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

Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 1 SC407783 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a national, private organisation and provides accommodation linked to an education provision. It provides care and accommodation for up to five children with complex needs, which may include autism spectrum disorder and associated difficulties, such as learning disabilities, attachment disorders and mental health concerns.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC407783 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2020 Full Good 15/08/2018 Full Good 21/11/2017 Full Good 30/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress and sustain this because of their positive relationships with staff. Children learn social skills and develop their relationships through practising these with their peers. Children have developed friendships, sometimes for the first time, through living in the home and accessing the organisation’s schools.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school regularly. This is a major achievement for those children who previously had faced significant barriers to learning. Joint working with school staff provides consistency for children across the two settings. Twice-daily handovers ensure that staff are aware of how the child is feeling that day, and enable children’s successes to be shared across the teams supporting them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to engage in rewarding activities outside formal education. During COVID-19 restrictions, staff have supported children to try new activities in the home and make greater use of the local parks. Some children are requesting more independent time in the community and this is now being implemented with careful consideration and input from partner agencies. Personal skills and independence workbooks were started with children before Christmas 2020, but the use of these has stalled. The booklets are not individualised to children’s needs. The home’s manager will consider how best to utilise and develop what is currently in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well, including individual information such as who makes up their family, the music they listen to, and whether they identify with a specific fashion or group. However, children’s culture and identity are not reflected clearly in their plans. Their plans do not extend beyond their ethnicity and religion. Additionally, there are gaps in specific personal care needs related to children’s hair or skin, for example.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to follow healthy lifestyles and they understand what this means for them. There are good links with emotional well-being practitioners to support children. Plans identify that children must hand in cigarette lighters if they smoke. However, they do not set out whether children need to hand in other smoking paraphernalia, or who purchases their tobacco products. Further, the plans do not identify what systems are in place to reduce smoking.

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

Children have formed strong bonds with the staff who care for them. Relationships are continually developing, and staff adapt their approach to the care they provide as they understand more about children’s needs. Children say that they have staff they can go to if they are worried or upset, as well as staff they can talk to about general matters or go out on activities with. Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 4 Some children in the home have been exploited and continue to be at significant risk of exploitation when they go missing from the home. Positively, there has been a significant reduction in children going missing over recent months. Staff know how to respond should a child go missing and there is strong liaison with local specialist police teams and targeted support services for these children. However, referrals to specialist services have not been followed up to support children with a history of

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

Staff are beginning to have a greater understanding of children’s behaviour as a form of communication. During the inspection, staff were observed helping children to express how they were feeling and explaining to them how a situation could be remedied. Staff are able to reflect and consider factors that may trigger or influence children’s behaviours, including historical patterns of emotional responses for the child. Children say that they feel listened to and that staff are interested in what was happening for them.

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

Regular testing of the fire-alarm systems and evacuations, alongside regular checks of the home and environment, are effective in mitigating avoidable risk to children. Any damage to the fabric of the home is swiftly repaired.

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good

The home is currently without a registered manager. A new manager came into post at the beginning of May 2021; they are not yet registered with Ofsted.

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good

The new manager has been working alongside staff to consider ways to develop the approach to care for children. Staff say that the manager listens to their ideas and consults them on any planned changes. One area for improvement is in adapting the language used in reports, which at times has been blaming of the child. This remains a work in progress, but staff are becoming more aware of the impact of words they use.

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good

The staff team has continued to benefit from training during the COVID-19 restrictions and staff say that they receive the training they need to meet children’s needs. Staff feel that they are supported by the management team. However, they are concerned by the departure of two managers and a deputy manager in the last two years. The responsible individual has provided a level of stability during this time, but the constant change in approach has taken its toll.

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good

Staff are confident about the processes they should follow should they be concerned for a child’s safety or welfare, including how to report to external agencies. Safer recruitment is followed when considering new staff for the home, and records of checks are clear. Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 5 The home’s manager is building on systems already in place to review the quality of care provided and the information contained in plans and reports. She is working with staff to tailor children’s individual work sessions. Where staff have historically been reactive to children’s issues or behavioural concerns, the manager is working with staff to be proactive in their discussions and work with children. Development plans are ambitious and set out clearly how most actions are to be met. However, they require further review to ensure that there is appropriate focus on the developments and aspirations for the coming year.

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good

Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 6

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(iv)(vi)) 18 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to— 18 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 7 understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)(h)) 18 June 2021

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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, Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 8 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: SC407783 9

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

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Inspector

Jennie Christopher, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC407783 10 to 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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