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

Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 1 SC408655 Registered provider: The Priory Group

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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 children’s home is operated by a large national provider. It provides accommodation and support for up to seven children who may have a learning difficulty and/or autism spectrum disorder. The home has had no registered manager since 19 March 2018.

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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: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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good

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 9 August 2018. At that time, three compliance notices were issued. At the monitoring visit on 11 October 2018, the compliance notices were judged as met. Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/08/2018 Full Inadequate 04/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 31/08/2016 Full Good 10/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 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— keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document. (Regulation 7 (2)(c)) 31/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 31/01/2019

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Recommendations

 Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11). In particular, the registered person should ensure that feedback is given to children regarding the results of investigations into allegations, or that they record reasons why feedback should not be given.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with the staff, who help them to develop their interests and learn through play. One young person is fascinated by different languages and countries. Staff organise regular cultural evenings to reinforce this interest. In addition, trying foods from other cultures has made small, but significant, improvements to his diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Direct work with children is meaningful and includes important topics also discussed at Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 4 weekly meetings with the children. Staff teach children about a range of issues such as stranger danger, internet safety and healthy eating. Informative leaflets and quizzes, used to check the children’s understanding, make these sessions fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is a high priority; the children have 100% attendance at school. Any issues are dealt with swiftly and efficiently. Good liaison between the home and school enhances the continued learning approach. Home staff and teaching staff ensure good communication, through handovers, daily contact and regular meetings. This integrated working helps children to benefit from the educational opportunities offered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met, and they take them to routine appointments and medical checks as needed. Children access the therapeutic support they need, through the organisation’s therapists, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and educational psychology. Good links help staff to use strategies that are successful in the school setting in the home. Staff use visual timetables and communication aids to help one young person to manage the evening routine. As a result, his behaviour has much improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children become more independent because of life skills work which assesses all aspects of children’s lives and determines how they can achieve progress in all the important areas. A baseline assessment is completed to provide evidence to the children, their parents and professionals about how much they have learned and areas that need a different approach.

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

Safeguarding is a priority in this home. The manager instigated roleplay exercises using safeguarding scenarios and informed the staff about their areas of strength and any areas of weakness. This has enhanced the staff’s ability to keep children safe. Quiz cards, held in the office for staff to test themselves, further reiterate the importance of safeguarding issues.

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

High staff ratios mean that the children receive the level of attention and support that they need. They do not go missing from the home. Staff know what to do if this were to happen. Staff carry identity cards and children’s ‘grab and go’ missing profiles with them when they go out into the community. These missing profiles are readily accessible with the essential information needed if the child did go missing.

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

Positive messages, rather than sanctions, have been effective in changing the ethos and atmosphere in the home. A reward system encourages good behaviour; this is divided up between a weekly reward and rewards after 20 instances of positive behaviour. This helps the children to improve their self-care and social skills.

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

The number of physical interventions has significantly decreased. Effective de-escalation techniques are used by staff who know the children well. The environment has improved, and the atmosphere is homely. This has had a positive effect on the staff’s and children’s morale. Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 5 Staff ensure that the children have safe access to social media. They teach them to manage their use of mobile phones safely. Staff have worked with one young person to agree safety measures at his own pace.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recently appointed manager is a strong leader who leads the staff efficiently and has brought about significant improvements. She is greatly appreciated by the staff. All staff spoken with were highly complimentary about the changes she has implemented, and the high level of support for them and the children. She works closely with the deputy manager to create a strong leadership team. The responsible individual has been an important, regular presence in the home to support the transition period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings and supervisions are used to test the staff’s safeguarding knowledge and ensure that all staff can contribute to the improvements being made. Staff are motivated to offer a high standard of care for children. These meetings reinforce the senior staff’s vision for the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strength of the home is the comprehensive care plans, which are written in consultation with the children. They are involved in the decisions made about them and are able to have their say. Initiatives, such as a box for children to put any ‘mumbles or grumbles’ in, help them to express their views privately. Any issues are dealt with and actions reported back to children. However, in one case where it was not appropriate for a young person to be told about the outcome of an allegation, the reason was not recorded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is in place and has been reviewed to reflect a change of circumstances. However, this has not been sent to Ofsted. The children’s guide has recently been reviewed. However, the children were not consulted prior to this review. This was a missed opportunity to include them in the design of this document.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a strong ethos of teaching children to express their views. The complaints system is explained to children and reinforced during children’s meetings, in discussions with staff and in posters around the home.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 6 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC408655 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Priory Education Services Limited, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector(s)

Suzy Lemmy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC408655 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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