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

Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 1 SC407783 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 national private organisation and provides accommodation linked to an education provision. The home provides care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties. Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this school/on this site.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2022.

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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: 20 September 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: SC407783 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/09/2022 Full Good 05/05/2021 Full Good 07/01/2020 Full Good 15/08/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home have made progress in relation to their needs and abilities. Children’s relevant plans support them to take managed risks and provide them with opportunities to test their own abilities. Children succeed in education and there are good plans in place for future education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, there has been a period of instability in the home. This followed a decision to move a child into the home whose needs were more complex than was initially realised. Before the new child moved in, the registered manager carried out assessments of the child’s needs and considered how the new child could potentially impact on the stability of the other children already living in the home. However, greater professional curiosity and challenge was required to ensure that all relevant information was available and considered, to better inform the assessment and decision. Subsequently, serious incidents did occur in the home, and this resulted in an unplanned placement ending for the new child. The registered manager has identified gaps in the assessment process and learning. However, this is yet to be embedded and tested in practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is in a large detached property, and is bright, clean and decorated to a high standard. Each child’s bedroom has an en-suite bathroom. Children’s bedrooms are large, decorated well and reflect children’s interests and preferences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff have positive working relationships with children’s parents. Feedback from parents is positive and parents recognise the progress their children have made. Children attend school regularly and make good educational progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from being cared for by a supportive, warm and nurturing staff team. This helps build positive and trusting relationships between staff and children. Staff have realistic expectations of children and work positively to help them to focus on what matters most to them. For example, when children were taking exams, they were able to fully focus, as staff recognised that placing unrealistic demands on them was a distraction.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are active participants in their care planning. For instance, children choose the types of activities that they take part in, and they have worked up to having free time in the community. Children have also worked towards being able to have their mobile phones full time. Children have been supported by staff with their college applications and interviews.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is an inclusive environment where open and honest discussions take place between children and staff about different cultures, religions, gender and sexuality. At the time of the inspection, children and staff were celebrating Pride month. Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 4 Two dogs that belong to staff frequently visit the home. The children love the dogs and are encouraged to take a degree of responsibility for them and their care. This creates a sense of responsibility and belonging for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have recently attended their school leavers’ prom. Staff helped to create a real sense of excitement in the home and helped children with all aspects of their preparation. The registered manager and staff fully embraced and celebrated prom and shared in children’s excitement and anticipation of such a momentous occasion.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Complaints are responded to in a timely way. However, written responses to children about their complaints are formal and do not mirror other child-centred correspondence children receive. This detracts from children’s understanding of complaint outcomes and how seriously their views have been considered.

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

The registered manager and staff recognise children’s risks and ensure that there are robust and clear risk management plans in place. The support and care provided to children by staff help to minimise and mitigate the identified risks. Children’s care plans and support plans are child-centred and support staff to understand the care needs of children. Staff say that they feel the care and support plans enable them to look after the children well.

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

Staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They demonstrate a clear understanding of safeguarding, their statutory duties and how to report concerns and to who. Staff complete relevant training to support them in their role and to develop a clear understanding of children’s needs.

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

When children go missing from home, staff follow the home’s relevant and effective policies and procedures. This includes ensuring that children are offered and take part in return home interviews. This helps to identify the reasons children went missing and considers how further missing from home incidents can be reduced.

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

Following incidents, children benefit from meaningful debriefs with staff. Records relating to incidents and debriefs are clearly written and evidence management oversight. The records include a formal written account, along with a child-friendly version which is written to the child. This helps children to fully understand what happened.

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

Staff support children to learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, children are developing their independence skills and have an increased understanding of the wider world, including an awareness of online risks and safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has high aspirations for children and celebrates their successes. They provide oversight of children’s individualised care plans, risk assessments and incidents. The registered manager leads reflective discussions in Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 5 team meetings and seeks the views of staff regarding any prospective new children joining the home. Staff are actively encouraged to put their views forward and to share ideas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s meetings take place, however, given the small number of children in the home and the small number of participants, the value of the meetings is limited. Staff are trying to think of other ways to make these more meaningful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is present in the home and staff say that they feel supported and valued by them. Staff also say that the manager is approachable and that their views at listened and responded to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has had a period without a responsible individual. This has resulted in gaps in the frequency of the registered manager’s practice-led supervision. This was during the unsettled time in the home. Senior leaders have since stepped in to bridge this gap.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose does not accurately reflect the scope of care that the home provides. For example, it is not clear that they provide boarding-type accommodation linked to the school.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has made some progress with regard to the requirement raised at the previous inspection relating to admission procedures. However, the progress is not yet fully embedded. Therefore, the requirement is repeated. Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 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, The 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 27 August 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that responses to children’s complaints are child-friendly. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)  The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the registered manager, receive regular practice-led supervision. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose is kept under review and reflects the type of service the home provides. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5) Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 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: SC407783 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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Inspectors

Julie Harrild, Social Care Inspector Kelly Marchmont, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children's home: SC407783 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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