Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Herefordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 1 SC402406 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 is owned by a private company. It is registered for up to three young people, aged 11 to 18, who have complex needs, which may include needs associated with autistic spectrum disorders and accompanying difficulties. The registered manager has managed the home since November 2014. She is in the process of completing her level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/07/2018 Full Good 11/05/2017 Full Good 07/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 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—

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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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)) 06/03/2020

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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

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. (Regulation12(1)(2)(d)) 06/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if, for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b)(i), a person has the appropriate experience and qualification; if the person has by the relevant date, attained the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 5 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered provider considers to be equivalent to the Level 5 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is, in the case of a person who starts managing a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 3 years after the date on which that person started managing a home; or, in the case of a person who was managing a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2017.The registered provider may defer the relevant date if the person— 31/08/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 4 does not manage, or has not managed, a home for a prolonged period; or manages, or has managed, a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 28(1)(2)(c)(i)(ii)(3)(a)(b)(4)(a)(b)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

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 individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(d)) 06/03/2020

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Recommendations

 Ensure that just as in a family home, children are able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home, and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10). This is with reference to ensuring that children have open access to the bathroom and that bedroom door alarms are used only on the basis of individual safeguarding need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good individual care. Staff spend time with them getting to know them well. This supports children to progress emotionally and to develop good and trusting relationships with those who care for them. Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 5 Staff encourage children to attend school and support them with homework. Children have good attendance in school. Even those children who historically have struggled with school are engaging in lessons. As a result, children are making good educational progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are healthy, as staff help them to attend routine and specialist health appointments. Staff are aware of the importance of encouraging children to lead healthy lifestyles. For example, they closely monitor the amount of time the children spend playing on their computers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to experience new activities, such as go-karting, quad biking and climbing. Staff show an interest in the children’s hobbies and interests. For example, they attend rugby matches with them. This develops the children’s confidence and sense of self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with parents and families to help them maintain positive relationships with their children. Parents feel welcomed into the home and are kept updated on their children’s progress. One parent commented: ‘The home has exceeded every expectation for our child.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming. The children’s bedrooms are personalised to their wishes and all have en-suite showers and toilets. However, children do not have open access to the home’s bathroom. The children’s bedroom doors also continue to be alarmed without a clear identified reason that this level of surveillance is necessary to keep children safe. This can create an ‘institutional’ feel to the home.

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

Children are safe in the home. They rarely go missing. The manager and staff seek advice appropriately when they have concerns about the children’s welfare.

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

Staff receive a range of safeguarding training opportunities that are supplemented in team meetings, to further develop their knowledge and practice in regard to keeping children safe. This includes training in county lines, radicalisation and knife crime. This ensures that staff have a clear awareness of the action to take to make sure that children are kept safe.

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

Staff manage conflict well. The children’s plans give staff clear approaches to use in order to manage and reduce negative behaviour. As a result, incidents requiring staff to restrain children are few.

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

There are a range of environmental and individual risk assessments to protect children living in the home. However, staff are not fully aware of the children’s identified risks, and the actions identified to mitigate the areas of risk are not being routinely carried out by staff. This has the potential to compromise the children’s safety. Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 6

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

‘The staff team includes a high number of highly skilled and consistent staff. This ensures that the team can provide children with the care they require However, the manager is yet to achieve her level 5 in leadership and management. Although she is progressing with this, this is beyond the expected time frame for completion.

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

The manager closely monitors and evaluates the home’s effectiveness and any areas of concern are identified appropriately. However, wider organisational processes are not effective in ensuring that the home is maintained in a timely manner to protect children from avoidable hazards.

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

The manager has not given adequate attention to the safe recruitment of new staff. For example, the reasons why staff have left their previous employment, when they have worked with children or vulnerable adults, have not been sufficiently examined. This lack of oversight compromises the safety of children.

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

Staff feel motivated and well supported by the manager. They all share a commitment to improving the well-being of the children in their care and helping them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

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

The manager and staff work well in partnership with social workers and schools. All are extremely positive about the care children are receiving, and the progress they are making.

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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: SC402406 7

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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

Sue Young: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC402406 8 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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Inspector

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