Children's Home run by Aspireone Care Ltd in Staffordshire

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:

 Staff work in partnership with specialist agencies, such as police teams, to make sure that they identify and manage young people’s risks. This promotes young people’s safety.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Young people benefit from working with an experienced, skilled and stable staff team that provides consistent care and support.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Staff complete bespoke training courses that reflect young people’s individual needs. This supports young people’s development.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The registered manager supports reflective learning in the home to enable staff to review events and continually evaluate their practice.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Young people have good relationships with staff. These enhance their feelings of safety and security and enable them to make good progress in the home.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The registered manager works in partnership with the placing authorities and other professionals. This means that young people receive integrated care and support.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 There are some areas for improvement. These include staff recording young people’s views about the quality of care they receive, staff personalising one-to-one sessions to reflect the aims and objectives of the placing authorities and managers revising internal monitoring systems and reports.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6. The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard the registered person must ensure that staff – (2)(b)

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Requirement Due date

(iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. 27/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

7. The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard the registered person must ensure that staff – (2)(a)

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Requirement Due date

(ii) help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; and

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Requirement Due date

(iv) regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. 27/01/2017

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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 that a record of supervision is kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person is responsible for deciding what each quality of care review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as going missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the quality standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care that will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next six months of

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Recommendations

delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to two children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private company owns and operates this home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 02/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/07/2015 Full Good 13/01/2015 Full Good 19/08/2014 Interim Not judged

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Good

Young people receive good-quality care and support. This enhances their day-to- day experience. Staff work in partnership with a range of other agencies, including the placing authorities, education providers and specialist police and safeguarding teams. These integrated working arrangements mean that staff are able to meet young people’s complex and often challenging needs.

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Good

Staff liaise regularly with allocated social workers and other professionals to make sure that statutory care plans and placement plans clearly reflect young people’s abilities, vulnerabilities and risks. These plans define the aims and objectives of the placement and provide a focus for young people’s progress. The registered managers and other senior staff use these statutory plans as the basis for developing internal support plans. Staff use these internal records to track young people’s progress and celebrate their achievements. They complete this work through one-to-one key-work sessions with young people. However, for some young people, these sessions lack sufficient detail. Sessions do not always include the depth of discussion needed to encourage young people to reflect on their backgrounds and historical experiences. This has the potential to hinder young people’s progress and detracts from the personalised care that they usually receive.

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Good

Relationships between young people and staff are positive. Young people say that they feel that staff ‘really care’ about them. One young person said, ‘It can feel like living with your own family because the staff are like proper parents.’ However, staff do not use these positive relationships to encourage young people to express their views and wishes in relation to their own care plans or the wider development of the service. This is a missed opportunity to consult effectively with young people.

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Good

Staff work in partnership with allocated school placements and education professionals to support young people’s school attendance and achievements. When young people do not have school placements or when they have been permanently excluded, the registered manager liaises with both the host local authority and the placing local authority. These actions mean that any potential disruption to young people’s learning is minimised. This is because the registered manager coordinates education services to challenge the barriers to education and learning faced by some young people. The organisation commissions bespoke therapeutic support, such as art therapy sessions, to promote young people’s emotional and psychological development. Assigned therapists tailor their sessions to reflect young people’s individual needs and circumstances. These sessions help young people to express their thoughts and feelings and build their self-esteem and confidence.

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Good

Staff work with families to help young people to maintain relationships with people who are important to them. They provide practical and emotional support to make sure that young people benefit from regular contact, when appropriate. This means that young people are not isolated from their families.

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Good

Staff encourage young people to learn the independent living skills that they need as they move towards adulthood or to residing in semi-independent accommodation. Regular review meetings and discussions with allocated social workers enable staff to assess young people’s progress. This supportive and structured approach increases the likely success of young people’s move to independence.

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Good

Partnership working arrangements between staff, allocated police officers and multi-agency safeguarding teams are effective. When young people’s behaviours place them at a significant or an increased risk of harm, staff liaise daily with these agencies. If young people continually go missing from the home, the registered manager coordinates strategy meetings to investigate the possible backgrounds to these episodes and to highlight the actions required by all parties to keep young people safe. For example, specialist agencies complete detailed risk assessments to consider all presenting factors that suggest that a young person may be a victim of child sexual exploitation. Although there has been an increase in young people going missing from the home since the last inspection, the steps taken by the registered manager mean that young people’s safety remains the focus of the home.

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Good

Staff have a good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and of child protection referral processes. Young people’s safety and security is a priority in the home and the focus of all daily routines. Staff complete training in physical restraint although the use of this measure of control is rare. This is because staff have positive relationships with young people and they instil clear and consistent boundaries that support young people’s development. Staff use personalised rewards and incentives to encourage young people to take responsibility for their own actions and manage their own behaviours. When it is necessary for young people to receive sanctions for negative behaviours, these sanctions are restorative in nature. This enables the young people to reflect on the impact their actions have on their own development and on the safety of others.

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Good

Young people say they feel safe in the home because they understand how to raise any concerns that they have. One young person said, ‘I’ve never needed to make a complaint but I know how to do it. The staff always listen to what I have to say and if I wasn’t happy I’d just speak up and staff would sort it out.’ This transparent approach to addressing young people’s concerns promotes their safety.

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Good

Recruitment processes are effective. Managers verify all employee references and previous employment details for staff and all staff are subject to disclosure and barring service checks. This means that young people work with safe adults and this promotes their welfare and well-being.

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Good

Staff complete health and safety and fire safety checks to make sure that the environment is safe and free from hazards. These procedures protect young people from harm because they mean that the young people reside in a well maintained home.

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Good

The current manager registered with Ofsted in August 2014. She has suitable experience, skills and qualifications for this role, including the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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Good

Young people make good progress in this placement because meeting their needs is the focus of the home. The registered manager makes sure that staff are able to access effective support, formal training and reflective supervision. This priority is central to the culture and ethos of the home. The registered manager understands that young people thrive when they receive support from staff who have the skills, experience and abilities to meet their needs. All eligible staff have gained the necessary qualifications required to work with young people. However, some supervising managers do not produce records of formal supervision in a timely manner. This shortfall means that not all staff can continually review their own performance.

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Good

The statement of purpose for the home provides the placing authorities and other professionals with a detailed description of the aims and objectives of the service. Feedback from other agencies is extremely positive. One social worker said, ‘The home does exactly what it says it will. The communication is excellent and the managers and staff are very professional.’ When the registered manager believes that other professionals are failing in their support of the young people, she effectively challenges these shortfalls, holding them accountable for their inactions. Young people benefit from comprehensive care and support because professional work in partnership with each other.

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Good

The registered manager uses a range of monitoring tools and systems to review the care provided by the service. However, these systems do not allow the registered manager to use her professional judgement to decide which quality standards require review. This is because monitoring documents are not reflective of the specific circumstances of the home. As a result, the impact that the quality of care provided by the service has on young people’s development and progress is not sufficiently analysed. This potentially hinders the capacity for the service to improve continually.

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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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