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

The home is run by a private provider and provides care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties. The purpose of the home is to provide short-term crisis placements.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 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: good

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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

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

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is comfortable and well equipped. It is set in substantial grounds where there are animals including goats, chickens and ducks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children trust the staff and form meaningful relationships with them. Children say they feel safe and well cared for. They say they can ask for support and advice when needed and that staff are responsive to their needs. Relationships between children and staff are mutually respectful and they enjoy spending time together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support children to access a range of meaningful social activities. Activities include visits to local attractions, swimming and walks. Staff help children to care for the animals who live on the land owned by the home. Staff have supported one child to complete an application to join the police cadets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with good support when they move in or out of the home. Careful care planning takes place to ensure that the children’s needs are understood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their families. Families visit children at the home. One parent said that this made them feel involved in their child’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children rarely go missing from the home. One child who previously had frequent high-risk missing-from-care episodes has not been missing since moving to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child now attends school regularly and is sitting their exams this summer. The child’s social worker described this as ‘unbelievable’ progress. However, another child is not in education and there is no clear plan in place to guide staff to support the child with their education.

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

Staff have a clear understanding of children and their individual needs. Staff have been effective in reducing risks for children, particularly in relation to exploitation and going missing from care.

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

Children who self-harm receive good support and are kept safe by staff. Staff respond to incidents with sensitivity.

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

Staff support and encourage children to express their feelings and emotions safely. Staff understand the circumstances and situations in which children might become Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 4 upset and distressed. Staff respond well to children’s needs and de-escalate situations. Therefore, there have been very few incidents of physical intervention.

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

Children are protected from the risks of exploitation. Safeguarding referrals are made when exploitation risks are identified. Staff spend dedicated time talking to children about these risks.

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

When staff need to impose restrictions on children’s freedoms, these restrictions are proportionate to the risk. However, plans are not consistently clear about what children need to do to work towards these restrictions being lifted or when they will be reviewed. Consequently, children do not always understand the specific targets they need to achieve to reduce risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager. The manager knows the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager advocates for children. This includes challenging one child’s placing authority in relation to delays in education provision and challenging a proposed move for another child as it was too far from the child’s home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the manager. They are confident in the manager’s ability to implement new ways of working and are excited to be involved in delivering a new service model. Staff receive formal support through monthly supervision and can approach the manager for guidance and advice when they need it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are knowledgeable and understand the needs of the children. They receive appropriate training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures regular health and safety checks are completed. A fire risk assessment was carried out in 2020 by an independent expert. However, the most recent review of the fire risk assessment has been carried out by someone with no training in how to do this. This does not provide assurance that the review has been undertaken by a competent person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager carries out internal reviews of the quality of care. However, these do not include the views of children. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that children’s views and opinions are used to influence the shape of the service. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 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 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

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(v)(viii)) 28 May 2023

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it. (Regulation 45 (2)(b)) 1 July 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff who carry out reviews of fire risk assessments access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and are competent to carry out the task. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that children see the home’s records as living documents and support the child to understand, view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. In particular, ensure that plans are consistently clear about what children need to do to reduce Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 6 restrictions and when any restrictions will be reviewed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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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 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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Inspector

Tom McGhee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC481221 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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