Children's Home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Somerset

Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 1 Registered provider: Broadwood Educational 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

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered for up to four children aged up to 18 who have experienced adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours. The manager is in the process of applying to Ofsted. The manager is appropriately experienced and qualified.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

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

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 21 February 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2018 Full Good 15/11/2017 Full Inadequate 14/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 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 children‟s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children‟s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c)) 22/02/19

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) and (2)(a)(x)) 22/02/19

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to— achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child‟s relevant plans; take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child‟s health and well-being needs. (Regulation 10 (1)(a) and (2)(a)(i)(iii)) 22/02/19

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Requirement Due date

(1) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child‟s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 22/02/19

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff— 22/02/19 Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 4 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 and manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other and take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(iv)(vi)) 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. 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

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Requirement Due date

and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home; and ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)(f)(h)) 22/02/19

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular, provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response. (Reg 34 (2)(d) 22/02/19

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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)(c)) This is with specific reference to statutory documents. 22/02/19

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or 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)) 22/02/19 Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 5

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Recommendations

 Staff should understand what they must do to prevent bullying of children by other children or adults. Staff should be able to recognise and address different types of abuse such as peer abuse, cyber-bullying and bullying in day-to-day relationships in the home. Registered persons must ensure that procedures for dealing with allegations of bullying are in place and staff have the skills required to intervene, protect and address bullying behaviours effectively. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 39, paragraph 8.16)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children‟s overall experiences and progress are negatively affected because managers and staff do not always prioritise their safety and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not have secure and trusted relationships with all the children. Some children have engaged in anti-social and harmful relationships that have placed them at significant risk of harm. Children‟s welfare is not always promoted by staff and this results in a lack of positive experiences for them. The requirement relating to improving positive relationships, raised at the last inspection, remains unmet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not gather important information about children‟s wishes and feelings effectively, nor record these views properly. Key-working sessions with children are poorly recorded and do not address the individual needs of the child well enough. These sessions are not child centred and lack outcomes to track or improve children‟s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not fully included in decisions that affect them. For example, one child is not aware of his current care plan or where he will be moving to when he leaves this home. Internal care plans are poorly written and are not written in a format that makes it easy for children to understand. One child‟s statutory documents are not up to date and insufficient action has been taken by leaders and managers to challenge this. This has meant that the local authority‟s aims and objectives are not clear. Therefore, proper monitoring and review of the child‟s needs have not taken place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are given opportunities to enjoy activities in the local community. For example, one child who has recently moved into the home has enjoyed walking in the countryside, trips to the zoo, the local museum and donkey sanctuary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have allowed one child to spend long periods outside of the home and have been unable to encourage a stable routine and regular attendance at school. Since the last Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 6 inspection, the child‟s education attendance has significantly declined. In addition, the child has not been supported well enough to attend health appointments. This poor care could have a detrimental impact on the child‟s opportunities and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The manager and staff ensure that children have regular and meaningful time with their family and friends to maintain their relationships. They welcome family members to the home and transport children as needed.

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

Since the last inspection, managers have failed to ensure that risk assessments are used effectively to keep children safe. This has resulted in poor decisions being made about whether children‟s needs are compatible and can be met safely alongside one another in this home. Poor matching decisions have had a detrimental impact on the progress and experiences of children. Since the last inspection, incidents of challenging and anti-social behaviours have increased, with some children repeatedly going missing from the home together, misusing substances and smoking in the home. Staff have been unable to manage these behaviours safely. Some children have since moved from the home and these behaviours have decreased.

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

In the case of a child who spends time away from the home, staff have failed to consider if and how the child‟s past behaviours and experiences may affect his current relationships. The child‟s safety and well-being have not been prioritised, potentially placing him and others at considerable risk of harm. In addition, risk assessments that are in place have not always been followed. For example, staff have not acted to report children missing in line with their individual plan.

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

Managers have not ensured that safeguarding records are kept of incidents and actions taken in response to safeguarding concerns. Current systems for recording and reviewing safeguarding incidents are disordered and the risks that are identified are not reviewed or followed up effectively. Since the last inspection, managers have failed to notify Ofsted of at least three serious incidents and have failed to provide updates and outcomes to incidents that have been notified.

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

Managers and staff failed to respond quickly enough to a child‟s complaint about being bullied. This child has been assaulted and told the inspector that he had raised his concerns about this on many occasions and does not feel he was listened to soon enough by staff.

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

The bullying log was not available during this inspection and other records kept fail to highlight what intervention and support had been provided for the children involved in these incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, the previous manager has resigned and is now working as the deputy manager. A new manager commenced on 5 November 2018 and is in the process Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 7 of applying to register with Ofsted. The new manager has started to make changes to improve the quality of care provided. However, such changes will take time to embed and will require further monitoring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not supported well enough to fulfil their role appropriately and to meet the needs of the children. Despite staff having the necessary experience and qualifications, they have not received training in child sexual exploitation. Staff lack the necessary skills and ability to ensure that children who are at high risk of child sexual exploitation are safeguarded effectively. For example, the previous manager and staff failed to properly manage and follow up an incident of potential exploitation by an adult to a child. This poor care left the child at significant risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

In addition, some staff have not received mandatory training updates in health and safety, food hygiene, first aid and fire safety. This could have a negative impact on the ability of staff to meet the basic needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Internal and external monitoring processes are weak and have failed to identify the ongoing shortfalls in the home. For example, leaders and managers have failed to identify and deal effectively with some children‟s repeated chaotic and challenging behaviour, and a decline in their progress as a result. The poor-quality recording of safeguarding information and key-working sessions has not been properly addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff spoken with during the inspection have felt able to raise their concerns with managers. They feel supported and spoke positively about the new manager. Since the new manager started in post, staff supervision has taken place and is of a good quality. Managers have acknowledged the shortfalls identified in this inspection and have a development plan for future improvements to the home. This includes improved training and oversight for staff as well as a review of safeguarding and children‟s records. The responsible individual has stated that no children will move into the home at this time.

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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: 1239953 8 Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Broadwood Educational Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspector

Anna Gravelle, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1239953 10 achieve excellence in the care of children and children, 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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