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

Unique reference number SC441514 Inspection date 21/11/2012 Inspector Martha Nethaway Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 30/05/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home accommodates up to three young people with difficult and challenging behaviour. The home is owned by a private limited company.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness with which the home provides care is good. Young people are safe and feel safe. Young people’s individuality is recognised and celebrated. Outcomes for young people in their education, health, welfare and safety are good. A key strength of the home is the wide-ranging level of activities provided that harness young people’s interest and helps motivate changes in their behaviour. Consequently, their self-esteem and confidence increases.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from forming positive working relationships with staff. The quality of the interactions between young people and staff is good. Mutual respect is at the forefront of daily interaction. Young people are regularly consulted. They say their views are taken into account and valued.

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Overall effectiveness

Leadership and management are good. There is effective oversight in relation to the day to day running of the home. The home has a coherent and consistent approach to improving the outcomes for young people. This is grounded in good practical support and awareness of helping to create positive changes with young people.

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Overall effectiveness

As a result of this visit, there are two recommendations being made. Firstly, to review the risk assessment for the uneven road surface outside the home. Secondly, to enhance the registered manager’s quality assurance reports so that they clearly track continual improvement. These two functions are administrative areas and do not detract from the continual good progress that young people are making.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure the risk assessment of the whole children's home environment are carried out, to identify any potential sources of harm to the children are recorded in writing and reviewed. This specifically relates to the uneven road surface outside the home (NMS 10.8)  forward, as good practice, copies of Regulation 34 reports to HMCI on a six monthly basis, in order to improve the quality of the care provided. This will enable the provider to identify any trends and issues of concern so that all those involved in running and working in the home can continually improve the quality of care they are providing. (Volume 5, statutory guidance, para 3.14)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s development is good. They are beginning to develop a range of personal strengths that help them tackle stress and challenges in life. One young person commented, ‘I am beginning to deal with things differently now.’ An independent reviewing officer commented, ‘This has been a really positive experience for a young person who has experienced significant challenges. The mutual respect has led to substantial progress.’ As a result, young people’s confidence and self- esteem is on the increase. This is contributing positively to their security and development.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s health is good. Young people are openly encouraged to take responsibility for their own health. They regularly attend their doctor, dentist and optician, so that no health matters are going undetected. Young people who are smoking are receiving extra guidance and encouragement to quit. This is an on- going focus of attention. In addition, young people attend regular professional therapy counselling which is in a safe and accepting environment. Young people learn to develop personal strategies and protective behaviours. As a result, this empowers young people to begin to gain a good sense of control in their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are attending the company’s specialist residential school. Young people are now re-engaged in attending school. They benefit from a tailored programme of learning. One young person commented, ‘I had a lot of disruption in my schooling. I am now going every day and taking my Bronze award for Art.’ Another young person commented, ‘I love doing the land based activities at the local farm and I am also very good at cooking.’ As a result, young people are learning and valuing the importance of education. This is helping to reduce barriers to educational outcomes.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making a positive contribution to their home. They routinely do this through house meetings and see the direct results of their discussions and opinions. These included targeted improvement to the activities, menus, house rules and the environment. In all cases, staff act positively on young people’s feedback. The result therefore is that young people feel valued.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s level of contact with their families is good. They benefit from appropriate contact. Young people say they are able to maintain and develop their relationships with their family. They have regular contact through visits and telephone calls. Staff are vigilant with monitoring any detrimental effects on young people’s safety, welfare and development.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are learning key life skills which is good. They are encouraged to cook a meal at least once a week. For example, they budget, buy, prepare and cook a meal. One young person commented, ‘I can cook meals such as curry and pasta dishes. I am very good at cooking home-made cakes.’ Young people say they are also expected to keep their room in a tidy state. One young person commented, ‘My room can sometimes be a little messy but I do clean up everything including tidying my clothes cupboard.’

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy positive relationships with staff and with each other. Staff are good at being emotionally and practically available for young people. Consequently, the development of trust between young people and staff is good. As a result, young people’s self-esteem is increasing.

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Quality of care

Young people receive clear information about how to make a complaint. So far, no young person has made a complaint.

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Quality of care

Care planning and support is good and this is helping to improve outcomes for young people. All young people have an individualised care plan that identifies the goals of their placement. Young people are making good progress in relation to their health, education and welfare. Overall, young people say they are feeling happy and are doing well. One social worker echoed this, ‘Since the young person has been here, they are doing really well. They have personally grown and developed in a positive way.’

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy a good range of activities both in the home and out in the community. One young person commented, ‘I love going to the army cadets and football club and I am also learning how to play drums with a professional teacher.' Another young person commented, ‘I like going to the youth club and there I sometimes do leadership roles such as running a nail painting session.’ As a result, young people are building a positive self-image, self-esteem and relationships outside of the home.

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Quality of care

Young people’s needs relating to their cultural background and personal identity are identified and positively addressed in both daily living and care planning. Young people enjoy an environment that is free from discrimination. One member of staff commented, ‘We do all that we can to maintain young people’s freedom of choice and their rights as an individual. This is very much part of the ethos of the home.’

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy living in a high quality, well designed and pleasant home. All young people enjoy having their own large bedroom. They personalise this as their own space by reflecting their culture and taste. The home is clean and well maintained. One young person commented, ‘We have to keep our rooms tidy and clean. We are encouraged to take part in household chores.’ Consequently, this is further increasing young people's confidence and self-esteem.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Safeguarding young people is good. Young people are effectively protected. They are learning about keeping themselves safe and learning to develop a healthy safer lifestyle. Young people are safe and feel safe. This is underpinned by staff accessing a good range of policies related to safeguarding, behaviour management, anti- bullying and health and safety. In addition, all staff training is up-to-date. As a result, staff are prepared and aware of their safeguarding role and obligation. This promotes young people’s welfare and protection.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people rarely go missing from the home. When they do they quickly return after exhaustive searches made by staff. In all cases staff effectively follow the police protocol for reporting. All young people have a personalised risk assessment which addresses prevention and any likely occurrence of going missing. Over time, young people previously known with high incidents of going missing have significantly reduced. This is as a direct result of the prominent work taking place with young people to help change this unacceptable risk taking behaviour. One social worker commented, ‘Since the young person came to live at the home this is an area that has significantly reduced. This is a distinguishable improvement for the young person.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

Behaviour management is good. Young people benefit from a coordinated positive handling strategy. This is illustrated through the effective use of individual behavioural plans. Young people learn through staff acting as positive role models. They achieve this through their positivity, predictability and consistency of staff approaches. Young people are learning to manage and change their behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home’s recruitment of staff is good. This process is managed by the human resource department and consistently follows the safe recruitment and selection process. As a result, staff are safe to work with vulnerable young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Health and safety is given a good priority by staff. Fire safety is well implemented and this includes young people participating in fire drills. Documented risk assessments are completed for the whole home. However, the risk assessment for the external condition of the traffic area, specifically the uneven road surface is not reflected. As a consequence, this may lead to a slip and trip accident.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good .

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Leadership and management

This home is a newly registered provision and has only accommodated young people since July 2012. The home is effectively and efficiently managed and adequately resourced. The registered manager has a hands-on management style with a visible presence in the home. The registered manager is ably supported by an external line manager who is in regular contact and also visits the home. Staff rate the support as good and there is a good focus given to a child-centred approach. This collaboration is a key strength of the home.

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Leadership and management

The home is meeting the aims and objectives of the statement of purpose. Staff have effectively worked with young people to improve their social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Young people are making good progress in their education and likewise engaging in therapy counselling. Young people living at the home are experiencing positive outcomes. They are becoming more reflective and settled. Their increased engagement and cooperation with staff is helping young people feel valued and cared for. This is borne out in young people’s review meetings.

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Leadership and management

The home has a very simple and straightforward development plan which is currently concentrating on staff completing their induction programme and staff training.

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Leadership and management

Staffing arrangements are good. There are a sufficient number of staff to meet the diverse needs of young people. Staff are well supported and supervised. Many of the staff are completing their induction training. Half the team are formally qualified. The remaining staff are completing their registration for a formal qualification.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s records are well managed. Their records clearly chart individual progress and development. There are good examples of clear planning in consultation with the social worker and the placing authority. Equally, the young person is included in this planning. As a result, young people are involved in decisions as appropriate about their lives.

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Leadership and management

The home’s quality assurances processes are good. The home has an effective system to make notifications and to take action following any incidents. Each month, an independent visitor completes a monthly visit. Young people and staff are spoken with so that their views and opinions are gathered about the home. The home has correctly notified Ofsted of their internal monitoring report completed by the registered manager. However, the reports do not yet clearly track continual improvement. As a result, they do not clearly identify action taken to improve the quality of care.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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