Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in North Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1211772 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

The home provides accommodation for up to six children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a private provider.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered in August 2017. He has considerable experience of working in a residential setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 26 February 2019

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1211772 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/02/2019 Full Good 08/08/2017 Full Good 08/12/2016 Full Good 16/06/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: 1211772 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and young people are thriving and making excellent progress from their starting points. This is due to the individualised and consistent care they receive from an experienced staff team. There have been marked improvements in the behaviour of all of the children and young people. This is a result of bespoke support for each child and young person which is informed by a specialist team of psychologists. Children and young people are able to develop their self-confidence and self-esteem in a home where they have a sense of permanence and security.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children and young people have excellent relationships with staff which have allowed them to form safe and lasting attachments. Staff practice has a strong foundation in research and theory and informs their knowledge of the children and young people. In turn, this enables staff to communicate effectively with the children and young people, building trust and a sense of belonging. One young person said that she didn’t want to leave the home because of the staff and the help she gets from them, saying, ‘They go above and beyond.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff support the children and young people to maintain meaningful relationships with their parents, siblings and wider family members. Some children and young people have been able to share family time with parents and siblings at the home, reinforcing their sense of belonging and positive relationships with staff. Feedback received from another parent states that the home is offering exceptional care to their child. These positive connections give the children and young people emotional permission to invest in constructive relationships. This supports the children and young people’s engagement in therapeutic work, which they benefit from immensely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children and young people are making excellent progress either in school, college or their work placements. One young person is pursuing her A levels with a view to furthering her career options. Another young person is now consistently attending mainstream school after a period of being out of education. Young people have high aspirations for their futures as a result of the support and encouragement they receive from the staff and their own hard work.

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

Children and young people are kept safe by a culture of strong safeguarding practice in the home. The staff respond promptly to any concerns and look to reduce the risk of harm through effective multi-agency planning. This enables staff to work proactively to mitigate any risks to the children and young people. This starts with an effective admissions process where the manager ensures that the staff can meet the needs of the child or young person and assess any impact on all of the children and young people in the home. This includes the risks posed in the local area and the influence on staffing.

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

Some children and young people were involved in prolific missing from home episodes Inspection report children’s home: 1211772 4 prior to living at the home. As a result of the effective intervention and planning, incidents of children and young people going missing from the home have significantly reduced. Staff follow the necessary procedures and ensure that a return to home interview and key-working sessions are completed. This helps to better understand why children and young people have gone missing and where they go. Good working relationships and information sharing with the police enable risks to be reviewed in monthly area meetings. No children and young people are known to be at risk of sexual or criminal exploitation.

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

Staff use incentives effectively to encourage positive behaviour. The reward structure is individualised to link with the children and young people’s main goals. This supports the work completed in targeted sessions with their key workers and children and young people are then able to gain for rewards such as activities, treats and even owing a pet. This is effective in reinforcing positive engagement with the staff.

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

Key-working sessions are used effectively to educate children and young people about risks and making good choices. These are successful in raising the children and young people’s awareness of dangers and provide them with the knowledge and tools to make better decisions to help keep themselves safe. This has resulted in a reduction in incidents where children and young people are displaying harmful behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is passionate about what can be achieved by their staff team in helping children and young people to be happy and successful. He is highly effective in motivating his staff team to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and young people in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is a shared ambition for what children and young people can accomplish and the manager inspires a culture of learning and development. Training and continued professional development are encouraged and highly valued by staff who recognise the benefit for the children and young people. The stable staff team understand the importance of ensuring consistency of care for the children and young people who have experienced trauma. This promotes their ability to form secure and constant attachments, therefore improving their life chances.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has an exceptional knowledge of the children and young people and understands their needs extremely well. The use of evidence-based practice to meet those needs is a particular strength and is embedded by the staff team. Staff benefit from supervision which takes place regularly, is reflective and incorporates discussion about theory related to child centred practice. Sharing their knowledge of the children and young people and reflecting on incidents helps the staff team members to make improvements to their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has built excellent working relationships with other professionals as well as local residents and businesses. The feedback from other professionals has been extremely positive with one stating ‘[name] is the most effective children's home that I Inspection report children’s home: 1211772 5 have worked with’. The manager communicates effectively with neighbours to establish positive links and this challenges the community’s preconceptions of children and young people in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Comprehensive monitoring systems support the manager’s ability to maintain a full overview of the progress of children and young people and the quality of care provided to them. The quality of the record keeping adds to the oversight of day to day events in the home. This helps the manager to better understand the strengths of the home and areas for development. The manager has an ambitious vision for the future of the home informed by contemporary theory and research to help children and young people meet their potential.

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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: 1211772 6

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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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Inspector

Deb Duffy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1211772 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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