement Due date

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;

p.5

Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

p.5

Requirement Due date

provide to children personal items that are appropriate for their age and understanding; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child's relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice;

p.5

Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

p.5

Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home; and Inspection report children's home: 1243958 6 ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

p.5

Requirement Due date

relates to the child's development (within the meaning of section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989) or health; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

p.6

Requirement Due date

that the care is approved, and kept under review throughout its duration, by the placing authority;

p.6

Requirement Due date

that the care is delivered by a person who—

p.6

Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

is under the supervision of a person who is appropriately skilled and qualified to supervise that care (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii)(ix)(c)(i)(ii)(d)(3)(a)(b)( c)(i)(ii))

p.6

Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

p.6

Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In this regulation, “the fire and rescue authority” means the fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(b) for the area in which the home is located (Regulation 25 (2)(b)(3)) 08/10/2018

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. 08/10/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1243958 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

Requirement Due date

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.7

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

p.7

Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

p.7

Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies;

p.7

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;

p.7

Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded;

p.7

Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home's child protection policies is monitored regularly (Regulation 12 (10(2(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)(d)(e))

p.7

Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

p.7

Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being 14/12/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1243958 8 involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

p.7

Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

p.8

Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

p.8

Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

p.8

Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

p.8

Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

p.8

Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child (Regulation 19 (1)) 14/12/2018

p.8

Requirement Due date

Behaviour management policies and records

p.8

Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

p.8

Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children's home; and

p.8

Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

p.8

Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

p.8

Requirement Due date

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—

p.8

Requirement Due date

the name of the child; 08/10/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1243958 9 details of the child's behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

p.8

Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

p.9

Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

p.9

Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

p.9

Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

p.9

Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

p.9

Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

p.9

Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

p.9

Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

p.9

Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

p.9

Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

p.9

Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children's home.

p.9

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

p.9

Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them;

p.9

Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and 08/10/2018 Inspection report children's home: 1243958 10 a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child.

p.9

Requirement Due date

Paragraph (2) does not apply to medicine which—

p.10

Requirement Due date

is stored by the child for whom it is provided in such a way that other persons are prevented from using it; and

p.10

Requirement Due date

may be safely self-administered by that child (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(a)(b)

p.10

Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

p.10

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to ensure that the needs of all of the children and young people are met. A lack of consistent, specialised and appropriate care has meant that too many children and young people have not been protected from harm or from the risk of further harm.

p.10

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to provide suitable staffing arrangements. An increasing dependency by the provider on agency staff has meant that children and young people who have autism spectrum disorder and learning difficulties are not provided with consistent care. This impacts on their ability to form lasting and trusting relationships with staff.

p.10

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leader and managers do not audit the performance of the home effectively to ensure that children and young people make progress. Poorly kept records and a lack of qualitative recording and auditing means that measuring children and young people‟s progress is difficult. For a small number of children and young people, there is little evidence to suggest that they have made progress or that their outcomes have improved. For one young person, the use of insufficiently trained staff and a failure to follow care plans have directly resulted in a deterioration of his health and well-being.

p.10

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to ensure that all children and young people receive suitable education. Six children and young people were identified as not being engaged in any formal education or not engaged in meaningful learning opportunities.

p.10

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A small cohort of young people are identified as being inappropriately placed. Inspectors recognised challenge made by the registered manager. However, the home‟s planning to move them to settings that can better meet their needs is insufficient. In contrast, children with less complex and challenging needs are making progress and appear settled and appropriately cared for.

p.10

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Inspectors identified several fire safety measures that raised concerns about the Inspection report children's home: 1243958 11 reliability and safety of the home‟s fire safety procedures.

p.10

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

Some children and young people remain at risk of significant harm. Not all staff have the skills, knowledge and training to support children and young people who have complex needs and challenging behaviours. Some children and young people are cared for by numerous different agency staff who do not have sufficient understanding of their needs.

p.11

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

Risk assessments are in place, but some are out of date, and lack important detail. As a result, children, young people and staff are being placed at risk.

p.11

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

The home relies heavily on agency staff who do not have English as their first language. This leaves children and young people who have communication difficulties at risk of not being understood. In addition, in some cases the quality of recording of serious incidents is poor.

p.11

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

Since the last inspection, there has been a high number of physical interventions. Records of these incidents sampled are poorly and formulaically recorded with errors, insufficient detail and a lack of management oversight. The registered manager, during a recent file audit, failed to identify these errors.

p.11

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

Staff have continued to make medication errors, despite supervision, training and a new storage and administration system being put in place. Some children have not been given their medication and some have been given too much medication. One incident of inappropriate medical treatment by an agency nurse resulted in a child with complex medical needs having to be admitted to hospital and undergoing a general anaesthetic.

p.11

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

Since the last inspection, several serious safeguarding incidents have happened where children and young people have been directly harmed. Investigations by leaders and managers lack rigour and professional curiosity. In one case, leaders and managers failed to identify potential safeguarding links and failed to report a serious concern to the police or to safeguarding agencies in a timely manner. There was a failure to report one medication error and an investigation was not reported to Ofsted.

p.11

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

A number of children and young people are identified as not having their needs wholly met. In particular, one young person is identified as being subject to neglect. Delay in action to support this young person, who has severely complex physical and emotional needs, has resulted in a deterioration in his health and emotional well-being.

p.11

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report children's home: 1243958 12 Leaders and managers have failed to meet the requirements made at the last interim inspection. The inspectors found several serious shortfalls that impacted directly on some of the children and young people.

p.12

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has failed to ensure that there is a stable skilled workforce. Despite insufficient staff, the registered manager has continued to admit children and young people to the home.

p.12

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Training is provided during and after the induction period. Records confirm that not all staff have received training in safeguarding and other mandatory courses. First aid training remains a serious concern: a number of the workforce either have not completed this training or their training has expired

p.12

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The monitoring and reviewing of records and practice is ineffective. Inspectors identified a poor quality of recording, out-of-date plans, missing documents, no management oversight, and institutional-style language and terminology. One file sampled by inspectors contained a recent audit by the registered manager that had failed to recognise some of these shortfalls.

p.12

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspectors found that there wasn‟t enough challenge and escalation. The registered manager has failed to address poor performance in relation to repeated medication errors and the lack of progress for a small number of young people. He has allowed placements to continue when young people are not having their needs met, are not making progress and are inappropriately placed. This lack of action means that the possibility of some children and young people gaining positive outcomes from living in this home is significantly impaired.

p.12

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A high proportion of agency staff do not know or understand the children and young people. They lack the necessary skills and confidence to meet the high level of need of some of those children and young people with the most complex needs. Use of unqualified and inexperienced agency staff leaves both them and the children and young people vulnerable.

p.12

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.12

Information about this inspection

Using the 'Social care common inspection framework', this inspection was carried out Inspection report children's home: 1243958 13 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: 1243958 14

p.12

Children's home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

p.14

Children's home details

Registered provider: Aurora Care and Education Opco Limited

p.14

Children's home details

Registered provider address: 33 Holborn, London EC1N 2HT

p.14

Inspector(s)

Linda Bond, social care inspector Heather Chaplin, social care inspector Clare Davies, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 1243958 15 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.14

Inspector(s)

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.15

Inspector(s)

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

p.15

Inspector(s)

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

p.15