Children's Home, Residential special school run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 1 SC401685 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 owned by a private organisation. The home is registered to provide care for up to 23 children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

Children who live in the home all attend the same school, operated by the same organisation, which is not on the same site.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a permanent manager at the home, who is experienced and qualified.

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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: 22 November 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: SC401685 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2022 Full Good 22/02/2022 Full Outstanding 04/12/2019 Full Good 05/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at this home have a good overall experience and are making progress. Staff have a good understanding of children’s care needs and how to provide safe and quality care. Staff provide care in a way that promotes children’s privacy and dignity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have clear targets, and their progress is kept under constant review. Children are making progress from their starting points, in line with their abilities. Managers and staff understand what progress looks like for each child and all progress is celebrated. Parents delight in their children’s progress at the home. A parent highlighted the progress their child has made with his communication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been some recent changes at the home. This is due to the closure of another home in the organisation. This has meant three children moving into this home, along with the transfer of the manager and staff team. This change was well planned. There are now 11 children living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children were prepared well for their move to the new home. They were provided with information about the move in formats to suit their individual communication needs. For example, one child had a folder with information that used words, photos, symbols and audio recordings to support his preparation. Staff worked across both homes for a time before the move. This enabled children to become familiar with different staff and build positive relationships. As a result, children have adapted well to the changes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff embed routines in the home for children. Going to school is an integral part of this routine. Consequently, children have excellent school attendance. Staff work across both the home and school settings and so have good knowledge of children’s school life. As a result, children also receive good consistent care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult with children using a variety of formats. This has enabled children to make choices around school holiday activities. Staff provide children with a range of activities, both at the home and going out for trips. This has included several children going away for short holidays. Staff plan well for celebrations and events with themed decorations and activities. Children have enjoyed celebrating events and festivals including Eid, the Coronation and Easter. These opportunities and activities enrich children’s life experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is of mixed quality. Some areas are well designed and furnished, providing comfortable spaces for children. Other areas are not homely or welcoming. There are some areas that are unkempt due to lack of care and attention. For example, there is some emergence of mould and some storage of broken furniture. Managers are aware of these issues but have been overwhelmed by the enormity of sustaining the upkeep of this property, due to its age and size. Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 4

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

Overall, children living at this home are safe. Children’s risks are identified well in their plans, and these provide staff with clear guidance for caring for children. Staff do know children well, their risks and the actions they need to take to mitigate risks and keep children safe.

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

In the main, staff do follow children’s plans and take any necessary action. However, there are some occasions when staff have not followed children’s plans. For example, a child was left without adequate supervision on one occasion. Fortunately, there was no harm caused to the child. Managers have taken action to address this shortfall in practice, to prevent reoccurrence. Furthermore, staff were observed not adhering to a child’s plan, by not wearing protective clothing. This leaves children and staff vulnerable and undermines the effectiveness of children’s plans.

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

Staff have received training in a range of safeguarding topics. They are aware of the whistle-blowing procedure and actions to take if there is an allegation.

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

Staff provide children with clear guidance and boundaries. As a result, children are learning what is expected of them. Where children’s behaviours escalate, staff are alert and prompt to intervene. As staff know how to meet children’s complex needs, their action often de-escalates behaviours successfully. Staff physically intervene where necessary to keep children safe. These incidents are recorded in full. Managers have good oversight that identifies any learning or revisions needed to children’s plans.

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

Staff manage children’s known health risks well. For example, for a child who has epilepsy, there is a plan with clear guidance for staff to follow. Staff are trained and know how to respond in the event of a seizure. Medication is managed well at the home. Arrangements for ensuring that prescribed medication is available, stored, administered and recorded appropriately are effective. Staff are proactive in supporting children to access routine and emergency healthcare.

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

Overall, health and safety at the home is well managed. Scheduled maintenance work is completed and remedial work is generally actioned in a timely manner. For example, at the time of the inspection, extensive work to improve fire doors and the water system was being undertaken. Managers acknowledge that this will be ongoing, due to the age of the building and complexity of children’s behaviours. Managers are committed to ensuring that the home is always a safe environment for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of strengths and areas for development at the home. She has an abundance of plans and aspirations that demonstrate high ambition. All managers and staff share high aspirations for the children to continue to make progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 5 Management at the home is enhanced by two experienced deputy managers, house managers and team leaders. This is supportive of managing the practice and development of a large staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are clear arrangements in place for staff induction and supervision. Overall, staff feel supported by management at the home. The manager is fostering greater communication across the staff team, to involve staff in the development of the home. Weekly team meetings enhance opportunity for communication and staff development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a comprehensive training offer established for the staff team. However, there are some gaps in staff completing this training. This may result in staff not having the knowledge and skills to provide the best quality care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The legibility and accuracy of children’s records are of a poor standard at times, and there are gaps in daily recording. This affects the ability of managers to have full oversight of children’s progress. The manager welcomes external monitoring and is enthused by completing the review of the home’s quality of care, to improve children’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals feedback that communication with staff and managers is excellent. The manager has taken action to raise concerns with the multi-agency team. This is for a child who has experienced a significant escalation in their behaviour. She has recognised that the home is not meeting his needs and he is affecting the experience of others, for example, children’s access to the garden is restricted when this child is in the garden. The manager has been confident in making decisions in children’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a large staff team and there are some vacancies. Recruitment is ongoing and staff are recruited following safer recruitment requirements. There is a pool of established bank staff who cover much of the shortfall. Overall, staffing is provided in line with children’s assessed need and there is always an additional senior member of staff available. Where there are shortfalls through sickness, managers step in and support shift cover.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work enthusiastically to continue to develop the home environment and staff team. This enables children to achieve their best outcomes and have good experiences living at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the home is a welcoming and homely environment. This also relates to ongoing monitoring to ensure that the home is kept clean and well maintained. 1 December 2023

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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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that care is provided in accordance with children’s plans. 1 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This includes training for specific needs, for example Makaton. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘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: SC401685 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: Aspris, The Forge, 43 Church Street West, Woking, Surrey GU21 6HT

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Inspectors

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC401685 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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