Children's home run by Prior’s Court Foundation

Inspection report children's home: SC069336 1 SC069336 Registered provider: Prior's Court Foundation

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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 and run by a charitable organisation. It provides care in 12 houses for up to 67 children with complex autism spectrum disorder. There is an Ofsted registered school within the extensive grounds. The organisation is also registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide residential homes for adults on the same site.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 55 children were living in the 11 homes which were open.

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Information about this children's home

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this site.

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Information about this children's home

There are two registered managers for this home. The managers registered with Ofsted in May 2023.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC069336 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/06/2023 Full Good 03/05/2022 Full Good 13/07/2021 Full Good 25/06/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC069336 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress because they are cared for by a dedicated staff team that understand their needs. Staff have built trusting relationships with children encouraging them to try new things and return to activities they previously enjoyed. As such, children grow in confidence and build on their social skills. Staff respond to children's needs with a warm and caring approach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proud of the outcome’s children have achieved and progress made including attending health appointments. The staff expertly use the onsite well-being hub and short visits to clinical settings to prepare children for health appointments. This helps children become familiar with medical settings and enabled children to have routine blood tests and immunisations which has had a positive impact on their health outcomes. Staff have helped children to make progress in other areas such as their independence and communication skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff use a highly effective model of communication with children. Staff have a strong understand of how to use the approach and its impact on the outcomes for children. Staff are trained to use the communication model from their induction, and it is embedded well in their practice. Staff use communication aids with children to help them make day to day choices and help children to understand their routines with individual schedules.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children benefit from a multi-disciplinary team onsite. The team consists of nurses, speech and language therapists, physiotherapy, sensory integration, positive behaviour support and occupational therapists. They provide an integrated approach to the children’s care to meet their complex needs. Therapists undertake direct work with children in their homes and in education. Staff work effectively with external specialist therapists with regular clinics taking place onsite. The close working relationship with external agencies has ensured that children have not been impacted by the national shortages of some medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities and experiences onsite and away from the home. Children have enjoyed activities such as, reptile encounters, a foam pit and reindeers visiting for Christmas. Away from the provision, children have enjoyed trips to London, watching football matches, a visit to a hoover factory and a group of children went to the theatre. Activities are well planned and are bespoke to children's interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience well planned moves into and out of the provision. Managers have carefully thought about children's risks when planning children living together. There is a dedicated transitions manager who ensures children's moves out of the provision are smooth and the homes processes are followed. As a result, children move onto settings that appropriately meet their needs. Inspection report children's home: SC069336 4 The children have highly personalised bedrooms. These reflect the children's interest and are designed with their needs in mind. Children often have pictures of their families displayed in their rooms. Staff are creative in how they help children to get used to items on their walls. One child's room is beautifully presented containing sensory equipment creating a relaxing environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The condition of the communal areas in the homes are variable. There are inconsistencies across the homes. Some homes are well maintained, others have signs of wear and tear. One home had a broken bath handle. Two other homes had damaged sofas with cushions which were not fitted properly.

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

There is a strong and open safeguarding culture. Staff know how to raise concerns and managers are responsive. Managers openly share information with parents, professionals and others needing to be involved. The electronic recording system automatically escalates specific concerns to managers should it arise. This includes incidents relating to children eating non-food items, or if a child has an injury or bruise. This allows managers to respond quickly and implement any safeguards, as necessary. Staff have a good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities and how to report concerns.

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

All safeguarding incidents are managed extremely well. Managers welcome independent scrutiny to challenge them or any potential biases. Communication with professionals and parents relating to safeguarding is a strength ensuring everyone is kept up to date. Safeguarding records are detailed and clear. They show what action has been taken, lessons learnt and provides a good audit trail. A skilled speech and language team gather children’s views following any safeguarding incidents.

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

Staff know the children well and understand risks. Plans for children are thorough and informative and provide staff with clear guidance to follow. Staff have taken steps following incidents to make the home environments safer. Staff are given training to develop new skills to meet children’s changing needs. Staff have recently been given further training in epilepsy after a child’s treatment has changed. Staff are confident in asking for help from onsite specialists to meet the children’ complex needs.

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

There are a high number of physical interventions used in the homes. These are used as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. Staff access prompt guidance from specialists through 'spotlight' meetings. The specialist teams support staff in developing a range of alternative strategies to help children. The individual approach to children is effective in reducing the need for physical intervention. One child has not had a physical intervention for almost a year following alternative strategies being used. Debriefs with staff take place and they receive reflective debriefs following incident which also support their mental well-being. Children are debriefed following incidents. Sometimes these are observations rather than seeking the child's views. Inspection report children's home: SC069336 5 Children do not go missing from home due to the high levels of supervision. A practice drill with staff has been completed to test out the new alert system in place should a

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

child go missing from home. This was successful and proved that staff would be responsive if such an incident happened.

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

Safer recruitment is impressive. A dedicated team filters applications and complete checks to ensure that only suitable staff work at the homes. The team track the employment of all the staff using a central record. The managers have oversight of the recruitment of new staff ensuring that they are suitably checked. Managers hold the same level of stringency in checking agency staff.

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

Health and safety processes are in place to keep children and staff safe. All children have a personal emergency evacuation plan that staff can follow in the event of a fire. These are reviewed if needed following practice fire evacuation drills. Systems are in place for staff to monitor health and safety through weekly audits. These are completed with clear actions to address any issues identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered managers work well together sharing high aspirations for the children. A new responsible individual works closely with them to review and develop the care for children. They have met the previous requirements and recommendation. The management team are visible figures in the homes, they know the children and staff well. They are passionate about the children's progresses and are proud of the outcome’s children have achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a good oversight of the home. They work excellently with other department heads using well developed monitoring systems. This enables them to have a strong understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the homes. Managers have introduced 'learning walks' to strengthen this oversight. Autism specialists feedback on environments and autism specific tools that enable learning in the home. This has recently started but staff are invested in making changes based on the feedback. There are clear development plans in place to continuously improve the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been one serious incident since the last inspection. The care provided to one child was poor. This resulted in them being seriously ill in hospital. The child had recently moved internally to a newly reopened home on the site. Managers have taken this incident seriously and acted promptly to address concerns and ensure the safety of children. Several comprehensive reviews have taken place. The outcomes of these have been shared with parents and key professionals involved. Learning has been identified and they are completing an action plan. One of the key factors in this failing was the sufficiency of staffing in the newly opened home. There was an absence of consistent, experienced, and skilled staff who knew the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders encourage parents to make complaints when they are dissatisfied with the care provided. These are taken seriously, and detailed investigations are undertaken. There is Inspection report children's home: SC069336 6 a genuine investment from leaders to learn from complaints and continuously improve the care for children. Complaints are recorded well with clear outcomes provided to complainants. There is a clear culture which welcomes scrutiny and learning from incidents and complaints.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team has not been stable. The re-opening of one home has resulted in staff moving internally. These moves have disrupted settled teams and caused added pressures. There have been some practice issues where inexperienced staff are caring for children with complex needs. Leaders have made significant efforts to recruit and retain staff. The induction has been reviewed and strengthened. Pathways for staff development have been reviewed and a new leadership role in each home has been created.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are highly trained to carry out their roles. There is a strong induction programme. This is highly structured and helps new staff to understand the approach of the home. Staff are provided with immediate feedback on their performance during induction. Leaders place emphasis on ensuring staff understand the children’s individual complex needs. The nursing and behaviour support team provide child-specific training to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by managers. Staff say managers are always at the end of the phone and they are listened to. Staff have regular supervisions and appraisals in line with the home’s policy. The quality of supervision records is variable. Some supervisions are detailed, and others lack the same depth of information. Managers place emphasis on supporting agency staff well. They provide the staff with induction, training, and ongoing supervision. Agency staff are also enrolled on the qualification to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to work fully as part of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff use a highly effective electronic care recording system. This system is tailored to the homes, it allows staff to record children's care clearly and promptly. Staff say this is essential for excellent communication between staff about the children's care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents and professionals are positive about the communication with staff. One professional said that communication is good and that the staff understand the child’s needs. A parent said that staff are ‘willing to grow and change’ their approach to make sure that children are making progress. Inspection report children's home: SC069336 7

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers must ensure that experienced staff are suitably deployed in the home to ensure continuity and that children's complex needs are met. 31 January 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a welcoming environment including creating a homely environment in communal areas and replacing items damaged through wear and tear are replaced promptly. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience as soon as is practicable. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff which provides evidence that effective supervision is being delivered. This should Inspection report children's home: SC069336 8 include providing staff with feedback on their performance and development. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61,

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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: SC069336 9

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Children's home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Prior's Court Foundation

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Natalie Boothroyd

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Children's home details

Registered manager: Lisa Pothecary and Matthew Phelps

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Inspectors

Mark Dawkins, Social Care Inspector Lisa O'Donovan, Social Care Inspector Louise Webling, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC069336 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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