Children's Home, Residential special school run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC391860 1 SC391860 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 privately owned home offers accommodation and support for up to 14 children with learning disabilities. The registered manager has completed a level 4 qualification in care and management.

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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 outstanding

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC391860 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/09/2017 Full Good 05/06/2017 Full Inadequate 27/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC391860 3

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that they are aware of the escalation procedures for all placing local authorities and should escalate any concerns about delays to the provision of information or plans for children moving on from the home in line with these procedures and the home’s best practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 11.9)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop strong relationships with children. They know them well and are passionate about their care. Parents and professionals are complimentary about the care children receive. Staff work closely with parents to ensure that children benefit from coordinated care. This collaborative approach helps children to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager has introduced new, individualised plans to capture children’s progress. This enables staff to capture small, yet significant progress for each child. This boosts children’s self-esteem and helps motivate them to do well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend the on-site school and make good progress with their learning. Liaison between teachers and staff is seamless, offering children consistent care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home proactively seeks advice and guidance from external health professionals when required. Staff support children well, and children maintain good health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a range of creative communication aids to help children express their views. The innovative registered manager introduces new ideas, such as ‘special events meetings’ and the ‘You ask, we did’ books. She worked closely with a speech and language service to improve the range of pictorial aids in the home. This highly individualised approach provides children with a voice and ownership of their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children are well prepared for their futures. Staff liaise closely with a range of agencies to prepare children for their next move. However, one child’s transition from the home was considerably delayed. The registered manager and staff did not fully escalate their concerns beyond the child’s social worker. This was a missed opportunity, which could have ensured that the child moved on in a timelier fashion. In addition, the child did not have a pathway plan on file. Inspection report children’s home: SC391860 4

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

Risk assessments and behaviour management plans are detailed and in line with children’s needs. They provide staff with clear guidance about how to manage risk. A well-resourced and knowledgeable staff team provides children with a high level of supervision to keep them safe.

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

Children can present with complex and highly challenging behaviours. Staff rely on their in-depth knowledge of children to skilfully de-escalate difficult situations. They use innovative, individualised approaches to help children manage and learn from challenging incidents. As a result, such incidents are reducing over time.

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

The registered manager provides swift and robust responses when concerns about children’s welfare arise. She works closely with key safeguarding agencies to ensure that investigations are transparent and handled fairly. Investigation records are detailed and contain clear outcomes. When necessary, the registered manager uses learning from investigations to improve staff practice.

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

Staff carefully consider each child’s vulnerabilities when planning activities. They appropriately match children with their peers and plan adequate staffing ratios to keep children safe when they are out in the community. This allows children to enjoy new experiences with their peers in a safe and managed environment.

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

Administration and management of medication are safe. The deputy manager takes lead responsibility for medication procedures. She undertakes regular audits and checks records daily. All medications are safely locked away. A local pharmacist provides additional oversight and expertise of medication procedures. These robust procedures mean that medication errors do not occur, and children’s health needs are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager commenced her role after the last inspection. She has worked hard to address the shortfalls identified at the previous inspection. The registered manager is supported by an experienced deputy manager. Together, their tenacity, enthusiasm and innovation inspire staff to offer children highly individualised care. Staff feel reinvigorated by this ethos. A staff member told the inspector, ‘Morale is much better. We know the manager is going to be there for us. It feels like a team. Communication is so much better. I feel that the children are happier as they can sense that staff are happy.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are passionate about children in their care. They continually reflect on children’s progress and use staff meetings to effectively challenge and develop their practice. The registered manager and staff introduce new ideas to improve the quality of care children receive. This includes a new sensory area and audio and visual books to help children understand and express their feelings and emotions. As a result, children make good progress with their communication and feel increasingly settled and calm. Inspection report children’s home: SC391860 5 Staff benefit from a healthy learning environment. Discussions in supervisions and staff meetings strike a healthy balance between effective challenge and support. Training programmes mirror children’s individual, and often complex, health needs. The registered manager provides staff with additional in-house training to enhance their knowledge and skills. For example, recent training focused on improving children’s

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

interaction with staff and peers while other staff take a specialist role in the use of Lego therapy. These innovative and creative ideas improve the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager uses a range of internal audits to monitor children’s progress. These help her to identify strengths and areas of development. The registered manager closely scrutinises patterns of behaviour and evaluates these to improve the quality of care children receive. The deputy manager also undertakes regular observations of staff and children and uses learning to develop practice. These strong monitoring systems mean that the quality of children’s care is continually evolving and improving.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Partnership working between the home and external agencies is good. This coordinated approach helps young people to make good progress. The registered manager’s proactive and passionate approach ensures that children receive the support they need. For example, she regularly initiates multi-agency meetings when concerns persist about children’s behaviour. Feedback from professionals is highly complimentary. A social worker told the inspector, ‘The care staff offer is fantastic. Their communication with me is great. Staff use lots of new ideas to help him [the child]. I cannot fault them.’

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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: SC391860 6

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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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: Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Katherine Bridon

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Inspectors

Gareth Leckey, social care inspector Karol Keenan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC391860 7 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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