Children's Home, Residential special school run by Mayne Enterprises Limited in East Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 1 SC413992 Registered provider: Mayne Enterprises 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 service is registered with Ofsted to provide accommodation and care for a maximum of 11 children. It is a small, privately owned independent residential school and children’s home. The statement of purpose states that the home provides ‘high- quality care and education to young people who, for a number of different reasons, are unable to live within a family environment during this period in their life.’ Children are likely to have experienced emotional and social difficulties and may have moderate learning difficulties or be on the autistic spectrum.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since June 2013.

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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: 20 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: SC413992 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/09/2017 Full Good 18/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/04/2016 Full Outstanding 26/11/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(xi)) 12/11/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

that staff ─ 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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare.

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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. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)(vi)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to the assessment and 12/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 4 management of risk, following agreed procedures when a child goes missing and ensuring that the physical environment does not compromise the health and safety of the children.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to their full potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to undertaking assessments of the likely impact that new admissions to the home will have and ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of staff on duty at all times to meet the needs of children and keep them safe. 12/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14(1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that there are effective plans for meeting children’s health needs, that children’s plans are kept up to date and that the actions specified in children’s plans are implemented in practice. 12/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32(1))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that detailed records are kept of conversations held with referees and that gaps in an applicant’s employment history are fully explored. 12/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees ─

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)) 12/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 5 Specifically, ensure that all staff in a care role complete training that will enable them to meet the individual needs of children and protect them from harm and ensure that new staff receive regular supervision during their induction period.

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Recommendations

 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 relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13) Specifically, ensure that children’s behaviour management plans contain strategies that will enable the child to manage their anger more effectively.  Regulations 35−39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Specifically, ensure that there are eligible copies of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home and a record of the actual rosters worked kept in the home.

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improvement to be good

There have been significant periods of disruption at the home in recent months. The complex needs of the children, and personnel and staffing issues, have contributed to this. However, in challenging circumstances, the majority of staff have maintained a high level of commitment to meeting the needs of the children. Staff have taken steps to shield children from the negative impact of the disruption. The staff have achieved this by developing trusting, nurturing relationships, which have enabled the children to maintain a good level of security.

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improvement to be good

In these circumstances, the progress made by children has been variable. Some children have presented increasing levels of challenging behaviour, while others have had significant achievements, such as building positive relationships with respite foster carers. The majority of children maintain good attendance at the on-site school and engage well when they are there. There have been exceptions, and in one case difficulties with school were a contributory factor to the young person’s placement breaking down. Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 6 Children’s placement plans are not consistently reviewed and updated to ensure that there are effective strategies for meeting their needs. In some cases, the strategies specified in children’s plans are not implemented fully in practice. This is particularly the case in respect of delivering key-work sessions on issues for which there is a clearly defined need for support.

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improvement to be good

There are inconsistencies in the standard of healthcare being provided. In one instance, there was no healthcare plan for a child despite there being known medical and mental health concerns. Managers and staff were not able to consistently demonstrate that there are plans in place to support children with their emerging healthcare needs.

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improvement to be good

Other aspects of healthcare provision are more robust. There is a highly effective system for recording and administering medication. The home’s head of therapy has overseen some exceptional work with children and staff, in order to ensure that there are effective strategies for measuring and improving children’s emotional well-being. She has also been instrumental in ensuring that the home’s therapeutic model of care becomes embedded in practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff are skilled at building good working relationships with parents when it is appropriate to do so. This has had a positive impact for many children, who have benefited from improved relationships with family members. Carefully planned family work, managed by the head of therapy, has also had a positive impact on previously difficult family relationships.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff have not been able to consistently ensure that the home provides an environment in which children feel safe. The behaviour of some children has left others feeling distressed and anxious, particularly when staff have had to implement emergency strategies for keeping children safe. There has been a culture of bullying in the home, which has not yet been fully eradicated.

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improvement to be good

The implementation of behaviour management strategies has been variable. In one instance, little work had been done to assist a child develop anger management techniques. However, when the home’s therapist has been actively involved in the care planning process, highly effective strategies for helping children to maintain positive behaviour have been implemented in practice.

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improvement to be good

The standard of risk assessment and risk management has not improved since the last full inspection in September 2017. Risk assessments do not consistently address all the vulnerabilities and behaviours associated with the child. A risk assessment pertaining to a child receiving respite care, with a member of staff away from the home, did not contain strategies that would have minimised the risk to the child or the staff member in an emergency situation. Risk assessments relating to children, and members of staff, are Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 7 not always effectively reviewed and updated. Shortfalls in the standard of risk management have meant that the potential for children to come to harm has not been minimised.

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improvement to be good

On one occasion, staff did not report to the police that a child who had gone missing from the home, in the timeframe specified in the missing from care policy. There is some inconsistency in children’s files in relation to when a missing child should be reported to the police. The number of times when children go missing from the home remains low. Children who were frequently missing prior to being admitted to the home become safer as a result of the reduction in their missing episodes.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff do not consistently identify health and safety risks or take remedial action in a timely way. Many first-floor windows do not have restrictors and some window frames are in a poor state of repair. Fixtures and fittings in one bathroom were not securely fixed to the wall and in some children’s bedrooms electrical cables were trailing across the floor.

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improvement to be good

Practice relating to the recruitment of staff is not consistently good. Records do not always demonstrate that gaps in a potential employee’s career history are fully explored. Records pertaining to the verification of references lack detail. The safety of children is not yet being prioritised in the staff recruitment process.

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

The registered manager and the responsible individual are highly experienced and demonstrate a commitment to meeting the needs of, and improving outcomes for, the children. They acknowledge that the quality of the provision has declined in recent months and they have analysed the reasons for this. Many of the shortfalls identified by the inspectors were known to the senior managers, who have begun implementing measures to improve standards.

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

The registered manager has recently had to commit a significant amount of time to care work due to the complex needs of the children and levels of disruption among the group. There have been occasions when the number of staff on duty has not been sufficient to ensure that the children’s individual needs can be met. Children’s records indicate that some children would be best supported through having one-to-one support, but staffing levels make this impossible to achieve.

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

The admissions process does not ensure that there is sufficient analysis of the likely impact that a new child will have on the group already living at the home. On one occasion, senior managers felt pressurised by a placing authority to admit a child before they had received the information that would have enabled them to make a well- informed decision. These shortfalls have resulted in the group dynamics becoming tense and sometimes conflictual.

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

Leaders and managers recognise the importance of providing a comprehensive training Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 8 programme for staff. However, this has not ensured that staff always receive training related to children’s specific needs in a timely way. Despite a recognition that children would benefit from being cared for by staff who are knowledgeable about the impact of domestic violence, this training has not been delivered. Leaders and managers could not demonstrate that a director, who frequently works in a care role at the home, has completed core training in relation to the duties and responsibilities of a care worker.

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

Staff turnover is relatively low, and this enhances children’s sense of consistency. Although staff are confident that managers prioritise their learning and support needs, records indicate that new staff do not always receive regular supervision during their induction. Approximately half of the staff are yet to acquire a suitable qualification or to embark on a relevant training course. Leaders and managers are currently taking action to ensure that there will soon be a suitable number of staff with a valid first-aid qualification.

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

Some administration processes are poorly organised, and in recognition of this managers have recently secured additional administrative support. The staff rota does not always provide an accurate account of who has worked in the home, particularly in respect of the leadership and management team.

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

Despite the shortfalls identified at this inspection, no children have come to significant harm. The leaders and managers reflect on mistakes that have been made and demonstrate a willingness to learn from these.

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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: SC413992 9

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Mayne Enterprises Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Buckingham House, Myrtle Lane, Billingshurst, West Sussex RH14 9SG

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Inspectors

Stephen Collett, social care inspector Teri Peck, regulatory inspection manager Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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