Children's home run by Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School Limited in West Suffolk

Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 1 SC427652 Registered provider: Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School 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 privately owned home is registered to provide care for up to four children who have complex learning and/or social difficulties, including autism spectrum conditions. The children generally access the school that is run by the provider. There is currently no registered manager in post.

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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 widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 31 October 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: SC427652 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/10/2018 Full Good 14/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/06/2016 Full Good 24/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 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—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; and

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Requirement Due date

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)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii)(d)) 13/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the 13/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 4 home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(d))* The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as is reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24(1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments record the need for all of the monitoring devices used at the home and that written consent is provided by each child’s placing authority for the use of door alarms. 13/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and the registered provider—

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of— the name of the person so appointed; and 31/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 5 the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(2)(a)(b)) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development; and

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)) 13/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 13/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36(2)(c)(d)) 13/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(b)(c)(e)) 13/09/2019

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The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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HMCI; upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located; 13/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 6 the placing authorities of children;

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44(1)(a)(7)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager died suddenly in early July 2019. Since then, the management arrangements have been wholly insufficient.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Inadequate support by senior managers has directly contributed to widespread shortfalls. Consequently, children are not adequately protected, and their welfare is not sufficiently promoted. Although these shortfalls have not resulted in children being harmed, if left unchecked there is a clear and predictable risk that they could result in harm to children in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The management team has not ensured that the environment is safe. All the bedroom fire doors had significant faults that had not been addressed. This left children at risk of harm. The provider began the process of repairing the doors during the inspection. However, the provider has not ensured that effective checks of fire prevention equipment take place so that faults can be identified and resolved in a timely way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staffing levels regularly fall short of those deemed necessary to keep children safe and of the numbers that placing local authorities expect and are paying for. Failure to provide adequate staffing means that placing authorities are not receiving the level of care that they have commissioned for their children. Furthermore, inadequate staffing puts children at risk of harm because they do not receive the level of supervision that they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite the shortfalls, there are some strengths at the home. The children have made progress during the time that they have lived at the home. School attendance is good. Children and their parents said that the children are happier than they have been at previous homes. The children have generally good relationships with the staff. The children can access activities. The staff encourage the children to get out and about.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children have access to specialist health support as necessary. However, when children begin to or continue to explore sexualised behaviour there is no clear guidance for staff on how to manage this. Staff do not receive enough support to manage Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 7 incidents of sexualised behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Families and professionals spoke positively about the support that is provided to enable children to spend time with their families. A professional spoke about the previous manager going above and beyond to enable a child to spend good-quality time with his family. During the inspection, the responsible individual was working at the home to transport a child to enable him to visit his family. This commitment to children spending time with their families enables these crucial relationships to maintain and develop.

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

The management team has failed to comply with statutory safeguarding guidance. There has been a lack of understanding, action and record-keeping. This has the clear potential to compromise children’s safety.

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

The previous manager had been proactive in his contacts with the designated officer. He made timely referrals and demonstrated an understanding of his role and responsibility to keep children safe. However, more recently, an allegation that was made by a child was not shared with the designated officer until it was raised by the inspector during the inspection. This meant that, despite senior managers being aware of the allegation, it was not shared for almost six weeks. Related safeguarding records are poor.

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

Risk assessments are not accurate or up to date. They do not reflect current behaviours or levels of risk. Managers fail to review the risk assessments following serious incidents. Some risk assessments contain substantial inaccuracies. Failure to ensure that records are accurate means that staff do not have the information that they need to ensure that children’s care and supervision are proportionate to their needs and level of risk.

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

Staff are not sufficiently aware of some of the expectations contained in risk assessments. For example, staff did not follow the missing-from-care protocol when a child went missing. Staff and managers were unaware of the statutory responsibility to ensure that a child is offered an independent return interview following an incident of a child going missing. Consequently, the reason for a child going missing has not been sufficiently explored or understood.

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

The use of restraint is rare. The previous manager implemented a new system of recording incidents of restraint. This improvement has resulted in clearer restraint records that demonstrate why intervention was necessary. The records will be of use to children if they wish to access them in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management arrangements for the home are inadequate. Insufficient management support has been provided by senior managers within the organisation. Lack of effective monitoring and oversight of practice mean that shortfalls have not been identified. Staff have not benefited from adequate support, and processes designed to safeguard children have not been adhered to. Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 8 The staff do not receive the support that they need to carry out their roles effectively. One member of staff has had no supervision since starting at the home. Two new members of staff have only received a quarter of the supervisions that the home’s own policy deems as necessary. Failure to ensure that staff have adequate supervision and support means that they do not have the formal opportunities to discuss their practice. Additionally, there is a lack of oversight of practice. These shortfalls mean that managers

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

cannot be assured that the staff who work at the home are suitably equipped to work with the children effectively and safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some of the shortfalls that were identified at the last inspection have not been fully addressed. Management monitoring has not been effective in recent weeks. Recent incident reports lack clarity and depth. Some entries on case files lack important details such as the names of significant people and dates. This means that records are unlikely to be of benefit to children if they wish to access them in the future and do not enable reflection and learning in the present.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the last inspection, archived records were stored in the nearby garage. Records were loose and littered the building. This inspection found that, although most of the records had been removed, some remained. These were, in some instances, loose and appeared abandoned. These records include information about children and past employees.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the last inspection, it was identified that agreements were not in place with placing local authorities and children on the use of monitoring devices. At this inspection, there was no evidence to show that these agreements had subsequently been gained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recently, the new management team has not submitted notifications of serious events to Ofsted. In addition, the management team has not ensured that reports of independent visits have been submitted to Ofsted. This lack of action and information affects Ofsted’s ability to monitor and regulate the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some areas of practice have improved. Restraint records are clear. A record of who works at the home and when is now kept. Recruitment records evidence safe recruitment.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 9 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: SC427652 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Greenwood House, Greenwood Court, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk IP32 7GY

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Inspector

Ashley Hinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC427652 11 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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