Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 1 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is part of a private company and is registered to accommodate up to five young people who have social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, the registered manager had resigned and was working her notice. A deputy manager from another home was covering as an interim manager until a new manager is recruited.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 31 October 2018

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

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

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/10/2018 Full Good 13/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 3

p.2

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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

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.3

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

and take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)) 27/09/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises–

p.3

Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

p.3

Requirement Due date

is necessary and proportionate; 27/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 4 is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

p.3

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)(iv)) The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

p.4

Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46(1), (2)) 27/09/2019

p.4

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are provided with nutritious meals suitable for each child’s needs. Where appropriate, children should be involved in choosing and preparing meals and opportunities to sit together and eat should be promoted. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.8)  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to

p.4

Recommendations

help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  Examples of incidents that are likely to be considered serious affecting the welfare of a child include: a child being the victim or perpetrator of a serious assault; a serious illness or accident; a serious incident of self-harm, or serious

p.4

Recommendations

concerns over a child’s missing behaviour, particularly where the child is considered to be at grave risk due to age or vulnerability or where they have Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 5 been missing for a considerable period of time and their whereabouts is unknown. This is not an exhaustive list and homes must assess each case individually taking into account any patterns of behaviour or unusual behaviour which may indicate an increased risk to the child. Homes should also consider the frequency of incidents and judge whether their cumulative effect makes notification appropriate even if in isolation each event would not warrant this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.11)

p.4

Recommendations

This is in regard to notifying Ofsted when a young person goes missing from home. Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 6

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of inspection, there were four young people living at the home. Young people feel safe and settled. Some young people have been here for several years and see this placement as their home.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to take part in activities outside of the home, such as going to clubs and participating in voluntary work. Staff support young people with their education. This support is helping young people to make progress in their learning. Staff prepare young people for the future and support them to develop the necessary skills to move onto independent living.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to help young people to stay in touch with their family, in line with their care plan. This enables important family links to be safely maintained.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and young people do not eat together. On occasion, staff impose unnecessary restrictions by locking doors that young people must ask the staff to be opened. This practice detracts from having a homely environment for young people to live in.

p.6

improvement to be good

Young people feel safe and well cared for. Staff are caring and nurturing towards young people. One young person said, ‘Staff are really nice. I have several staff whom I can talk to; I will be sad to leave’.

p.6

improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow young people’s missing-from-care protocols and, at times, staff have been too slow to report young people as missing from the home to the right agencies. When young people have been missing from care, staff have not ensured that young people are offered a return-home interview. This omission creates a missed opportunity to help young people to talk through the reasons why they have put themselves at risk of harm.

p.6

improvement to be good

Staff ensure that risk assessments are in place. However, staff do not pick up on conflicting information, which has the potential to place young people at risk.

p.6

improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently use restorative sanctions to help young people to recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves or on others.

p.6

improvement to be good

When incidents occur that trigger the need for a notification to be sent to the regulator, for example when young people are reported missing to the police, no notification is sent. This hinders the regulator from being kept informed about significant incidents.

p.6

improvement to be good

Managers have failed to seek the views of relevant professionals as part of the annual review of the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the home. This is a Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 7 missed opportunity to produce an accurate review of the home.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are aware of the shortfalls in the service and are beginning to address these weaknesses through increased monitoring and oversight of the home. Senior managers have commenced an investigation to try to understand why staff have failed to follow young people’s missing-from-care protocols.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff ensure that young people can express their views and feelings on matters that affect their everyday lives. For example, staff use key-work sessions as a way of helping young people to discuss important matters. This can include agreeing new targets to celebrate their achievements.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported, receive regular supervision and have access to regular team meetings. However, staff supervision sessions are not always recorded. This compromises the ability of managers and staff to reflect on discussions and to have an audit trail that shows that staff practice is formally reviewed.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers follow careful recruitment procedures to ensure that unsuitable adults do not get to work with young people. Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 8

p.7

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 difference 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.8

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: 1245979 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

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

p.9

Inspector

Debbie Holder, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1245979 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.9

Inspector

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 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.10

Inspector

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

p.10

Inspector

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

p.10