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

Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 1 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 children’s home is registered to care for up to three children or young people who have learning disabilities. Currently, one child and one young person are living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 25 June 2020.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/04/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a welcoming and supportive environment. Children enjoy positive relationships with staff. As one social worker described, staff tailor their approach to children rather than expecting them to fit into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s parents value the positive communication and supportive staff team in the home. Staff support children to spent positive time with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s individual needs. They encourage and support children to set meaningful targets. This supports achievement and progress in education attendance and developing skills for adulthood. In particular, staff help children to develop their sense of self. Parents recognise the positive aspects of the care children receive but told the inspector they would like attendance at college to improve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend meetings about themselves, taking an interest in their own lives. One child is able to contribute to their medication reviews. Careful planning takes place to support children when they are ready to leave the home. Staff work closely with new providers to create bespoke transition periods. This provides children with continuity and stability as they move on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage healthy eating and exercise within the home. One child requires particular support to develop a healthy lifestyle. The manager is working with the social worker to identify appropriate support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate children’s achievements in the form of positive postcards sent to them. However, staff do not record the detail of days out or leisure activities. This means they do not fully capture memories of children’s time in the home. Children’s access to the wider community has been impacted by COVID-19. Staff identify this and tailor children’s targets to try and build confidence now community access is more readily available.

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improvement to be good

Children feel safe living in the home and are able to speak about their worries with staff. Staff help children understand how to be safe in the home and the community. Risk assessments are comprehensive. Staff check one child’s understanding of their self-harm risk assessment. This ensures that they keep the child safe.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour support plans are detailed and show how well staff know children. The plans clearly identify how staff should support children. As a result, the home is calm and behaviour is well managed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 4 On two occasions, staff did not follow the home’s procedures for reporting safeguarding concerns. As a result, management oversight of the incidents was delayed. For one incident, there was a delay in reporting an allegation to safeguarding authorities. The manager has used team meetings to review safeguarding procedures with the staff group. However, this remains to be embedded.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment processes are comprehensive, following safer recruitment guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a suitably qualified manager who is passionate about providing good support to children. The manager’s enthusiasm fills the home, creating a positive environment. Staff enjoy working in the home and feel supported. The manager reports some challenges in respect of staff vacancies. However, the manager ensures that children always have someone they know working with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Strong multi-agency relationships underpin working in the home. Leaders and managers attend meetings about children and encourage children to do so, too. The manager raised a formal complaint in relation to education concerns for one child. This has resulted in improved communication between the education provider and the home, to help the child achieve at college.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that staff maintain clear records of care in the home. Clear processes are in place for staff to read documents. However, not all documents contain details about who has written it, or the date of the document. This means staff cannot know if these documents are current.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision which supports their development. Supervision focuses on children and safeguarding, using scenario-based discussion where needed. Staff receive the training they need to undertake the role. However, the manager does not have this maintained in a central record. As such, she cannot easily monitor staff training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers undertook learning from a previous poor matching experience. They participated in multi-agency meetings when the child had moved to share knowledge and experience. This helped professionals to achieve the best outcomes for that child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 5

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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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff are familiar with the policies in the home, and are able to follow them consistently. 10 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all documents make it clear who has written them and on what date. 24 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that services are in place to support staff to have the knowledge they need to support children’s health needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10) Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 6  The registered person should ensure that clear training records are maintained to demonstrate what training has been completed by staff and to allow monitoring of this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that information and memories are captured to ensure that a picture of the child’s life is built throughout their time in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: 2535166 7

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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: Michelle Garstang

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Inspector

Clare Nixson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2535166 8 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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