Children's Home, Residential special school run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC391860 Inspection date 16/01/2014 Inspector Christy Wannop Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 27/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is part of a residential special school which is operated by a large private care organisation. The two adjacent houses are registered to accommodate 14 children and young people with learning disabilities. The school is registered with the Department for Education and has a specialism in autism. Half the young people are currently over the age of 18 and will leave the home as they finish their education at the school.

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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 adequate .

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Overall effectiveness

This children’s home, set in a residential special school, has established outstanding outcomes for children over a number of years. The support for young people with autism is well-resourced, organised and informed by research and best practice. Young people thrive in this environment, with trained, energetic, thoughtful staff. They develop better wellbeing and achieve more in education and skills. Families are very satisfied with the care of young people and parents feel incredibly well supported by a trusted care team.

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Overall effectiveness

This inspection finds that the service has some areas for improvement. These are in the aspects of care planning documentation and some other records. The service consults with and involves parents and placing authorities when they establish the plan for care, and overall care plans are accurate and informative. However, some care plans do not reflect young people’s full needs or all aspects of their care. There is not a summary of safeguarding conclusions or allegations to inform future practice.

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Overall effectiveness

Parents have a high level of confidence in the staff team and especially the Registered Manager. There is a skilled and cooperative senior management team and good support from the wider organisation to review and develop the service. However, managerial monitoring has not identified some of the shortfalls in record keeping. Parents say their young people are happy and have continuity, good activities and are safe; one said they ‘can’t fault the school.’

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) promote and make proper provision for the welfare of children accommodated, specifically with reference to agreeing the content of in-house, or placing authority care plans and delivering the levels of supervision that those plans require (Regulation 11(1)(a)) 28/02/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that electronic monitoring devices for the surveillance of children are not used, except where the child’s placing authority consents to the use of the measure in question and it is provided for in the child’s placement plan and detailed in the Statement of Purpose (Regulation 22 (a)(b)) 28/02/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) maintain in respect of each child who is accommodated in a children’s home a record in permanent form which includes the information, documents and records specified in Schedule 3 relating to that child; specifically for documentation of all health needs. (Regulation 28, Schedule 3 (14)) 28/02/2014

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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 a clear and comprehensive summary of any allegations made against a particular member of staff, including details of how the allegation was followed up and resolved, a record of any action taken and the decisions reached, is kept on the person’s confidential file and a copy is provided to the person as soon as the investigation is concluded. The information is retained on the confidential file, even after someone leaves the organisation, until the person reaches normal retirement age, or for ten years if this is longer (NMS 20.7)  monitor all records and identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends: this with particular regard to safeguarding and complaints (NMS 21.2)  ensure there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when needed, specifically that staff understand the principles of accurate and accountable record keeping. (NMS 22.1)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn that their communication is valued. Their communication skills really improve and provide a key to improving behaviour and their integration with the wider world. When children miss home and family, observant staff negotiate for more home visits where this is part of an overall care plan. They make better social relationships because they are calmer. They are able to stay with family more often because their social behaviour is improved and they are not so challenging at home. When parents visit the school, staff go out with the whole family to provide support so everyone has an enjoyable trip. This strengthens young people’s positive bonds with their families.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from an informed care ethos that meets their need for structure without institutionalisation, so those with previously obsessive behaviour learn to be more flexible. They enjoy good, constructive free time and activities meet their need for changing rhythms of ‘ebb and flow.’ Lively outdoor physical exercise prepares them for quieter focused activities. This improves concentration and opportunities for learning and so they are ready to try out new experiences. One parent described the ‘real improvement’ in their child’s comprehension. They felt that for the first time, people are explaining things and taking the time to check that their child understands.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people go on good active holidays each year, recently going to the Brecon Beacons. They have active social lives in the local area and use community sports and leisure facilities; go to the cinema and swimming pool. They have a good presence locally. They have richer lives and make more choices. They chose themes for celebrations, such as BBQs. They show greater patience and are able to sit through whole movies at the cinema. They have special familiar home cooked food, at parents’ request, like chicken patties, to reflect their cultural background. Parents say their children tell them they are happy.

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Outcomes for children and young people

A high proportion of young people are moving towards transition to adult services. Parents see their children developing and have confidence they are learning skills to be able to cope as they move towards the next stage of their young adult lives, many to specialist colleges of further education. They plan, shop for a cook their tea each week and communicate about whether they like it. Their enthusiasm for this active skill building is evident in their enjoyment of the tasks. Parents talked about the positive reception from the service to new agencies helping young people make this smooth transition to further education. Young people celebrate their achievements and progress with year books and pictorial records of their time at the home and a leaver’s ceremony like any other young person leaving school.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is good . The organisation tailors the residential service to the needs of children and young people with autism and learning disabilities. Staff respect difference and the service promotes principles of inclusion and embracing diversity. One parent described their personal exacting standards of care and found that the whole service can deliver a higher standard. ‘They have the structure right.’ A range of therapeutic and specialist educational, therapeutic and health staff support the holistic care package. There is good coordinated health care. Consultant paediatricians work with the school’s nurse; speech and language and occupational therapists work directly with children and pass on their skills to staff. Parents talked of the enormous support given to their child’s complex physical health needs. They describe consistency of care that they feel staff pass on messages and share information accurately.

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Quality of care

Young people settle to this school when they have been previously unable to do this elsewhere because of high levels of anxiety and distress. This reduces. School staff describe enthusiastic care staff who have high aspirations for young people. For example, residential staff are on board with new systematic instruction training. They have an open minded attitude and see the potential for this research-based approach to increasing skills in travel training and also personal care, for young people with more severe learning disabilities and autism.

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Quality of care

Behaviour management is generally well managed. Staff have a clear understanding of the impact of autism and learning disability on young people’s perceptions of their world and their responses to it. They match young people’s needs in the houses so that they eat and do activities with others who they can get on with. Behavioural strategies are consistent across home, the children’s home and school. Staff are trained to use physical intervention as a last resort, but prefer to deflect and diffuse challenging situations. The manager monitors incidents to ensure a constructive response. One parent reflected on the challenges of managing her son as he grew into a young man. She reflected that over the course of many years of consistent home and school working with her child, the strategies, ‘do work with him’.

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Quality of care

Parents are impressed by the commitment of staff to understanding children’s communication needs. Staff use a range of skills and techniques, makaton, picture exchange schemes, individual signs and also, ‘intense interaction,’ where they mirror spontaneous sounds; this encourages eye contact, and increases empathy and improves relationships. The service largely ascertains the views of young people through observations: for example they commented that one young person, was, ‘motivated and gets enjoyment through food.’ Staff know that young people make clear their leisure preferences when they display negative behaviour in social situations and so they tailor activities accordingly. One young person goes to a sensory room at a local library and ice skating of swimming, rather than other community activities. This is his choice.

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Quality of care

Care planning and delivery is generally consistent with the placing authority plan and promotes independence. Aims for achievement are firmly based on children’s identified educational needs and have a clear focus on independence. The home creates a separate ‘in-house’ plan that contains a lot of information much of which is extremely good quality. However, some significant information is lacking. The school’s documentation does not evidence partnership agreements between parents, school and the local authority about the use of bedroom door alarms, or baby monitors, to keep young people safe at night. Some significant health information is missing from records. Care plans do not always reflect young people’s need to explore their own sexual development, though in practice this is managed sensitively. Overall healthcare is, however, very good. In some cases, parents feel for the first time that they can trust others to look after their children.

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Quality of care

The children’s home comprises two detached purpose-built houses in the school grounds, each with its own garden and play area. There are seven en-suite bedrooms in each house and a kitchen, living, dining, craft and sensory rooms, so young people have plenty of good space for group or activities alone. The houses combine the need for a comfortable home, with an environment that is suitable for young people with autism, for whom sensory overload is disturbing. Houses are comfortable and well-furnished, fully equipped and decorated.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

The approach to safeguarding is based on an understanding of young people’s vulnerabilities, and good training for staff. The service has identified they need to train more senior staff in managing safeguarding incidents. The Registered Manager has good links with the local safeguarding services, including the local authority designated officer (LADO). Any safeguarding issue has a prompt response and concerns or allegations about staff are managed in conjunction with the safeguarding authority. However, the home’s records of these issues are not always complete or centrally accessible, being dispersed between different individuals. This makes a managerial overview difficult. Staff against whom allegations are made do not have a full summary of the outcome on their file. This means that there is not a proper, shared account of the resolution of concerns.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Close supervision generally keeps young people safe, but there have been incidents of risk to young people, such as going missing and sexualised behaviour, that have happened because staff have occasionally not supervised in accordance with agreed management plans. The service takes follow up action to ensure there is improved practice after such events. One parent described good communication about any incidents arising from their children’s challenging needs and felt reassured by this; ‘They keep her completely safe.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

Other aspects of safeguarding are good. Safe recruitment procedures and rigorous checks ensure that only suitable adults work with young people. Robust health and safety systems and thorough checks on all activities, the building, all equipment, and services ensure the environment is safe for young people to live and for staff to work. When accidents or incidents occur, the senior management team take action to ensure risk is reduced in future. There have been recent improvements in external lighting on play areas so staff can be aware of young people’s whereabouts at all times. A parent said her experience was that staff always try to, ‘answer her worries and keep all children safe from hurt.’

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

This service has a coordinated senior management team who ensure consistency and good quality care across children’s educational, residential and home lives. Ofsted raised no regulatory or national minimum standards shortfalls in inspections last year. The provider meets the aims and objectives in the Statement of Purpose in a well-designed service with an autism and learning disability specialism. The Registered Manager is qualified, competent and experienced and leads the team with enthusiasm and drive.

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Leadership and management

Generally the quality of information about the service is good, although information in the Statement of Purpose about use of door monitors is not sufficiently explicit. No parents or placing authorities contributed to Ofsted's on-line surveys about the service. Parents, however, do say that they feel the school keeps them very informed about their children. Parents talk of a high level of consultation and communication with them: ‘They want to know what we have to say they want to know that our child is happy.’

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Leadership and management

Systems for monitoring are wide ranging and include monthly visits by external organisational specialists. The Registered Manager completes a range of audits and checks as part of her routine managerial monitoring and a sends a six monthly analysis of events in the home to Ofsted, identifying improvement in a development plan and reflecting consultation. However, this monitoring has not picked up the omission of information from children’s health and care plans and the lack of a summary after safeguarding allegations. Young people's records are not all of a consistently good quality. Staff have made posthumous records of significant events and entered dates of events which could mislead. Monitoring of records has not picked up inaccuracies there; neither is there a managerial review to establish patterns and trends following parental concerns, complaints and safeguarding issues.

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Leadership and management

Staffing ratios are generally good, and the Registered Manager has succeeded in securing additional funding to ensure particular young people get extremely close care. The service ensures a reasonable level of training for staff, who are keen to learn. Residential staff learn new skills in working with children with autism and learning disabilities alongside educational staff. They are an enthusiastic group of people, with energy, commitment and life experience. Over half the workforce is qualified in working with children and young people at level 3. New staff are eager to begin this once they have completed their nationally recognised induction standards. The Registered Manager and house leaders deliver regular professional supervision to residential staff, recognise good practice and support staff to improve their practice. Regular staff meetings have a good focus on children’s needs, their experiences and their progress.

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Leadership and management

The school is keen to make improvements and develop their service. Medication systems are improved. Décor and furnishings are updated. The manager has the confidence of parents and staff and the school demonstrates its good partnership working in planning multi-disciplinary training that includes the local police. One parent said of their child's overwhelmingly positive experience: ‘Can’t praise the school enough. They have helped to make him into the person he is today.’

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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 and the evaluation schedule for the inspection of children's homes.

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