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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 1 SC481221 Registered provider: Aspris Children’s 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 private company and is registered for up to five children who have experienced neglect, abuse or trauma that has left them vulnerable.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 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: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/07/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home. One of the children moved into the home in April 2022. Although the child was not informed of the move until the day before, he said that staff were friendly and that he felt welcomed and comfortable when he arrived.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child moved on from the home in April 2022. The move for her was well planned and positive. The child, who wanted to be closer to her family, was involved in the planning. As a result, she felt supported and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to attend health appointments and encourage them to access support for their emotional well-being. Children are provided with information for services that they can contact confidentially to seek help.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to access support to understand their gender identity. One child is being helped to find a local group in which he can share his experiences with his peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. Staff know the children well and spend time with them to build trust and support their well-being. Both children spoke about liking the staff and feeling comfortable to speak with them about their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to complain, and staff support them to contact their social worker and independent reviewing officer. Direct work with children helps them to understand the role of professionals who are involved in their care. As a result, children can share their views and build trusting relationships with professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take part in activities that they enjoy. One child goes horse riding and to cadets. The other child likes to go to the beach and to play games, and has planned to ride a camel. Children are encouraged to spend time with and do care tasks for the sheep and pigs at the home. These activities support children to be active and provide them with learning opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their families. One child’s relationship with her parent has improved and she is looking forward to spending time with them soon. Another child is being supported to see their parent at the home. This helps children to develop their sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to develop their independence skills by doing tasks around the home. One child said that she uses the washing machine, cooks and helps staff to clean the bathrooms. This provides children with the skills that they need to live independently in adulthood. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 4 The house is comfortable and homely. One child has a pet rabbit. There are photos of children and staff displayed in the home. This helps the children to feel that they belong, and that the house is their home. However, the garden area is overgrown, and the windows are dusty. The manager is in the process of recruiting a gardener.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child receives education at the home and has opportunities to learn informally. She engages positively in her education. The other child’s education plan is for him to access education through a tutor. Staff have been unsuccessful in supporting the child to participate in education. Opportunities to learn informally have not been provided to the child. Consequently, he is not making progress towards achieving his educational potential.

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

Children are protected and feel safe. Staff know and understand the risks for children and respond to them appropriately. Staff work with children positively to reduce self-harm by including children in their care planning and risk assessments. As a result, incidents of self-harm have reduced. There have not been any incidents of children going missing from home since the last inspection.

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

Risks for children who move to the home are considered and impact risk assessments are completed. However, some risk assessments do not include all actions staff should take in response to specific behaviours. This means that information could be missed.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and whistle-blowing. Staff spoke confidently about the actions to take if they are concerned for the welfare of the children.

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

Staff help children to develop positive relationships. During the inspection, the children were observed to spend time together, support each other and interact well. There have not been any incidents of bullying between the children. As a result, the children are safe and feel comfortable at the home.

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

Staff have good relationships with the police, who recently ran a workshop with staff about children going missing from home. A missing-from-home protocol is now in place for one child and information for the other child is being shared with the police.

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

Staff know the children well and have a good understanding of their needs. Support for children is good. Staff implement boundaries and expectations to help children to manage their behaviours. However, children do not have behaviour-management plans as set out in the home’s behaviour-management policy.

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

Staff have worked with one child to implement boundaries around vaping at the home. However, there is no plan to support the child to reduce his nicotine intake. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has undertaken training to develop her skills when challenging staff. She implements appropriate development plans for staff to improve their practice and help them to understand their roles. As a result, staff morale has improved and staff feel listened to and supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they feel supported by managers. Staff have regular supervision in which they can discuss the needs of the children, their professional development and any concerns that they have.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they are confident in their manager’s experience and knowledge, and her guidance on the care and well-being of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring provides effective oversight of practice and care. The manager spoke about improving experiences for children by learning from the independent person’s reports.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that children have access to their records and work with staff to develop their individual risk assessments. One child said that she sat with the manager and they completed her risk assessment together. The child said, ‘I know what helps me to feel safe, so I should be involved.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers recognise children’s progress and identify areas in which care for children should improve. The plans for children are generally clear, although information for one child who requires support with his personal care and to cease his nicotine intake has not been recorded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is reviewed by the manager and the responsible individual; however, it is not shared with Ofsted on time. This prevents Ofsted from monitoring the home effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)) 10 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(b)) 10 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home. (Regulation 35 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that behaviour-management plans are in place for the children as set out in the behaviour- management policy. 10 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should provide a nurturing and homely environment. In particular, ensure that the garden areas are well maintained and that windows are cleaned. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 7  The registered person should ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to help children to understand the dangers of smoking, including helping them to stop. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  The registered person should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements to protect them. In particular, ensure that all risk- management arrangements are recorded, and that risks arising from children moving into the home are fully considered. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should support staff to be ambitious for every child at the home and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential. In particular, ensure that staff access training to meet children’s needs and ensure that care plans are updated to reflect children’s needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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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 for children’s home: SC481221 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspris Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Forge, Church Street West, Woking, Surrey GU21 6HT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Victoria Wallace

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Inspector

Laraine Edmondson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 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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