Children's home run by Aspris Children’s Service in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 1 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is one of a group run by a national organisation. The home provides care and support for up to five children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home specialises in offering care and support to children who display sexually harmful behaviours. Education is provided on site and a therapist visits the home on a weekly basis. The home was registered on 19 July 2016.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 23 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home provides good-quality care and the children make good progress.  Warm, caring relationships between the staff and the children create an environment which is child-focused.  The staff are experienced, knowledgeable and skilled in meeting the needs of those in their care.  Staff offer a wide variety of on-site and off-site activities to the children.  Parents and professionals report having positive, supportive relationships with staff.  Staff support children to learn key skills to develop and promote children’s independence skills.  Children are helped to transition into the home in a positive and planned way.  Staff work collaboratively with all parties, ensuring that plans in place for the children are robust, effective and safe.  Managers have effective and robust systems to monitor and evaluate the quality of care provided regularly.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff are skilled and knowledgeable and have good insight and understanding of each child’s individual needs. Children have positive relationships with staff, whom they trust. Children seek out known staff for interaction and support. The staff consistently support the children to learn and develop new skills. Children have made good progress from their initial starting points, although this can often be in small steps. All of the children have targets to work towards to promote the development of their self-help, personal and social skills. The manager and staff routinely review progress made and update targets as required. This has made a significant impact on one child, who is now able to recognise when his behaviour is deteriorating and has learned to walk away and to think about his actions and apologise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and deputy managers complete a thorough pre-admission assessment process to ensure that all appropriate information is considered. The managers work closely with parents and carers to gather information pertinent to the care planning process. Detailed plans and assessments provide practical advice and support to the staff to enable them to provide individualised care to each child. Regular review and updates ensure that the plans are current and identify needs. The children’s individual health needs are met well. Health plans, regimes and protocols are followed. This ensures that the children’s physical and emotional well-being is promoted. A child said about his weekly therapy sessions, ‘It’s really helping me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Mealtimes are a time for the children to eat together and with staff, who act as positive role models. The children have access to familiar favourite foods and menus are varied. The children are encouraged to try new foods and follow a healthy diet. The children assist with basic household chores and at mealtimes. This helps to develop their sense of belonging and independent skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are encouraged and supported to attend individualised educational provision, due to their age and learning differences, which is provided two days per week on site and the remainder off site. The children participate in music sessions, working on a farm where they can achieve an animal care qualification, and rally sport to gain Level one motoring qualifications. Children have achieved Level 2 in mathematics and English since moving into the home, which is an excellent achievement. Children make good progress academically and fully engage with the staff in the planning process.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home offers a wide variety of on-site and off-site activities. The facilities available on site are of a good standard and provide opportunities for all children to take part. A good example is all of the children playing a board game called ‘Bullies, Victims and Bystanders’, which they were praised for by staff. The children are carefully supervised when participating in off-site activities, which provide new and exciting experiences. Recently, the children have visited the Duxford Air Show, The London Motor Show and Legoland, which reflect some of the children’s favourite hobbies. These activities enable Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 4 the children to have fun and to help them to develop their skills and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Skilled, knowledgeable staff communicate with the children through observation, listening and good key-work meetings. This helps the children to express their views and make choices. The children have been involved in making decisions about aspects of the home, including decoration and themes of their bedrooms. The staff and the children share ideas and plans about how they would like to develop the home. For example, currently there is discussion between staff, children and senior management about the possibility of constructing a skate park and vegetable patch in the garden, which is vast. This provides the children with a sense of belonging and permanency and develops their self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful planning and preparation help the children to settle into the home. This includes, where possible, visiting the home and having overnight stays, before moving in. One child said of the day he moved in, ‘It was a nice settled atmosphere, the staff made me feel welcome.’ This strong focus makes sure that children are well ‘matched’ and helps the children to stay safe and develop good relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the children to explore and identify with their culture, ethnicity and religion. The children know how to complain and have advocates for further support. The staff offer activities that promote children’s opportunity to make choices and have their voice heard. Little touches, such as the ‘tooth fairy’ visiting, make a positive difference to the experiences and outcomes for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children benefit from living in a home that is comfortable, homely and spacious. The house is decorated and furnished to a very high standard. Its location and security measures in place provide a safe setting for the children to grow and thrive.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The home is innovative in the approach to teaching the children how to keep themselves safe. Each child receives one-to-one care, both in and outside the home. The high level of supervision and care means that the children can access activities that otherwise would have placed them at risk. This demonstrates the staff team’s exceptional commitment to the children’s safety.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Children present with behaviours that prevent them from living successfully at home or in the community, such as running away from home, engaging in challenging behaviour and criminal activity. The staff are excellent at helping the children to understand how, by making poor decisions or having unhealthy thoughts and feelings, they can put themselves and others at risk. The children learn how to identify and plan ahead for these situations, and how to implement strategies to interrupt these negative processes, by sharing with staff how they feel. By focusing on these behaviours, risks rapidly reduce.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The staff use the support of others to help children to learn about and to manage risk. A therapist meets with the children individually on a weekly basis, and holds regular clinical supervision with the manager and staff team. This has been a great success; both the Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 5 staff and children said how helpful and beneficial these sessions have been. This effective work with the children prevents the risks from becoming an actuality.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Practical measures are highly effective in protecting children. For example, staff actively search for the children if they go missing. Always seeking to improve the service, the manager has further strengthened safeguarding arrangements, for example, by securing a higher level of police involvement and cooperation. This demonstrates the willingness of the manager to go the extra mile and hold others respectfully to account. The children are safer as a result. This support encourages the children to take responsibility for their actions and with the strategies that they learn, they are able to protect themselves actively from harm, and as a result, incidents of going missing from home are small and incidents have reduced. The children say that they feel safe, and parents and professionals are in agreement with this view.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The children are enthusiastic about the ‘token scheme’ which, along with praise and immediate feedback, reinforces positive behaviour and sensible decision making. The children are rewarded often for their behaviour, accumulating tokens that can be exchanged for vouchers to purchase what they want. For example, one child showed such exceptional behaviour that all of the children went to the cinema to watch a film in 3D, and another child went on a trip to the museum with the tokens he had saved. The system requires the staff to be alert for the sometimes subtle changes in behaviour. The benefit of this is that staff are close to hand at all times and ready to respond to concerns if necessary. This provides reassurance to the children. There is no bullying in the home. Behaviour management is highly effective as a result; the staff have reduced the need to use sanctions or physical restraint.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A qualified manager manages the home effectively with the support and assistance of other senior staff. The manager has good understanding, knowledge and insight into the needs of the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular, effective monitoring provides a clear overview of all aspects of the home. Leaders and managers have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the provision and plans are in place to promote continuous improvement. The independent visits to the home have provided an additional layer of scrutiny. The independent visitor produces high-quality reports and offers rigorous challenge, which the registered manager welcomes. These reports and challenges help to drive improvement in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing levels meet the needs of the children. Most staff are suitably qualified and new staff are enrolled and working towards the level 3 diploma for residential childcare. The staff access a varied programme of training specific to their role. The manager facilitates additional workshops in key areas identified through monitoring and evaluation of practice. The staff access regular, effective supervision, both practical and clinical, and their performance is appraised at least annually. This improves the quality of care Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 6 provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has implemented the requirements and recommendations set at the last inspection. A new system is in place to ensure that each child has clear, identified targets. Regular review and monitoring of achievements promotes, supports and evidences the progress that the children make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have reviewed the use of the high level of supervision, both within and outside the home. Risk assessments identify and minimise risk and are updated when required. Regular, robust review and monitoring of records have provided clarity about weaknesses and strengths of approaches used and take into consideration the children’s therapeutic plans. The staff have reflected on their practice and on the impact that they have in situations. Their knowledge and practice have improved and developed through this robust scrutiny of records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have developed good, effective links with all professionals and good collaborative working between the home and the external services has a positive influence on plans and assessments. Parents and professionals report good, regular, supportive and effective communication with the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is up to date. It reflects the ethos of the home which aims to ensure that all of the children relax and enjoy their time at the home, through individualised care. It is apparent throughout, and especially in the approach and practice demonstrated by staff.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Priory Group, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Patricia Gregory

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Inspector

Cathy Russell, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1234621 8 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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