Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 1 Registered provider: The Priory Group

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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 home is part of a private organisation and is registered to accommodate up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The statement or purpose says that the manager and staff provide a high level of professional care and assistance to young people. The aim is to enable young people to work through any emotional, challenging or disturbing behaviour that they exhibit in other environments. The new manager has experience of working as a deputy manager in this organisation and was completing the registration process at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 October to 1 November 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 3

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. 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)  Children should be encouraged to develop positive relationships with others both in and outside the home as set out in the positive relationships standard. However, staff should be alert to the possibility that children may be at risk from such relationships including with other children in the home, staff, family members, friends and others outside the home, and they therefore should take appropriate steps to protect a child where there are concerns for a child’s safety.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.13)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  As the home will have a day to day understanding of young people’s capabilities and needs, children’s homes staff will have a valuable contribution to make to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.28)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Five young people have each lived here for at least a year. They all feel secure and settled. They experience consistent care from staff who know them well and want them to do well. A young person said, ‘Even my mum likes [member of staff]. He is the most consistent and has been considerate and thoughtful. He does his job as it’s supposed to be done, he cares.’ Young people’s confidence and well-being improve and they achieve as much as they can. Staff help young people to take part in a wide range of sporting, adventure, cultural and community activities. Staff also give young people very good support with their Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 4 education. Staff help them to see their families and friends regularly. One young person said, ‘They [the staff] are always encouraging me to do well.’ Staff create a homely, clean, well-organised home environment and help young people to feel valued for their individual qualities and contributions. This means that, although

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

they are all very different, young people often spend time together eating, playing games, watching films and socialising. Staff prepare young people for their futures and plan ongoing support after young people move to new placements. Young people’s practical and emotional difficulties and issues are minimised and overcome because staff are proactive and communicate well with young people’s parents and professionals. Young people, therefore, make good progress. All staff give each young person individualised help and make records about this. However, some staff lack skills in exploring issues with young people. Some records are not written in a helpful manner and copies are never given to young people. These are missed opportunities to maximise young people’s progress.

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

Managers and staff supervise and support young people well. Staff are attentive and keep young people busy with positive activities. This means that young people generally get on well with each other and unsafe incidents at the home are rare. Staff very rarely need to physically intervene in situations. Staff reflect carefully on their practice after serious behaviour incidents and talk to young people, so that relationships are repaired and everyone moves on. Managers and staff have a generally good understanding of potential risks when young people are unsupervised outside of the home. They keep in touch with young people and check that the arrangements are suitable and safe. There are usually enough staff to collect young people and look for them if they are not home on time. However, staff are not always alert to signs that young people are being potentially harmed during long periods of unsupervised time. They do not always know enough about young people’s

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

friendships and relationships to accurately assess risk. Nevertheless, if serious risks are discovered, staff are quick to protect young people through working closely with relevant professionals and families. Most young people do not go missing. If a young person does go missing, staff follow the arrangements that have been agreed with young people’s social workers and families. However, these arrangements are not always up to date or in line with the degree of risk. Sometimes, staff are not proactive enough and rely on social workers to make decisions about what young people can do. Young people are sometimes frustrated when decisions are delayed and when staff do not have clear reasons for decisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The previous registered manager left in July 2018 and a new manager from a Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 5 neighbouring home was promoted to the position. She is well supported by a deputy manager who has worked in the home for many years and is highly regarded by all the young people. The manager and deputy have focused on improving the supervision, support and recording skills of staff. Staff morale is high and the team expresses confidence in the new manager and a desire to help and support young people. Young people feel that they have more say in the running of the home, including their resources, activities and meals. The manager continues to help young people achieve good outcomes. She is actively thinking about how to reduce the stigma that young people feel about living in residential care. For example, following feedback from young people, the manager is educating staff to use less institutional language. She has recently reduced the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

responsibilities of key workers so that now every staff member is encouraged to provide good-quality individual development sessions to each young person. This idea is in the early stages, but the intention is to improve each member of staff’s relationship with each young person, so that every young person’s development is maximised. The manager has safely recruited new staff to replace the few that have left. She has maintained high staffing ratios and is ensuring that new staff are well prepared to meet young people’s specific needs. Staff hand over each shift and talk to the manager and to social workers about each young person’s needs and arrangements. One social worker said, ‘I can’t fault the home and I do appreciate the regular contact.’ The manager is a good communicator and is well organised. She knows her own and staff’s strengths and weaknesses. She is confident to challenge inadequate responses

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

from other services. She stops what she is doing when young people come to talk to her. However, she has not prioritised making an effective contribution to young people’s present and future plans. For example, there are a range of documents stored on young people’s records that are out of date and confusing. Staff and the manager miss the opportunity to use their understanding of young people’s needs to make the best contribution to the local authority’s plans for young people.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 6 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector

Rachel Britten, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 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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