Children's Home run by Aspire Care and Education Services Ltd in Kent

Inspection report for children's home: 2654906 1 Registered provider: Aspire Care and Education Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home that provides care for up to nine children with learning difficulties. It is one of two homes operated by the same provider.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 17 January 2022

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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: 2654906 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2654906 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, eight children were living at the home. They have a range of complex needs, which are well understood and managed by staff. Children enjoy living in a high-quality and well-maintained home and have positive experiences. Staff build nurturing and responsive relationships with children. This has helped provide good levels of stability to children and supported them to make progress in different areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers provide well-planned care to children. When children move to the home, managers ensure that they have a good understanding of their needs. They use this understanding to consider how effectively children’s needs can be met by staff. Managers consider clearly the impact that a new child may have on children already living in the home, and vice versa. Information about children is then included in clear and individualised plans for their care. Good planning helps ensure that staff understand children’s needs well and respond to children in consistent ways.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise children’s education. They have developed close links with children’s schools. This ensures that everyone working with children understands their educational progress and when additional help may be needed. One child has not had a school placement for a significant period. Managers have worked closely with other professionals, appropriately challenging them when needed about the lack of provision for the child. Staff have ensured that the home education that is in place for the child is well supported and staff offer additional educational opportunities. This has helped the child make progress, despite not having a full-time education provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children have complex health needs. Staff work alongside health professionals to ensure that these are well managed. This has resulted in progress for children in relation to their health. One child has been admitted to hospital on a number of occasions because of significant health needs. Staff have ensured that the child has received prompt medical treatment and supported them while in hospital. However, managers have failed to notify these incidents to Ofsted. This impacts on Ofsted’s ability to understand the child’s level of risk and have effective oversight of how this is being managed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work with children to help them overcome specific challenges that they face. One child had a high level of anxiety around water. Staff developed and worked through a water desensitisation programme with the child. This was tailored to the child’s needs and involved introducing water to the child in fun ways. The child has now progressed to the point where they are able to be bathed without anxiety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with a wide range of experiences. Two children have recently had a day out in London, which was something they had not done before. Regular Inspection report for children's home: 2654906 4 trips out are well planned, and many are designed to encourage children’s social engagement. Staff help children celebrate different cultures and ensure their individual cultural needs are met.

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

Staff understand safeguarding procedures well and ensure that they are followed. A recent significant incident was well responded to by staff. They took swift action to ensure that children were kept safe and reported the concern to managers without delay. Managers worked closely with relevant professionals to ensure that information was fully shared and investigated. In addition, staff provided high levels of reassurance to the child involved. The social work manager and parent of the child involved said that managers were highly transparent in responding to the incident and they were confident that it had been managed well.

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

There are clear plans in place for staff to manage children’s behaviour. These focus on positive behaviour management and provide clear strategies for staff to follow. Staff manage any behavioural incidents in line with these plans and this helps children calm more quickly at times of distress, preventing incidents escalating further. Managers have good oversight of incidents. When they identify that staff could respond to children more appropriately, this is addressed in a supportive way which focuses on helping staff develop their practice.

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

Some incidents have required the use of physical intervention. These are rare and the majority of interventions are appropriate and used to keep children safe. Staff undertake work with children following incidents to help them understand why physical interventions were used, using communication methods suitable for the individual child. Managers provide effective oversight and their reviews demonstrate a good level of curiosity about why incidents occur and how they are responded to. However, for one incident, the records were not clear about the rationale for the intervention. On this occasion, the manager’s review failed to identify the reasons. This means it is difficult to understand how appropriate the use of the physical intervention was.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified. A home manager is also in post and plans to apply for registration to take over from the current manager. Managers have high aspirations for the care that is provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide a highly supportive environment for children and staff. Staff said that managers are available for support and advice when needed. When improvements are identified in relation to staff practice, managers support this through coaching and modelling of good practice. Supervisions help staff to develop their practice, as well as providing an environment to consider how effectively children’s needs are being met. Inspection report for children's home: 2654906 5 Managers help ensure that staff are provided with the skills and knowledge needed to undertake their roles. A clear and detailed induction programme supports new staff. A broad range of ongoing training is tailored to the specific needs of children living at the home. Staff said that training has given them additional skills, which has improved the care they provide to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have developed effective working relationships with external professionals and children’s families. There are clear systems in place to ensure effective communication. This ensures that all those involved in children’s care have a good understanding of the progress they are making and any concerns in relation to it. Managers also provide challenge to other professionals when it is felt that children are not receiving the services to which they are entitled.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have good monitoring systems in place. Regular progress reports are completed for all children, and this helps to identify when additional support is needed. Managers have used their monitoring to contribute to clear development plans. This helps ensure that managers are always striving to make improvements to the service. Inspection report for children's home: 2654906 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 registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any [other] incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that notifications are submitted in relation to any serious illness of a child. 1 May 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording, particularly in relation to the recording of incidents of restraint. (‘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, 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: 2654906 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspire Care and Education Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rift Accounting House, 160 Eureka Park, Upper Pemberton, Kennington, Ashford, Kent TN25 4AZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jonathan Deslandes

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Inspector

Joe Matkar-Cox, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2654906 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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