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

Good

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

p.2

The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people benefit from supportive and caring relationships with staff.  Young people are now confident that staff will listen to and act on their concerns.  Young people are able to develop friendships with their peers.  All young people attend full time education and have good attendance.  Young people are able to take part in a range of activities.  Young people are taking on more responsibility for themselves and learning to be more independent.  Staff support young people to maintain contact with their family and others who they consider important to them.  Staff ensure there is a strong, robust and effective response to address any bullying behaviour that takes place.  The home’s approach focuses on risk reduction whilst ensuring young people are able to take age related risks and develop their independence.  Staff are beginning to think creatively about how to assist young people in

p.3

The children's home provision is good because:

managing their behaviours.  The manager has increased her oversight of staff practice and recording.  The manager has established links with other professionals and agencies to ensure young people have access to specialised support and advice they need to progress.

p.3

What the home needs to improve:

 Young people’s individual missing persons protocols need to outline staff roles and responsibilities.  The home needs to be made homely and personalised for the young people living there.  Staff need to ensure information within young people’s files is current and up to date.

p.3

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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

No Requirements were made as a result of this inspection.

p.4

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  the registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission. In particular ensure this information is contained within individual young person’s protocols (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards, April 2015, page 45 paragraph 9.28)  the registered manager should ensure the children's home provides a homely, domestic environment (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards, April 2015, page 15 paragraph 3.9)  the registered manager should ensure children's case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards, April 2015, page 62 paragraph 14.3)

p.4

Information about this children's home

This home is run by a national private organisation and provides accommodation for an associated residential special school. The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people aged 9 to 17 years who have emotional behavioural difficulties.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

18/03/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

p.5

good

Young people benefit from supportive and caring relationships with staff. Staff continually ask for young people’s feedback through keyworker sessions and residential meetings. This ensures young people are able to express how they feel and share their fears and anxieties. Young people are now confident that staff will listen to and act on their concerns. Young people are able to develop friendships with their peers. They take part in activities together inside and outside of the home. When conflict occurs staff, intervene quickly and use restorative practices appropriately to improve relationships within the home. This increases young people’s sense of personal responsibility. All young people attend full time education and have good attendance. Staff liaise closely with educational professionals to ensure consistent support. Staff support young people with their homework when necessary and assist one young person to

p.6

good

attend college and his work experience. As a result, all young people are making good progress in their education, maximising their potential and their future opportunities. Staff support young people to attend their health appointments and provide advice and guidance to improve their health. As a result, young people have been learning about healthy eating, are now losing weight and becoming more active. Young people are enabled to develop their independence skills and as a result, some young people have successfully worked towards being able to take their medication independently. This has had a positive impact on their confidence and self-esteem. Young people are able to take part in range of activities. Young people currently attend climbing, swimming, the cinema and regular trips out. Staff also ensure young people are able to pursue their hobbies and interests. This approach provides young people with a chance to experience positive enriching activities as

p.6

good

well as expanding their circle of friends. Young people are taking on more responsibility for themselves and learning to be more independent. Young people are encouraged to complete chores around the home and have been learning to use public transport. Staff support young people to complete ‘my life, my risk’ forms which encourage young people to think about their own personal safety and how to protect themselves. Once competed young people have been able to access free time. This enables young people to develop their life skills in preparation for adult hood. Staff support young people to maintain contact with their family and others who they consider important to them. Relatives are able to visit the children’s home and young people are able to visit their family home during school holidays and at the weekend. Staff have provided additional support in the holidays to ensure young people’s visits to relatives are positive experiences. This ensures young people are

p.6

good

able to maintain a sense of belonging within their families and promotes their sense of identity.

p.7

good

Young people’s care plans are individualised and detailed. They are regularly updated by the keyworker with oversight from the registered manager. Young people are suitably involved in their plan dependent on their wishes. However, some information within the plans is out of date such as the social worker and placing authorities’ details. This may cause a delay in proving information on the young person’s welfare to the correct professional.

p.7

good

Young people no longer feel bullying is an issue in this home, and they are confident that they have people in the home to confide in should it become an issue for them. Young people feel assured by the measures staff have taken to improve their practice and to make them feel safe. The environment within home is now calm, relaxed, and young people feel valued and listened to by staff. Staff ensure there is a strong, robust and effective response to address any bullying behaviour that takes place. As a result, young people now state they feel safe. When incidents occur, staff are quick to respond and provide robust boundaries. They challenge young people’s bullying type behaviour to prevent future incidents whilst ensuring victims are supported and protected. Staff use restorative approaches effectively to address any conflicts and to ensure young people are happy with the action staff have taken. This has had a positive impact

p.7

good

on the relationships between young people within the home. Young people’s risk assessments have been updated and provide detailed information on the risks present and the actions staff should take to protect young people. The home’s approach focuses on risk reduction whilst ensuring young people are able to take age-related risks and develop their independence. Staff take their responsibility to safeguard young people extremely seriously and have undertaken a number of training courses to develop their skills in this area since the previous inspection. Staff are quick to respond to any safeguarding matters and have referred them to the appropriate professionals when necessary. The manager has taken action to update the home’s safeguarding policy since the previous inspection to ensure staff are provided with robust guidance on the actions they should take to protect children after a disclosure has been made.

p.7

good

There has been no missing incidents since the previous inspection. The home’s missing person policy provides detailed information on staffs roles and responsibility when young people go missing. However, young people’s individual protocols do not advise staff of the steps they need to take specific to the individual to prevent them from going missing. The protocols also do not inform staff on what to do if they lose sight of the young person and they no longer know where they are. There is also no guidance provided to staff of when staff should inform the police. This may result in staff not taking effective action to prevent a young person from going missing and finding them when they do. All young people’s behavioural support plans have been updated to advise of their behaviours, risks to others and how staff can effectively deescalate behaviours to support young people during incidents of challenging behaviour. This ensures staff

p.8

good

are informed of how to successfully intervene and protect young people. There has been a reduction of incidents of challenging behaviour within the home and there has only been one physical intervention since the previous inspection. This demonstrates the success of staff support to young people to increase their ability to manage their feelings and frustrations constructively. Staff are beginning to think creatively about how to assist young people in managing their behaviours, such as colouring in a clock to aid a young person’s understanding of when is acceptable to get up in the mornings, reducing incidents taking place at this time. All health and safety checks are completed on a regular basis to ensure young people and staff are protected from the risk of harm. Staff have redecorated the communal areas of the home making it feel homely and warm. However, the home is not personalised and does not reflect the individuals living there. The manager

p.8

good

has identified this and is looking to develop the home further such as putting up pictures of the young people. All staff have undergone the necessary employment checks to ensure they are suitable to work with children.

p.8

good

The Registered Manager has been in post in the children’s home since October 2013 and has completed a level 5 qualification in Leadership for Health and Social Care and Children and Young People’s Services. Since the previous inspection, the manager has increased her monitoring and oversight of the service. She has developed a robust action plan to address the concerns raised at the previous inspection and this has led to a significant improvement in the quality of care provided to young people. The manager has increased her oversight of staff practice and recording. This has ensured that care records reflect the work staff are undertaking to support young people. The manager has also taken a more effective role in monitoring incidents reports to ensure staffs intervention is appropriate and robust. She meets with all young people after an incident to support them to reflect on their behaviour, to reiterate consequences whilst ensuring young people are happy with the actions

p.9

good

staff have taken. This ensures staff have a strong consistent approach towards behaviour whilst ensuring young people feel listened to promoting their self- esteem. The registered manager continues to monitor all other aspects of the service, identifying areas for improvement and taking action to improve the quality of care for young people. The manager knows the young people she supports well and as a result has ensured that the care provided to them is individual to their needs. She has established links with other professionals and agencies to ensure young people have access to specialised support and advice. When this support has not been forth coming, the manager has challenged the practice of other agencies to ensure they act in the young person’s best interest. Staff within the home use their individual strengths and skills effectively to support young people. This has included: maths tutorials to a young person who requires this extra support to

p.9

good

achieve his targets; and carrying out pathway planning when young people are not entitled to access this support from the local authority. Staff have recently undertaken training in how to address bullying, positive behaviour management and safeguarding training. This has aided staff to improve their strategies to manage incidents within the home and has resulted in young people feeling safer. Staff have regular supervision with the manager, which provides them an opportunity to reflect on young people progress, their own practice and where improvements can be made to the quality of care provided.

p.9

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.

p.10

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

p.10

What the inspection judgements mean

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

p.10

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

p.11

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 .

p.11

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,

p.12

Information about this inspection

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

p.12

Information about this inspection

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

p.12

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

p.12