Children's Home run by Pilgrims Corner Limited in Kent

Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 1 SC473891 Registered provider: Pilgrims Corner 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

The home is owned by a private company. Its statement of purpose states that it provides ongoing, intensive individual attention, stability and support for children who have experienced disrupted development and multiple placement moves. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 November 2019

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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 good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 30 January 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2019 Full Good 25/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/03/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 22/06/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered 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 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, to ensure that the provider meets their own targets for delivering core induction training to new staff. 31/01/2020

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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 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, to devise effective mechanisms for capturing progress for children against their agreed placement aims and objectives. 31/01/2020

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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

In particular, ensure that staff receive regular supervision during their inductions, and that senior staff also receive sufficient levels of support. 31/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“ the behaviour management policy”) which sets out— 31/01/2020 Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 4 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. (Regulation 35(1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the organisation has clear guidance for staff on behaviour management, with particular reference to physical intervention, while lone working. The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months. (Regulation 45(1)) 31/01/2020

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  To meet the aspirations embodied in the Quality Standards, children’s homes need to connect with and be part of the wider support system for each child in their care. No children’s home will be able to meet, on its own, all of a child’s needs. It is crucial that the home works in close partnership with all those who play a role in protecting and caring for the child, but particularly the child’s local authority and statutory social worker. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.3)  The children’s home must produce a children’s guide. The children’s guide must be made available to all children when their placement in the home is agreed (or

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Recommendations

on arrival at the home if the placement is made in an emergency) and must be age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children demonstrate secure and trusting attachments with staff. A child said that she loved the house and is very happy there. She spoke about being listened to and valued by the whole team. Children benefit from having dedicated key workers. However, a child said that she could go to any one of the staff and get good support. She would like to Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 5 remain in the placement for as long as possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Placement plans are clear. The content focuses on the individual needs of children. They contain a wide range of ambitious aims and objectives for each child. Children and staff are able to talk about areas where children are doing well. However, staff have not yet developed an effective mechanism for tracking the progress of children against the goals set for them. Therefore, it is difficult to assess whether children are reaching their full potential in all areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational achievement is good. Attendance is high, and children clearly enjoy their time there. One child proudly showed me her school reports. She was excited to have been identified as a mentor and role model for other students at the school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child described how staff work hard to ensure that she gets to engage in activities that match her interests. She loves horses and regularly gets to ride. She is also developing an interest in animal husbandry and has recently started engaging in work experience at a farm looking after animals. She hopes to develop this further.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a focus on creativity and art. The home is full of pictures that children and staff have worked on together. Lots of the artwork is about positive identity. Children are expressing a strong sense of self-worth. One child’s drawing contained the simple phrase “I love me.”

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a setting which feels like home. It is well maintained, and children’s rooms are warm, relaxing spaces filled with personal touches.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place the children’s needs at the forefront of their practice. Children have regular one-to-one time and this is well recorded. The content of key-work sessions is good. Records provide strong evidence of the child’s voice playing an important role in decision-making around the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

If the shortfalls in the other judgement areas below are not addressed, they are likely to impact on the progress children can make.

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

The organisation is currently investing in training to increase levels of staff understanding around safeguarding. All staff recently attended a short face-to-face course. However, staff said that they wished it had been more in-depth. Staff were able to talk about risks to the children in their care and understood their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff could also identify all the external agencies that have a role in safeguarding children.

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

Risk assessments and management plans are simple and clear. However, they are not always updated following significant incidents in the home. One child has made a number of allegations about staff. However, risk assessments have not been amended to Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 6 reflect this. Staff are regularly lone working with this child and guidance for staff on keeping themselves safe in this situation is under-developed. This places the child and the staff at potential risk.

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

Children are making progress in learning to manage their emotions and behaviour. One child, who experienced a run of difficult placement endings, had a high-risk rating for aggression and violence when she came to the home. Since moving in, she has hugely reduced this behaviour and is now very settled.

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

Staff identified the particular vulnerability of one child to exploitation. They were able to outline their strategies for keeping the child safe. Key workers also undertook some really positive work to help the child to understand their own vulnerabilities.

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

Staff expressed some uncertainty about the impact of lone working on behaviour management strategies, particularly referencing the guidelines around physical intervention. Neither the lone-working policy nor the restraint policy gave enough emphasis to the added risks associated with staff working alone. Staff therefore lack the confidence to manage lone-working situations safely.

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

A new child visited the home for the first time during the inspection. Staff demonstrated some uncertainty when the child asked about the house rules. The children’s guide contains some general guidance around acceptable behaviour. However, the format is not child friendly and there is no clear statement of house rules.

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

The organisation does not have good mechanisms for demonstrating the effectiveness of practice. As a result, plans and strategies for supporting children are static and fail to adapt to changes in the children’s behaviours.

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

New staff do not complete the mandatory training courses, as specified in the organisation’s own induction programme, in the agreed timescales. Therefore, staff are not effectively prepared for working with children.

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

While some staff said that they are well supported, there are significant gaps in supervision and training. This was of specific concern for new staff, as there are low levels of supervision for staff on probation. One new member of staff stated that she had received only one supervision in the first three months of her probation period.

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

The registered manager stated that she had not received regular supervision during her first year of employment. The registered manager has been given access to a clinical supervisor to support her with the implementation of therapeutic aspects of the home. However, she felt that this did not cover all aspects of her work or make up for the low level of formal supervision from her line manager.

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

The staff and children were positive about the support they receive from the registered Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 7 manager. A child said she was fair, kind and ‘hands on’. The registered manager demonstrates a clear commitment to the children in her care and has positive ambitions for their futures.

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

The organisation is not completing quality of care reviews at the frequency specified in the regulations. This impacts on its ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home, and create an effective plan for the development of the home.

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

Staff recruitment is generally completed in a safe way, but there is some ambiguity about whether staff identification is verified by the organisation’.

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

Professionals and parents have voiced some criticisms of the interactions they have had with staff at the home. Some mentioned poor communication and a lack of professionalism.

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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: SC473891 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pilgrims Corner Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 5, The Links, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7GQ

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Shanelle Maxwell-Amayigha

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Inspector

Peter Jackson: social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC473891 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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