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

Inspection report children's home: SC467155 1 SC467155 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 privately owned home is run by a large provider. It is registered to care for up to four children with learning disabilities and focuses on caring for children with complex needs that may include autism spectrum disorder and associated difficulties. The home is located on the campus of the provider’s school, which all the children attend.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in September 2020.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 29 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 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

Date of last inspection: 23 January 2019

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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: SC467155 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2019 Full Good 26/02/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 05/07/2017 Full Good 15/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC467155 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress through their strong relationships with staff, some of whom have known the children for many years. The approach to care is consistent, and due to the established routines set by staff, children know what is expected of them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are fully engaged in education at the on-site school. There are strong links between the children’s home staff and education staff. Morning and afternoon meetings to share information help ensure that children have a consistent experience of care across both settings. The children approaching school leaving age have specific independence plans in place to enable them to live as independently as possible on reaching adulthood. Children enjoy a wide range of activities, making use of the local common and on-site facilities, and they are increasingly attending community activities as lockdown restrictions ease.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views and ideas are captured through spending time individually with staff. Staff use varied communication tools to ensure that children’s views are understood. Children are encouraged to make as many choices as possible about their day-to-day care, such as what food and drinks they would like and the activities they would like to do. Staff seek children’s views for important professional meetings about their care. Staff are strong advocates for the children they support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from spending time individually with staff exploring a variety of topics. Most sessions are planned, looking at areas such as personal hygiene and relationships. On occasion, they are reactive to the current needs of the child. When necessary, they involve the multi-disciplinary team from the home and school. This ensures that children get the help that they need to make progress and achieve to their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Healthy lifestyles are promoted. Staff promote a balanced diet, encouraging children to try new foods. The strong links with the emotional well-being teams at the school and in the community ensure children receive specialist help and good access to healthcare if they need it. Medications, including any reviews and changes to medication, are carefully considered to make sure that children stay safe and healthy. Medication is stored securely. Sound processes ensure safety when administering medication to children.

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

Children’s actions and demeanour show that they feel safe in their home. They are confident in their surroundings and go to staff if they are worried or upset. Staff are aware of each child’s specific vulnerabilities and respond effectively to these. Inspection report children's home: SC467155 4 Staff know how to respond and, if necessary, escalate concerns to external safeguarding professionals if they are worried for a child’s safety or welfare. Responses to safeguarding concerns are swift and comprehensive, including good joint working with partner agencies. However, despite some good practice in this area, in one instance when a safeguarding concern arose, the registered manager failed to put in place a suitable risk assessment for the member of staff involved to assess if it was safe for them continue working in the home. This potentially exposed children to further risk of harm.

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

Children are encouraged to express how they are feeling, and staff recognise behaviour as communication. Staff support children with inventive strategies to use when they are feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Physical intervention is used in the home as a last resort. Staff are skilled in recognising potential triggers that might lead to children becoming upset. They are often good at redirecting children at this point and this frequently prevents incidents from occurring. Incidents, when they do occur, are thoroughly analysed and there are clear debriefs for both children and staff. However, the registered manager does not always record challenges to staff about their approach in order to improve practice and consider how they may have prevented or de-escalated the situation sooner.

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

Children are protected from avoidable risk through robust pre-employment checks and safe recruitment practice. There are regular checks of health and safety inside the home, including of fire safety equipment. However, these checks have failed to lead to the prompt replacement of a bedroom door handle, or acknowledge the need to replace the frosting on the windows in the dining room. The latter issue has the potential to compromise the privacy of children in the home.

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good

The registered manager was unavailable during the inspection due to illness. The deputy manager, while knowledgeable in her areas of responsibility, does not have access to all the relevant information she requires to be in day-to-day charge of the home. The responsible individual was able to provide this information and is spending an increased amount of time in the home to ensure that there are suitable management arrangements in place.

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good

The outdoor area is due to be renovated in the coming weeks. At the time of this inspection, it was looking tired and unkempt. The summer house is in the process of being redecorated and will provide essential space for children to spend time away from the main home. Children talked excitedly about these plans and were looking forward to their new garden equipment.

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good

The managers in the home make good use of monitoring and oversight by the independent visitor, the responsible individual and their own weekly reviews. However, concerns that the language used by staff to describe children’s behaviour is at times not child focused and not helpful to children’s development or Inspection report children's home: SC467155 5 understanding were not addressed by the manager. The management monitoring systems also failed to pick up and address inaccurate information in children’s plans.

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good

Staff say they feel well supported by the home’s management team and that they can go to them with any concerns or ideas. They find their regular supervision to be supportive. Records show safeguarding, as well as staff development, is central to the discussion. Records do not always show the full date of the meeting. Inspection report children's home: SC467155 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is a clear risk assessment and safety plan in place following safeguarding concerns to ensure children are protected from harm. 13 August 2021

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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

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)(f)(h) 13 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC467155 7

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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, 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: SC467155 8

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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 W14 8UD

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Inspector

Jennie Christopher, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC467155 9 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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