Children's home run by Dame Hannah Roger‟s School

Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 1 SC065443 Registered provider: Dame Hannah Roger’s School

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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 children’s home provides long-term care and accommodation, extended stays and short-break care for up to 15 children and young people. The provision is operated by a charitable trust.

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

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Two requirements were made at the last inspection in respect of leadership and and safeguarding children; neither of these requirements has been met. Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/07/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/07/2017 Full Good 28/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— (a) understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; (b) use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; (b) ensure that staff— (i) understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; (ii) protect and promote each child’s welfare; (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; (vi) 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; (ix) make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each

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Requirement Due date

child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. In particular, ensure that each child’s care considers and meets their individual needs and that staff understand what they need to do to meet those needs. In addition, ensure that ‘blanket’ approaches to care are only used if all the children’s needs have been assessed to require such levels of support. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

*12: The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 4 (i) 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; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered

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Requirement Due date

so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; (c) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; (e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. In particular, make sure effective action is taken when children present with worrying injuries ensuring that child protection policy and processes are adhered to. Ensure that any concerns in respect of staff are understood and managed effectively and safely. Ensure that any form of physical intervention is appropriate, recorded and reviewed effectively. Ensure that children are not cared for in a way that is intrusive or unnecessarily restricts their liberty. Ensure the arrangements in place for safer recruitment are effective. In addition, ensure that there is a dedicated, suitably skilled and effective safeguarding team. 13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) 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; (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 5 skills to meet the needs of each child; (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each

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Requirement Due date

child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— (i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 14: The care planning standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) The care planning standard is that children— (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; (b) that arrangements are in place to— (ii) manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and (c) that each child’s relevant plans are followed; (d) that, subject to regulation 22 (contact and access to communications), contact between each child and the child’s parents, relatives and friends, is promoted in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; (e) that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

(i) the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

(3 ) The registered person must— (a) keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and (b) notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 6 revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (5) Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. 20: Restraint and deprivation of liberty

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Requirement Due date

(1) Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing— (a) injury to any person (including the child); (b) serious damage to the property of any person (including the child). (2) Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— (a) the privacy of children is appropriately protected; (b) children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and (c) any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises— (i) is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; (ii) is necessary and proportionate; (iii) is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and (iv) allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. In particular, children should not have supervision when undertaking toileting or personal care unless their needs warrant this level of support. Children accessing the community should be supported in a way that reflects their needs. Children should only be monitored at night time if their needs have been assessed to require this level of intervention. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

(1) The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular, any medication errors must be escalated and reviewed to ensure future risk is reduced. Agency staff working with children should have the skills required to meet their needs to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

(4) The registered person must ensure that all employees— 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 7 (a) undertake appropriate continuing professional development; (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and (c) have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. 34: Policies for the protection of children

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Requirement Due date

(1) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which— (a) is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and (b) sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect. (2) The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular— (a) provide for liaison and co-operation with any local authority which are, or may be, making a child protection enquiry in relation to a child accommodated in the home; (b) provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located; (c) provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about past abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the alleged

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Requirement Due date

abuse or neglect occurred; (d) provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response; (e) describe the measures which may be necessary to protect children following an allegation of abuse or neglect; and (f) describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (3) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy for the prevention of bullying in the home, which must in particular set out the procedure for dealing with an allegation of bullying. (4) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the missing child policy’) setting out— (a) the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and (b) the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent.

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Requirement Due date

(5) Before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to the missing child policy, the registered person must— (a) consult, and take into account the views of each relevant 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 8 person; and (b) have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (6) The registered person must keep under review and, as necessary, revise the home’s child protection policies. 35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

(1) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out— (a) how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and (b) the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. (2) The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (3) The registered person must ensure that— (a) 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— (i) the name of the child; (ii) details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; (iii) the date, time and location of the use of the measure; (iv) a description of the measure and its duration; (v) details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; (vi) the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’),

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Requirement Due date

and of any other person present when the measure was used; (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and (viii) a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; (b) 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’)— (i) has spoken to the user about the measure; and (ii) has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and (c) 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. (4) Paragraph (3) does not apply in relation to restraint that is planned or provided for as a matter of routine in the child’s EHC plan or statement of special educational needs. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 9

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The progress and experiences of children are not good because the home is not well led, and children are not fully protected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The combination of children living in this home mixed with children who visit for short breaks is chaotic. It means that children living here have their routines and sense of belonging disrupted. This does not treat them with respect, nor does it consider the needs of the children who are visiting and spending time away from their families. Staff cannot meet the needs of all these children effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children live in an environment that is neglected and institutionalised. Poor and broken furnishings along with poor decor are commonplace. This makes this house feel unloved. Consideration has not been given to how the environment can benefit children. Opportunities to access outdoor light and space have not been taken. Some of the children’s bedrooms have been updated, and their individual personalities are reflected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children receive nurture and care from staff who know them well. Inspectors noted a warm, responsive and natural approach to care and positive interactions. Some children are making progress in some aspects of their lives. For example, children are doing well in education, and they receive help to improve their skills in relation to mealtimes. Children enjoy a variety of activities and spend time socialising together. This has improved communication for some.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Admission processes are being reviewed and have improved. There is better planning, and children benefit from the strong relationships they can develop with staff.

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

On too many occasions leaders and managers fail to deal with injuries found on children in accordance with child protection procedures. This is a repeated weakness that was evident at the last inspection. There is a failure to escalate concerns to the relevant safeguarding agencies. As a result, children are not fully protected from harm.

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

Safeguarding processes and systems are not effective, and policies are not adhered to. This obstructs the identification and escalation of concerns. Numerous recording systems make it difficult to understand what is happening for children. This deep-rooted confusion, enforced by managers, compromises children’s safety.

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

The use of physical intervention is difficult to understand. Staff do not know what constitutes physical intervention, and their recording is weak. Management oversight is poor, and managers are confused about what training staff have received. This results in a lack of understanding of children’s experiences. Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 10 Restrictive and intrusive practice is commonplace. High-sided beds and video and sound monitoring continue without review. Furthermore, blanket approaches to care are routine. For example, children are monitored throughout the night every 10 minutes, whatever their level of need.

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

Not all medication errors have been identified, investigated or escalated effectively. Inspectors found reference to medication mistakes in a communication book that were not evident elsewhere. Managers were unaware of this recording.

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

Concerns about staff are not managed well. Investigations are weak, and there is not enough action to ensure a reduction in future risks. Likewise, the arrangements in place in respect of safer recruitment are weak. Concerns highlighted through the employment process are not fully understood or risk assessed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders are culpable for the serious and widespread shortfalls identified during this inspection. Poor decision-making and the absence of a registered manager for seven months have led to reactive decision-making. Trustees and the governor’s oversight are weak. Trustees make decisions without understanding the implications.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have not ensured that requirements made at the last inspection have been met. Concerns continue and are now more serious and widespread. Scrutiny by the independent visitor over recent months highlights serious shortfalls; managers have not taken effective action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The absence of a registered manager means that senior practitioners are not supported well. They lack the skills, experience and knowledge required to ensure that children are safe and well cared for. Roles and responsibilities are not understood, and accountability is confusing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision for staff has not been a priority and is not regular or meaningful. The company policy is not adhered to. The chaotic approach to leadership over recent months has meant that they have had several managers giving them different and conflicting direction. This has led to some practice concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight is weak. Recording systems are cumbersome, and missing documentation produces more questions than answers. In addition, key documents have not been updated. For example, the children’s guide and the home’s statement of purpose do not reflect the service. This means that parents and stakeholders are not receiving an acurate description of what is available for their children. The recently appointed manager has identified these shortfalls and is taking action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The newly formed management team has identified and is addressing some significant issues. Managers complement each other and hold a shared desire to move this service Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 11 forward. They place the children at the centre of their decision-making and are working with the staff to support them to be more confident and are fostering an open and transparent relationship with them.

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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: SC065443 12

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Dame Hannah Roger’s School

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: John Branchflower

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Inspector(s)

Tracey Ledder, social care inspector Norma Welsby, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065443 13 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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

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