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

Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 1 SC402426 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides residential care for up to five children and young people aged from 8 to 18 years.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2009.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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 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: 25 February 2020

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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: SC402426 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2020 Full Good 05/11/2018 Full Good 07/09/2017 Full Good 02/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people make good progress because of the individualised care and support they receive from staff. Staff are child focused and committed to creating positive experiences and reducing risk. Consequently, children and young people develop an understanding of how to keep themselves safe and they aspire for successful futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people’s bedrooms are personalised. Photos and children’s artwork are displayed around the home. This creates a welcoming environment. Managers recognise that the home would benefit from redecoration and they have put an action plan in place to address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to learn independence skills. Staff have supported one child to complete driving lessons and to administer her own medication. This builds children’s self-confidence and gives them a sense of achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to take part in a variety of activities, including ballroom dancing, cadets, youth club and going to the local skate park. During the COVID-19 pandemic, children enjoyed going for walks in the local countryside. Staff observe children during activities to monitor responses in the community and ensure that children are supported. Activities encourage children to have fun and build social relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have access to education and are making good progress. They have good attendance and are working towards appropriate qualifications. Informal learning sessions are also carried out within house meetings to explore topical affairs and risks, such as online safety and safe mobile phone use. This helps to break down barriers to learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have good relationships with staff. They are supported to see their families, and staff respond sensitively to their individual needs. One young person spoke positively about the support she receives from her key person and referred to the setting as her ‘home’. For many children and young people, this home is a life-changing experience.

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

Staff ensure that risk assessments are regularly updated. However, they do not always follow actions identified in risk assessments to keep children safe. For example, in one child’s risk assessment, it states that staff should ensure and document that they have checked that the child has not returned from an activity in possession of a cigarette lighter. However, there have been two occasions when this has not happened. Potentially, this makes the home unsafe, which places children, young people and staff at risk of harm. Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 4 Staff respond to challenging behaviour in a positive way. They celebrate children and young people’s achievements and create monthly review sheets which recognise progress. During the inspection, one child benefited from a recognition reward of a cuddly toy from the zoo. Sanctions are recorded in a central register; however, not all consequences are logged. This creates a missed opportunity to review staff

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

Staff physically intervene when necessary to keep everyone safe. Staff ensure that professionals are informed and provide children with debrief sessions to ensure that support is in place following an incident. However, one record does not include sufficient information, which limits the opportunity for effective management oversight.

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

There have been times when children have been unkind to each other. The home does not have a bullying policy in place to advise staff on how to respond to incidents, and to provide assurances to children. In addition, not all children involved in incidents receive key-work sessions. There is limited opportunity for children to learn about the impact of this behaviour and how to keep themselves safe.

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

If children go missing from care, this is usually for a short period and staff follow appropriate steps to ensure their safe return. The records are clear and return home interviews take place. This ensures that children receive appropriate support and develops staff’s understanding of future risks.

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

The manager has ensured that notifications of serious incidents are sent to the regulator. When required, staff seek support and guidance from external professionals. A police officer told the inspector, ‘The home has been brilliant in communicating, and the manager always follows procedures.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced, resilient and wants the best for the home. The responsible individual is supportive and demonstrates a good understanding of service needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager regularly monitors health and safety arrangements within the home. For example, personal evacuation plans are completed for each child, and environmental risk assessments are updated. The manager did not record what action had been taken to meet the advice made in the external fire assessment. This was addressed during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager challenges placing authorities if she needs further information or if children need increased support. For example, one child felt that she was not supported by her social worker, and the manager supported her to challenge this. This improved the child’s relationship with her local authority. During the inspection, an independent reviewing officer said, ‘Teamworking has been exceptional.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 5 Staff receive regular supervision, and records are of good quality. Team meetings take place, which are reflective and drive practice development. All staff have completed mandatory training. However, staff have not benefited from specific Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder training. Therefore, they may lack an understanding of how diagnosis affects children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Reports and records written by the registered manager and staff are detailed. Professionals state that they find them very informative. However, some reports would not provide a child with a balanced overview of their progress and care. This is because, in some cases, the positive progress made by children does not stand out in reports, and the language used does not reflect the nurturing care provided by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that staff recruitment is safe. The staff team is stable, which means that children and young people experience consistent care . One staff member said, ‘The young people are at the heart of what we do.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the home has a new independent visitor to report on the quality of care. The company has also introduced internal audits to help monitor the service. The registered manager states that these systems are helping to drive improvement. Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 6

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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 registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

and the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(b) (3)(a)(iv)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that consequences and physical interventions are recorded and contain full details. 25 October 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand what they must do to prevent bullying of children by other children. The registered person should ensure that procedures for dealing with allegations of bullying are in place and that staff have the skills required to intervene, protect and address bullying behaviours effectively. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.16)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff have access to appropriate resources to support their training needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 7  The registered person should make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC402426 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: Priory Group, Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London, Middlesex W14 8UD

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Inspectors

Sophie Hills, Social Care Inspector Dawn Bennett, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC402426 9 to 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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