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 home is registered with Ofsted to provide accommodation and care for a maximum of 11 children. It is a small, privately owned independent children’s home with a school on site. The statement of purpose says 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/or social difficulties and may have moderate learning difficulties and/or have an autism spectrum disorder. 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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good

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

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/09/2017 Full Good 18/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/04/2016 Full Outstanding 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 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 that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1)(a)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that a referral is made to the designated officer where there is a practice concern regarding a staff member, and that this is referred to children’s services in accordance with policy. 31/08/2019

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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 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(1)(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that a health and safety assessment has been undertaken in relation to the first-floor windows. 31/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that 31/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 4 individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(2)(a)(b)(3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that all employer references are obtained prior to a staff member commencing their employment.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that there is parity for all staff in relation to the supervision and training provided. 31/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35(1)(a)(b)(2)) 31/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(e)) 31/08/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides ample space for children to spend time together and enjoy their individual activities. Children’s views contribute to how the home’s space is utilised. Children have areas in the extensive garden where they grow vegetables for them to eat. Adults support children to engage in regular outdoor activities reflecting the home’s setting. This impacts positively on the children’s developing interests and their sense of Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 5 self. The adults have developed positive relationships with each child. This enables children to share their worries with adults who know them well. The home’s therapeutic model of care continues to be embedded and understood by the staff team. This is further supported by the therapeutic lead providing supervision to staff. This approach helps adults to focus on the support needed to meet each child’s emotional needs. The adult

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

team now supports the children’s holistic needs well and utilises the improved health support plans effectively to ensure individualised support for each child. Children are progressing well in their education from their differing starting points. Individual learning plans reflect each child’s support needs. This is particularly important as some children have struggled to engage in education previously. The home and in- house school work closely together to support each child’s individual learning needs. This collaborative approach between adults supports children to be involved in activities within the community. An example of this was the fundraising event which was taking place during the inspection. This helps children to develop experience of helping others and feeling part of the wider community. Planning for children moving to and from the home is well thought through. The transition planning for one child leaving the home was a strong example of this. Through

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

effective support provided by staff, the child had developed good independence skills, including work experience. This helped the child in successfully securing their preferred job. There was good transition planning with the child’s placing authority, resulting in the child returning to live with their family. The planning for a child moving in to the home ensured that staff had a good understanding of the child’s individual needs. This, together with visits to the home, helped the child to begin to settle well within the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s individual needs and identified risks are well understood by the adults caring for them. The effective risk management plans in place help adults to keep children safe. Through collaborative work with the statutory agencies, the adult team helps children to learn how to keep themselves safe outside of the home. This includes effective work around contextual safeguarding risks including the risk of gang affiliation. Safety in the home is discussed with children, by the adults, on a regular basis. This includes how adults will respond to any potential concerns about bullying. Children understand that bullying is not acceptable in the home. Children told inspectors that they feel safe in the home. Individual support plans provide clear guidance to adults on how to effectively support children. This support is informed by the therapeutic model of care and the approach to the use of physical intervention agreed in the home. However, on one occasion, an adult

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improvement to be good

used a technique which was not within the home’s agreed approach. Learning from this incident was informed by an external review sought by the registered manager. This technique was independently assessed as necessary and proportionate within the context of the incident. This resulted in the registered manager reviewing consistency of practice, including providing refresher training, for the whole team. Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 6 However, guidance about the adult’s practice was not sought from the designated officer for the local authority at the time. As a result, the registered manager missed an opportunity to seek their advice and guidance. The incident was also not notified to Ofsted. The information was identified through the provider’s independent report on monthly monitoring. Referral to the local authority’s children’s services, as a result of the impact of this physical intervention on the child, did not happen. There was, however,

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improvement to be good

subsequent discussion with statutory agencies, resulting in no further action. The child’s individual support plan was reviewed to include additional strategies to support them. The adult team is well supported by the management team to reflect on its practice. This includes the home’s approach to the use of physical intervention with regular discussions held in team meetings. This helps to ensure that adults have the space to reflect on their practice in this area and ensure that their skills are updated. Supervision is provided to adults by both the management team and the therapeutic lead. However, adults not working during the daytime do not receive this support. There is a good training programme provided to all of the adults working full time. This provides the adults with relevant knowledge and skills for their role. However, there is a small number of adults who work on an occasional basis or at night-time who do not access all of the training

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improvement to be good

programme. The procedures for vetting new employees are, overall, in line with safer recruitment practice. However, a reference check was not received prior to two employees starting their employment. Although measures were put in place while awaiting references, a formal assessment of potential risk was not completed. All other relevant checks, including information from the disclosure and barring scheme, were obtained for all new employees. However, a system for monitoring the updates from the scheme was not in place. The responsible individual is reviewing this and the process for pre-employment reference checks. Following the last inspection, there have been changes to the physical environment to ensure the health and safety of children. However, the installation of window restrictors has impacted on the children’s emotional well-being, resulting in these being removed. The management and leadership team have explored possible alternative options.

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improvement to be good

However, as these have not been identified, an independent assessor is being commissioned to review the health and safety arrangements currently in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and responsible individual are passionate and committed in their roles. Adults value the commitment shown to them by the registered manager and the responsible individual. The registered manager has empowered the adult team to be confidently involved in the placement plans for children. This means that adults have a good understanding of how to support the children. Adults and children feel able to speak to the registered manager and responsible individual if they have any concerns. They do this knowing that these concerns will be acted on. The registered manager’s response to the one complaint, received following the last inspection, is a good example of this. This complaint was in relation to an adult’s practice and, as such, was appropriately treated as an allegation. The registered manager undertook a thorough and effective investigation. They referred the matter to Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 7

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

the designated officer for the local authority and statutory agencies. This resulted in no further action. However, the registered manager provided a very detailed response to the child, which reflected their professional accountability and child-centred approach to care. Children’s views are regularly sought by the registered manager and responsible individual through group discussions and by talking individually with children. This includes children’s views on changes to the home following the last inspection. The registered manager acted on the children’s views while recognising the need to meet requirements. The registered manager and responsible individual have met the majority of the requirements from the last inspection. These included a number of requirements which related to specific practice issues. These have been positively addressed as a result of improvements made to practice in the home. Where there is a gap around training and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

supervision, the registered manager is developing plans to ensure that adults working during the night-time are enabled to participate in training and regular individual supervision. The responsible individual recognises the need for continual improvement in the monitoring of practice. Together with the registered manager, they focus on improving the support provided to children through embedding the therapeutic practice. The effective monitoring by the senior management team, which includes the deputy manager, provides oversight of practice, with this helping to continue to drive improvement. This has a positive impact on the quality of care provided in the home.

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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 8

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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

Maria Lonergan, social care inspector Janet Hunnam, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC413992 9 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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