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

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people make good progress; they are encouraged to develop strategies to manage their own needs and develop individual life skills.  Staff provide opportunities that enable young people to access a variety of activities and experiences.  The home is personalised for the young people that reside there whilst being homely and comfortable.  Young people are encouraged to express their views regarding the quality of care they receive.  Young people trust those that care for them; positive relationships with staff enable young people to explore aspects which they find challenging and learn to self-regulate behaviours.  Effective collaborative working with others has a positive impact on the planning and intervention strategies implemented.  Care plans encompass holistic needs; risk assessments and behaviour support plans address how risk is to be minimised whilst supporting young people.  Staff are knowledgeable and experienced in the needs of the young people in

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The children's home provision is good because:

their care.  Safeguarding concerns are well recorded and policy and process is effective in addressing issues raised.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(h) Use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (2) (h)). 01/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees:

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Requirement Due date

(b) Receive practice related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and qualification. (Regulation 33 (4) (b)). 01/12/2015

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Information about this children's home

 The home is registered to care for up to 4 children with learning disabilities.  The home is privately owned by an education specialist service provider.  The home focus on caring for young people who have complex needs which may include Autistic spectrum disorder and associated difficulties.  The home is located on the edge of the education site in a village within easy access of local services and large open spaces.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26/01/2015 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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good

Young people trust those that care for them and relationships with key workers are robust and effective. Staff invest in the young people and support them to work through aspects which cause anxiety and upset.

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good

Education is promoted and staff support young people to transition between home and school with positive handovers taking place. Young people enjoy the short walk with staff between sites. Effective relationships between school and home provide a joined up approach to behaviour support and education targets.

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good

Health plans include all aspects of physical and emotional health. They include a wide variety of specialist services when required. Staff work with outside agencies to ensure that young people’s needs are met as they arise. The impact of this is prompt referral to health services whenever needed. Positive working with specialist services has also ensured that plans to meet need are personalised and consider all aspects of need.

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good

Young people are supported to manage their behaviour through behaviour support plans which are applied consistently and reviewed when required. Minimal physical intervention is used and this is well documented and evaluated providing reflection for both young people and staff.

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good

Young people are encouraged to participate and attend house meetings, key worker sessions and meetings. They are supported to resolve conflict through a variety of communication methods. Bullying was discussed in education about ‘what is kind’ and ‘what is not’ being explored.

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good

Staff support young people to develop hobbies and interests e.g. singing, swimming, den building, reading, and cooking. A variety of activities are accessed on and off site utilising local community services.

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good

Young people have key targets they are working towards to develop their life and social skills. These are reviewed regularly and new targets created when required. Young people are supported to be as independent as possible, promoting opportunities for their futures. Young people plan their weekly activities and menu’s at the house meeting.

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good

Staff support young people to develop life skills by undertaking basic household chores and assisting with shopping and basic cooking tasks. Transition and pathway plans reflect these goals being worked towards.

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good

Young people are encouraged to maintain contact with family and friends in a variety of ways as identified in individual plans. Staff support young people by facilitating contact to ensure it has positive outcomes.

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good

The home environment is a safe one and fit for purpose. Areas of damage are repaired swiftly, with more costly aspects taking longer to address. Aspects of risk are identified through effective risk assessments with review when required.

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good

Safeguarding concerns are explored and investigated with referral to other agencies when required. Allegations and complaints are also well recorded and investigated through the homes policy and procedure. Outcomes identified following investigations are implemented. An example of this was following a recent complaint a training need was identified which is now being addressed.

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good

There have been no episodes of missing but plans are in place if the need arises. The homes safeguarding policies, procedure and training programme explores child sexual exploitation amongst other risk factors which may be present.

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good

Pre-admission risk assessment and planning allow for effective consideration of how young people’s needs are to be met alongside their compatibility with others prior to placement being made.

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good

Sanctions used are permissible and consider how to promote positive behaviours in the future. One young person’s sanction was to wash a car and now they have a part time job cleaning cars. Links with the local police are supporting staff to develop a restorative justice approach to consequences and sanctions but this is not embedded at this time.

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good

An independent visitor is available if the young people wish to meet with her and voice their opinions about the quality of care they receive.

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good

Staff employed have been subject to robust safer recruitment processes. With basic safeguarding training provided within their early stages of employment.

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good

Processes in place to monitor Health and Safety and Food Hygiene are inconsistently applied and the impact of this creates low level risk which requires addressing.

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good

Processes in place to administer medication are thorough, though not all have completed this training it has been identified that this would be beneficial.

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good

The current manager at the home is new in post and is not at this time registered. The management of the home is effective and areas of development are being addressed and this is evidenced within the homes development plan.

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good

Previous requirements and recommendations set have been addressed and implemented. Following the changes in management of the home there had been gaps in frequency of staff supervision and this is now being addressed but is not yet embedded.

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good

Staff are knowledgeable and have good insight into young people’s needs and difficulties. Plans in place are individualised with focus on key areas to develop. Young people make good progress which can be ‘small steps’ but with persistence and consistency they make progress and this is improving their life opportunities.

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good

Staff training offers a wide variety of development opportunities and all staff are appropriately qualified or working towards achieving the recognised qualifications. Staff receive updates in core training requirements when required. Recent staff changes in the home has created situations where all staff have not received the medication training. This is having an impact on young people as other staff are being required to attend the home to administer medication.

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good

The statement of purpose reflects the home and quality of care offered by the home. This is regularly reviewed and updated when required. The young person’s guide is informative and ensures young people have key information they need.

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good

Managers have an awareness of the weaknesses in the home and a development plan has been formulated highlighting key areas. Monitoring and evaluation processes are in place, but gaps suggest these are not being applied robustly and consistently.

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good

Staff work well with those outside of the home which promotes positive care planning. They are developing new strategies to support young people, an example of this is the work with the local community support officer around restorative justice.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, 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 who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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