Children's home run by Aspris Homes Limited in North Northamptonshire

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:

 Successful behaviour management strategies support young people to take increasing levels of responsibility for themselves. Staff discuss unacceptable conduct with young people and sensitively guide them towards more acceptable behaviours.  Key working and one-to-one time with staff is valued by young people. They use this time to talk about any worries or concerns and to discuss their plans for the future. Young people seek out staff to help them resolve frustrations and difficulties.  Staff provide opportunities for young people to raise issues and discuss anything that affects them or their care. Young people know that their contributions and opinions are important and valued because they see the subsequent outcomes.  Staff understand the importance of young people’s contact with friends and family, Staff form and sustain relationships with those that are important to the young people. This enables them to support young people with these

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The children’s home provision is good because:

relationships and provide good advocacy when disruptions have arisen.  Staff support young people to understand and reduce risk taking behaviour. However, some records lack clarity, and the implementation of the new recording formats has not yet bedded in.  The home is managed by a strong and effective leader. She is highly regarded by both the staff and young people.  Staff are motivated and confident because they are well managed. They are provided with training that is targeted to their individual level of development, which increases their competence. Good-quality supervision promotes staff’s development and enthusiasm to work with young people.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

12. The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff— (2)(a)(i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. 10 August

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. This is in relation to ensuring that the period of time from application to employment is accounted for and any gaps explained (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person and the home’s staff are familiar with the care planning process for looked-after children and must assist children to prepare for meetings in relation to this. This is with particular reference to promptly requesting and obtaining young people’s care planning review minutes (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.14).

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Information about this children's home

The home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home provides an on-site school registered with the Department for Education.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

12 March 2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Good

Young people enjoy living in this home. They value the relationships that they have established and continue to build with staff. Warm and trusting relationships exist between the staff and young people. One young person said, ‘I know that staff care about me and I know they respect me.’ Another young person said, ‘Staff are always there for me and I can always talk to anyone if I get frustrated or angry.’ All young people spoken to said that they have opportunities to go out and socialise with friends. They enjoy a range of pursuits such as golf, trampolining and gymnastics. These activities and staff encouragement increases young people’s confidence. One young person, who had previously rarely gone out, now uses public transport, socialises within the wider community and meets with friends and family independently. Young people feel listened to and they are confident that their opinions are important to staff. Young people attend house meetings and give their individual

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Good

and collective views on matters affecting them and the home. Staff use these meetings and key working sessions to engage with young people, listen and consider their views. Young people's thoughts therefore shape the management of the home and the care that young people receive. The decoration of the home, their activities, menus and free time have all been successfully negotiated with staff through this engagement. All young people in the home are currently engaged in work or work related experience. One young person is in full-time work, another has just begun an apprenticeship and one young person is attending interviews. One young person has found it extremely difficult to maintain employment and staff have worked tirelessly to create opportunities, arranging interviews and preparing them. The staff have high aspirations for all young people and work extremely hard to help them find employment or training. Staff have successfully encouraged and

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Good

arranged for one young person who had previously refused schooling to take GCSEs and secure further education. The home has recently met with one young person's employer and helped to negotiate a successful return to work following a disruption. Staff use discussions with young people to reinforce the importance of work and training, which has increased young people's insights and enthusiasm to develop their careers. One young person said, ‘If I continue to work and train, I am going to have lots of choices and opportunities for my future.’ In most cases, young people's placement plans are up to date and reflect the placing authorities’ care plans. Placement plans are individualised, focused on agreed goals and understood and implemented by staff. Staff are focused and target their support in the key areas of young people’s plans, working successfully alongside them to reach the agreed goals. One care plan had been reviewed by

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Good

the placing authority but the amended plan had not been received and this had not been followed up by the home. This delayed the home’s ability to successfully update their placement planning arrangements. Good liaison with core health services and young people's attendance at routine appointments effectively supports and improves their health. Staff receive training in promoting good health and use these skills to support young people to maintain healthy lifestyles. Young people's diet and exercise is discussed with them regularly and they are encouraged to take increasing levels of responsibility for maintaining their health. One young person has significantly improved their self-care and hygiene. Staff understand the importance of young people maintaining personal relationships and how this can be difficult for them. Staff have therefore been significant in facilitating young people to build and sustain relationships with

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Good

friends and family. Liaison between the staff and family members is frequent and beneficial. This has proved very successful and enabled young people to restore relationships and understand previous difficulties. Refurbishment of the home is being undertaken in accordance with the development plan. This has provided young people with a modernised kitchen and upgraded bedrooms and furnishings, which they value. The home has also suffered some damage, which is being addressed within the refurbishment programme. Young people value their home and typically look after it and help to maintain it well.

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Good

Young people feel safe because they are confident that the staff are there to support and protect them. Young people trust the staff and seek guidance and support from them when they are worried or concerned. Formal complaint systems are in place. All young people know how to use them and trust that staff treat will treat complaints seriously. Young people have established close relationships and speak freely and openly to staff about their grumbles. Young people therefore have excellent formal and informal opportunities to raise any matters in a transparent and trusting environment. Complaints are infrequent and one young person said, ‘I have complained in the past, it was treated seriously and the manager met with me to talk, once it was all over.’ Staff understand the young people’s vulnerabilities and the dangers and risks posed within the community. They know how to help young people to keep safe.

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Good

Although risks are clearly evaluated and generally well managed through practice, some recordings are not well presented. Confusion has arisen from the introduction of a new recording format that has left some risk assessment reviews unclear. Young people contribute to their risk assessments. They talk to staff, learn about the dangers and then jointly develop strategies to avoid risk. Through this consultation, young people are fully engaged and able to take a greater role in managing risk. Key working sessions focus on helping young people to gain and develop knowledge and skills for keeping themselves safe. This understanding helps them to develop confidence and resilience. Key work sessions also emphasise the importance of maintaining appropriate and safe relationships. Young people rarely go missing from this home. However, one young person does not always return when expected. This has been mostly due to them forming

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Good

relationships and becoming more confident in the community. The home has managed the situation well through effective liaison with the police ‘missing person’s’ officer and the placing social worker. Behaviour management strategies have been implemented to address unauthorised absence and at the time of inspection, stability had improved. Young people are negotiating with staff and placing social workers to allow increased time outside the home. Physical interventions are uncommon because of the successful de-escalation techniques used by trained and competent staff. This results in calm being promptly and effectively restored without the need for physical intervention in almost all situations. Staff understand and are aware of young people’s triggers and the behaviour that may indicate when they are troubled or frustrated and staff respond well. Young people discuss their triggers, their own personal de-escalation techniques

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Good

and agree with staff how they can be best supported during times of frustration or anger. Proactive behaviour management plans are agreed which allow interventions to be planned and predictable. This gives young people the opportunity and space to gain control and take responsibility. Recruitment checks and employment procedures are mostly well managed and thorough. The home’s procedures exceed the minimum of two employment references and verifications of past employment are carried out regardless of the applicant’s previous role. This ensures that even when applicants have not worked with children or vulnerable adults in the past, their previous employers are spoken to in every case. However, although historic gaps in employment are explained fully and well managed, new applicants were not confirming the gaps between application and starting in the home, which could be several months and this weakens an otherwise effective system of checks.

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Good

The home is effectively managed by an experienced and skilled registered manager who has been in post for several years. She has a level 4 diploma in Leadership and Management for Care Service and Health and Social Care and is highly regarded by the whole of her staff team. One said, ‘She is a great source of knowledge and guidance.’ A young person described her as ‘supportive and interested in my day-to-day life’. The manager leads by example, providing formal supervision for staff and day-to-day guidance and advice for both staff and young people. All young people individually meet with her monthly for a ‘manager’s consultation’ meeting. They talk about anything that they wish, raise any concerns and speak about the home and their care. This formal consultation is highly regarded by young people who believe that their views are valued and considered. Records of these meetings demonstrate that the current refurbishment of the home and

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Good

managing behaviour have been topics of discussion. The statement of purpose has recently been reviewed in accordance with the home’s programme of reviews. It is described by the manager and staff as dynamic in that it is influenced and reviewed around the changing needs of the young people and the services provided. All staff formally contribute to the contents and discuss it in supervision and team meetings. Staff use it as a guide to underpin practice and a measure of their progress. Staff enjoy working in the home and speak enthusiastically and positively about the young people and their progress. Staff meetings and supervisions are used effectively to evaluate young people's progress and to develop consistent and effective strategies to improve outcomes. Staff value their professional supervision and say that it provides time to reflect on practice, consider alternate approaches and consider their training needs and professional development.

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Good

Training is targeted and meaningful. Staff have an individual training profile ensuring that training is focused on their role, level of responsibility and the stage of development. Staff spoken to said that the training had provided them with increased skills, confidence and insight. One staff member stated that training had enabled her to consider how her body language, tone of voice and facial expressions can provide misleading signals to young people and to adjust accordingly. The manager and staff monitor behaviour through a ‘monitoring and evaluation plan’, which considers incidents over an extended period. They look at young people’s behaviour, the actions that have been taken to manage it and the effectiveness of the response. Where there is an increase in undesirable behaviour, tactics to address are changed. Where evaluation demonstrates that young people have managed their behaviour well and acted positively, rewards, praise and extra

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Good

encouragement are provided. This evaluation ensures interventions that are most likely to promote improved behaviour are used. External monthly monitoring visits involve discussions with staff and consider the views of young people and their progress. Where shortfalls or areas for development are identified, the manager and external visitor work closely together, developing appropriate action plans within the agreed timescales. Notifications are promptly made to Ofsted and other relevant agencies if matters or events are considered sufficiently serious, they include the actions taken by the home’s staff in response to the event.

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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 that 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

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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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