Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 1 Registered provider: Priory Education 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 provides assessment places for up to six young people from the Birmingham area. It is part of a private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is qualified and experienced and has been in post for several years.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

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

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children‟s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/07/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 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— 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

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

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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

and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)) 27/09/2019

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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 home‟s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered 27/09/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 4 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children‟s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31 (1)(2)(a)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is the date which falls two years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (1)(2)(3)) 27/09/2019

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Recommendations

Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 5  Staff should understand factors that affect children‟s motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way. Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the child‟s relevant plans. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 39, paragraph 8.13)  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)  The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events

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Recommendations

are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. The system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at the weekend or on a public holiday. Notification must include details of the action taken by the home‟s staff in response to the event. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 63, paragraph 14.13)

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improvement to be good

At the time of the inspection, five young people were living at the home. One young person was absent without authorisation and refusing to return to the home. Another young person was away on an independence programme.

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improvement to be good

Young people‟s overall experiences and progress require improvement. Some young people are making good progress in their education. Some young people have recently sat their GCSE examinations. One young person has started to access counselling for substance misuse. However, other young people do less well. For instance, one young person is not happy with her education arrangements and a new placement is currently being sought.

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improvement to be good

Since the last full inspection in July 2018, there has been a reduction in the use of agency staff working at the home. However, staff sickness remains high, which at times is a challenge to ensuring that young people receive consistency.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always support young people to have healthy lifestyles. For example, staff do not help young people to try to stop smoking. One young person had covered up her bedroom smoke detector. The lack of staff guidance and monitoring means that young people continue to smoke and put their physical health at risk. Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 6 The first floor of the property requires redecoration. This includes young people‟s bedrooms requiring repainting and personalisation, and further work to make the home a more homely and welcoming environment for young people.

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improvement to be good

Young people mostly feel safe and well cared for. One young person said, „Staff are nice, and I have everything that I need. I want to stay here.‟

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improvement to be good

Young people do go missing from the home. When young people return home after being missing staff do not routinely ensure that young people are offered a return home interview. This creates a missed opportunity to try and understand the situations where their safety and welfare has been placed at risk.

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improvement to be good

Managers have failed on occasion to report incidents to the regulator promptly, and on occasion not all information has been shared. This hinders the regulator from being kept informed about significant incidents. Staff management of young people‟s behaviour is not always effective. Staff do not always intervene when required. For example, on occasion two young people are allowed to stay up all night playing computer games and sleep in each other‟s bedrooms. Staff permit this behaviour to avoid using physical intervention as some young people can intimidate them. This is not risk assessed and has the potential to place young people at risk.

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improvement to be good

The home‟s impact assessments need to improve to ensure that all know risk behaviours are identified, and that staff consider the impact on young people arriving at the home and existing young people. Young people with similar risk behaviours are placed together at the home, and their behaviours escalate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home has an experienced manager in post. He ensures that staff receive regular supervision and that staff meetings take place on a regular basis.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers have been proactive in escalating concerns with other agencies when young people have been at risk of child sexual exploitation. However, investigations following complaints or allegations made by young people are not always recorded or completed promptly. This omission has the potential to place young people at risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management oversight of staff training is not good enough to ensure that all staff are appropriately trained. For example, five out of 16 members of staff have not completed the required level 3 diploma in residential childcare within the required timescales. Some staff are out of date with elements of their mandatory training such as first aid, and there is no process in place to ensure that there is always someone on duty who has a Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 7 first aid qualification. This means that staff do not have the required training to meet the needs of young people.

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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: 1245980 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Debbie Holder, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1245980 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 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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