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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 1 SC465940 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 part of a large, private organisation. The home can provide care for up to seven children and young people with learning disabilities. There were two children living in the home at the time of inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 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 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: SC465940 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/07/2021 Full Good 16/10/2019 Full Good 29/10/2018 Full Good 30/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A stable staff team takes time to get to know the children it supports. Well-planned moves into and out of the home mean staff know how to support children well. Staff understand children’s needs and how these can impact on their day-to-day lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to share their views about their care and the home and staff act on these views accordingly. Staff plan outings for the children in line with their interests and children have lots of opportunities to pursue their hobbies and enjoy trips in the local area. Children enjoy taking care of the house rabbits and personalising their own rooms. Personal touches are evident throughout the home showing the children’s individual identity and personality.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has made significant progress since moving to the home. Their education has stabilised and they enjoy improved family relationships. However, despite every effort from leaders and managers, one child’s start at school has not happened as planned. As a result, the home is not able to offer care as part of an integrated package, supported by therapy and education. Leaders and managers recognise the challenge this created in meeting the child’s needs, and have been open with the child’s family about their ability to continue to provide care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support with their health needs. This includes reviewing medication and supporting reduction where appropriate. Staff encourage children to lead healthy lifestyles, and speak of the creativity they use to help children achieve this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager fosters close links with parents, making them an integral part of care planning. The manager recognises the importance of family relationships to children and focuses on improving these. Parents value the commitment of staff and share that communication is clear. One parent shared frustrations about the home being unable to achieve what was promised. The manager is open about concerns and maintains clear communication with the parent. The manager recognises that they don’t always get it right and is taking steps to address this.

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

One child says they feel safe in the home, and identifies key staff they would speak to if worried. Staff recognise the impact of the other child’s life experiences on their ability to feel safe. They take steps to help the child feel safe in the home in response to the child’s suggestions. Staff have regular conversations with children to help improve their safety. This includes conversations about how to be safe on social media. However, staff overly rely on parental decisions about what is suitable for children to watch in the home. This resulted in a child watching television programmes not appropriate for their age. Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 4 Staff understand the impact of the children’s needs on their perception of friendships. This means they remain alert to the potential of bullying in the home. Staff identify concerns as they arise and support the children to interact more

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

Staff identify safeguarding concerns promptly and timely investigations take place. The manager shares learning with all staff. Comprehensive management oversight tracks and monitors incidents for trends. The manager’s communication around incidents and safeguarding concerns is a strength. Clear communication leads to a robust and holistic response. The manager ensures that quick referrals and consultation is in place where needed. The manager’s oversight of incidents leads to the implementation of learning. For example, ‘de-stress’ walks were introduced to offer one child a safe and controlled way to meet their needs.

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

Permanent staff are recruited using safer recruitment processes. Improvements have been made in the recruitment of temporary staff, with more information now sought. However, the manager does not follow up when there are gaps in this documentation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An experienced manager leads the home, sharing her clear ethos and expectations of staff. The manager is aware of the home’s strengths and areas for improvement. The manager plays a central role in creating strong relationships with families and professionals. Through developing these strong relationships, the manager is able to develop a comprehensive overview of the child. This includes information about their life before moving to the home. One social worker shared that the communication is good, and the manager advocates strongly for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager effectively delegates responsibility throughout the home. Staff say they enjoy working in the home and feel supported by the manager. Staff receive the training needed for their role. This includes specific training based on individual children’s needs. Team meetings offer staff the chance to discuss practice in the home and identify areas for improvement. Child-focused meetings remain to be embedded. This means monitoring and tracking of the progress that children make is not yet fully in place. As such, clear targets are not always set or reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision from a consistent supervisor. These sessions explore staff welfare and practice concerns. However, they do not consistently offer staff the opportunity to reflect on their practice with children to enhance their learning. Up-to-date documents help staff to know how to care for children. However, care plans and risk assessments are lengthy and repeat the same information. Some of the language used in care plans and risk assessments is institutional and can lack clarity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff maintain a homely environment for children. They identify the difficulties one child has with keeping their bedroom clean and tidy and offer support with this. However, during the inspection staff spent much of their time in the office Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 5 completing paperwork, rather than being available for children elsewhere in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 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

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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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 (2)(a)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the quality of care is reviewed, including how children make progress. The registered person should also ensure they monitor and feed back to staff to improve practice, both in their day-to-day care of children and in the documents written about them. This includes offering staff opportunities for reflective supervision. 27 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children only access age-appropriate media content while living in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.21)  The registered person should ensure that they identify any gaps in the information sent by employment agencies and ensure that they are satisfied about the checks made for temporary staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.16) Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 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 for children’s home: SC465940 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: Michelle Garstang

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Inspector

Clare Nixson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC465940 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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