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.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Children and young people live in a supportive home environment, which provides them with consistency, structure and routine.  Children and young people gain from living in an environment where education is valued.  Children and young people are able to develop their life and independence skills.  The manager and staff team have forged very effective working relationships with external colleagues and have advocated well on behalf of children and young people.  Children and young people are confident in approaching staff if they are worried or upset.  Staff use their knowledge and understanding of the child or young person, combined with their safeguarding knowledge, to protect them from risk of abuse and report any concerns.  The manager has developed her monitoring tools and comprehensively evaluates all aspects of the service. As a result, she has a good oversight of the service and understands its strengths as well as areas for development.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  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 and in particular ensure that this information is contained within individual protocols (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 45, paragraph 9.28).  The registered manager should ensure that 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 that 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).

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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 nine to 17 years who have emotional behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

18/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

Children and young people live in a supportive home environment, which provides them with consistency, structure and routine. As a result, children’s and young people’s confidence is growing and they are making progress in their education, social relationships and independence skills. Children and young people gain from living in an environment where education is valued. They are well motivated to attend school and all have good attendance. This is a significant achievement as prior to coming to the home they had not attended school for some time. The majority of children and young people attend the organisation’s school and make good progress in their education. One young person attends a local college and has successfully obtained a qualification in catering and hospitality. By ensuring that he was able to remain at the home while he attended further education, they provided consistency in what was an anxious

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Good

time for the young person. Staff support children and young people to have access to a wide range of activities, to try new things and go to new places. This provides them with opportunities to express their interests, extend their social experience and develop friendships with their peers. Staff have encouraged and supported children and young people to arrange events to raise money for their chosen charity. This included a 50-mile bike ride. Successful completion of this event enabled the young person to make a positive contribution to the community and build on their sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Children and young people are able to develop their life and independence skills. Staff provide guidance on practical issues such as cooking, budgeting and independent travel. As a result, children and young people are more confident in caring for themselves and several young people have successfully used public

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Good

transport independently. However, children’s and young people’s progress in this area is not well documented. The manager is aware of this and is implementing a new ‘life skills booklet’ to record children’s and young people’s progress in this area, but this practice is yet to be embedded. Staff promote children’s and young people’s health needs well. Children and young people are able to access the organisation’s therapist. Some young people have not yet benefited from this service but those who have are gaining a more positive self-view and develop stronger emotional resilience. Staff have worked effectively with other medical professionals in ensuring that children’s and young people’s physical health improves. This includes regular liaising with their medical professionals and regular discussions with children and young people about healthy eating and exercise. One young person in the home smokes. Current approaches

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Good

and education by members of staff have not yet been successful in supporting the young person to cease smoking. Children’s and young people’s opinions are highly valued by staff, who take every opportunity to provide a forum for children and young people to express their views and wishes. Children and young people have regular key work meeting residents’ meetings to share their views. Children’s and young people’s placement plans contain their views, clearly evidencing their input to their care plan. The manager and staff team have forged very effective working relationships with external colleagues and have advocated well on behalf of children and young people, positively contributing to their well-being. This includes obtaining additional support through Barnardo’s and the Tavistock clinic to meet children’s and young people’s needs. Children and young people have regular contact with their family and others who

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Good

they consider important to them. Relatives are able to visit the children’s home and children and young people regularly visit their family home during school holidays and at the weekends. This ensures that children and young people are able to maintain a sense of belonging within their families and promotes their sense of identity. Areas of the home are looking tired and worn. As a result, the environment does not promote a sense of feeling valued.

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Good

Children and young people are confident in approaching staff if they are worried or upset. Staff have a good knowledge of children’s and young people’s specific vulnerabilities and specify these in detailed risk assessments along with the actions that staff must take to mitigate risks. Children and young people are encouraged to take responsibility for themselves. Staff support them to complete ‘my life, my risk’ booklets to encourage children and 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 in the community, enabling them to take age-appropriate risks. All staff have undergone training in safeguarding children and young people. As a result, they are alert to any potential risks and actively engage with the children and young people to share and talk about their concerns. Staff use their knowledge and understanding of the child or young person, combined with their

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Good

safeguarding knowledge, to protect them from risk of abuse and report any concerns. The registered manager ensures that safeguarding concerns are reported to the designated officer and are investigated appropriately. Each child and young person now has an independent missing person protocol, advising of the individual preventative measures that staff must take for that child or young person. When a child or young person goes missing, staff proactively search for them to ensure their safe return. Staff follow children’s and young people’s individual protocol and report to the police and placing authority appropriately. The staff support children and young people by organising independent interviews for them upon their return to the home that assist with understanding why the incident of going missing from care occurred. Bullying is not currently an issue in this home. Children and young people are confident that they have people in the home to confide in should it become an

p.7

Good

issue for them. Children and young people receive consistent messages from staff, which are supported by close management oversight. Managers and staff monitor children’s and young people’s behaviour and review their strategies to ensure that they remain effective. Children and young people are given space to reflect on how their behaviour affects others. Staff support them to find ways of managing their frustrations in ways that are more constructive. As a result, there has been a reduction in incidents requiring a physical intervention. All physical intervention records are recorded appropriately and sanctions are fair and based on reparation to help children and young people understand the consequences of their actions. There have been no members of staff who are new to the organisation. Two staff members have transferred from other homes. The manager evaluated their recruitment files and is satisfied that they met safer recruitment standards to

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Good

protect children and young people. The home environment is a safe one, with regular health and safety checks carried out. However, fire evacuation drills have not been routinely carried out, which does not prepare children and young people should an emergency occur.

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Good

The registered manager has completed a level 5 qualification in Leadership for Health and Social Care and Children and Young People’s Services and has been in post since October 2013. She is committed to ensuring that the care that children and young people receive is of a good standard. The manager knows the children and young people well and is a strong advocate for them. She seeks external support to meet the needs of children and young people and ensures that other agencies provide the correct support to them. The manager has developed her monitoring tools and comprehensively evaluates all aspects of the service. As a result, she has a good oversight of the service and understands its strengths as well as areas for development. The manager audits all incident reports to identify patterns and review staff practice. This enables a prompt review of the strategies used to support children and young people to

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Good

make sure that they remain effective. The manager has also begun reviewing placement endings to establish any learning from these events and how the quality of care could be improved. Parents and professionals are routinely asked to provide feedback on the care that their child receives and how service could be developed. This provides the opportunity for children, young people and their families to contribute to the future planning of the home. The home’s development plan focuses on the care provided to children and young people. It demonstrates the manager’s analysis of the quality of care provided and includes feedback from others. The manager is considering how children and young people can become involved in the development plan and is committed to ensuring that this is implemented. The independent visitor’s monitoring visits take place within required timescales and involve children and young people. They are comprehensive and when

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Good

necessary make recommendations to support the manager in improving the service. The home’s workforce training strategy provides a good overview of the management and expectations for the staff. Staff are equipped with mandatory training and have completed specialist training in caring for particular needs. All staff who are required to have completed or are in the process of completing their Qualifications and Credit Framework level 3. Obtaining this qualification will ensure that staff have the skills required to care for children and young people. There is good-quality supervision and appraisals for staff provided by the manager. Supervision for the staff is held regularly. Staff performance is appraised and opportunities for advancement are made available. The staff survey demonstrates that a healthy staff environment is promoted and that the staff feel supported. The home’s statement of purpose outlines the aims and objectives of the

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Good

organisation. This means that placing authorities, parents and other stakeholders are clear on what this home intends to provide.

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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

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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