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

Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 1 SC407790 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 owned by a private company. Its statement of purpose specifies that it will provide care and accommodation for up to five young people, aged nine to 18, who have complex needs which may include autistic spectrum disorders and associated difficulties, such as learning disabilities, attachment disorder, Asperger syndrome, mental health problems and/or troubled family relationships.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since 2015.

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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 good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/01/2018 Full Good 07/03/2017 Full Good 07/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Regulation 7(1)(c)(2)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the questions asked are relevant, and include important subjects such as bullying and more detailed questions about feeling safe. 30/10/2018

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Recommendations

 The children’s guide should help children to understand:  what the day-to-day routines of the home are (‘what happens in the home’);  the Statement of Purpose of the home (the care they can expect to receive while living there);  how to make a complaint in line with the home’s complaints procedures;  how they can access advocacy support or independent advocacy if eligible; and  how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22) In particular, ensure that the contact details for helplines are correct.  The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 4 health and well-being to enhance, and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education(PHSE). Staff should have the

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Recommendations

relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well- being such as, but not limited to, nutrition, exercise, mental health, sexual health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Recommendations

In particular, develop more imaginative ways to discourage young people from smoking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care young people receive continues to improve. This can be seen through the progress young people make in improving their behaviour and the very good levels of school attendance they achieve. Their improved behaviours have resulted in a significant decrease in the number of untoward incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team creates a safe and welcoming home that enables the young people to develop, and to start on their journeys to adult life. The young people develop positive relationships of trust and respect with the staff. The home has been subject to careful internal redesigning and decoration. Communal space is now more open plan, ensuring that staff and young people spend time together. Each young person’s bedroom is personalised and reflects their individuality.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All current young people have placement contracts which confirm that they stay at the home between 38 and 44 weeks per year. During term time, they attend a company school located nearby. No young people were present during the inspection, because they had all finished school for the summer holidays and had returned to their family homes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people can learn, meet friends and have fun. The staff team has a good understanding of each young person’s likes and dislikes. There is a range of ways in which young people can voice their views, wishes and opinions; the staff take these seriously and act upon them. Questionnaires are given to the young people, so that the staff team can gain feedback from them. However, some questions are irrelevant, and the questionnaire lacks a focus on bullying and more detailed questions about feeling safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff sensitively support the young people to maintain and improve their relationships with their families. The staff develop a good rapport with young people’s parents and carers, and keep them fully informed. In addition, the staff work well with the young people’s placing authorities to ensure that the young people continue to make Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 5 progress, and that the local authorities provide support at the moving-on stage.

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

The staff team helps the young people to understand risk and how to stay safe, while allowing the young people to become independent and to take appropriate risks. This helps the young people to manage their behaviours and, over time, make the right choices.

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

The staff use key-worker sessions to help young people understand how to keep themselves safe. The staff are aware of the risks to young people in the local and wider community.

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

The staff team’s focus on providing high standards of care means that young people make good progress in changing negative behaviours. Individual risk assessments provide clear and sensible strategies to lessen the risks associated with known or presenting new behaviours. As a result, there have been very low numbers of incidents of going missing, restraint or serious incidents, and no safeguarding referrals in recent months.

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

The staff understand the risks that the use of the internet and social media may pose to the young people. The manager continues to develop strategies to keep the young people safe, and to support them in learning how to keep themselves safe. The home’s location risk assessment is detailed and shows the depth of knowledge the staff have about the surrounding area. Young people are verbally encouraged not to smoke. The staff act as good role models in this respect; however, there is inconsistency in the staff’s response to young people smoking, and a lack of imaginative ways of further encouraging young people beyond verbally telling them.

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

The young people are protected by careful recruitment procedures and regular monitoring of staff also prevents unsuitable people from being employed.

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

Robust and regular health and safety checks ensure that the physical environment of the home is safe and secure and protects young people from harm or the risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced, and continues to extend her management skills. She has a strong commitment to providing a high standard of care, improving outcomes for young people and developing her staff. She has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for improvement. An action plan gives good detail about areas she is focusing on with her staff team, including achieving more consistent monitoring, oversight and reviewing of records and practices. In addition, she has identified the need to improve the recording by staff of debriefs following incidents, and of the progress made by the young people. New and improved systems have been Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 6 introduced, but not all are fully embedded yet. The manager is being supported by a senior manager in implementing the home’s action plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows her staff team well. They are supportive of her and provide a range of experiences that they use positively in their roles. The manager supports her staff team, and is using competency testing to evaluate training, knowledge and day-to-day practice. The staff are strong advocates for the young people. They successfully advocate on young people’s behalf and challenge other agencies if they have not acted in the young people’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home meets its objectives as stated in the statement of purpose. It has a children’s guide that needs updating to correctly reflect helpline numbers, including the contact details of the regulatory body (Ofsted).

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the staff team are very suitably qualified to work in the home. Staff are extremely well supported through training and supervision, and are well informed and focused on their roles. The few staff vacancies that occur are quickly filled.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s and the staff’s commitment to the young people and their willingness to support each other have resulted in a strong team supporting the young people effectively.

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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 differences 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: SC407790 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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Inspector

Liz Driver: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC407790 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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