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

Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 1 Registered provider: Aspris Children’s Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides care for up to three children who may have learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since January 2024.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 27 February 2024

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: A monitoring visit was completed on 17 April 2024. The report is published on Ofsted’s website. Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2024 Full Inadequate 10/05/2022 Full Good 27/04/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 3

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improvement to be good

Nurturing care is provided to the child. Staff speak positively about the child in their care. Some staff have invested time with the child, and positive relationships have developed. One staff team member has used their skills to enable the child to learn new musical skills.

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improvement to be good

The child’s weekly planning is generic and does not reflect their experiences. Staff allow the child to lead their day. Structure or routine are not implemented effectively. Without specific targets or aims, limited progress is seen. Staff allow the child to play with toy building blocks for extended periods of time and do not support progression to a more specific routine to help their overall experience.

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improvement to be good

Despite efforts by the team, there is no formal education in place. In between tutoring and online learning time, staff have not developed any plans or strategies to support the child’s educational development further. Being out of formal education is negatively impacting on the child’s experience and educational outcomes.

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improvement to be good

There is inconsistent support for the child to explore their feelings. Key conversations highlight how the child has sometimes been supported to have discussions to understand and reflect on events in the home. However, this is not consistent, and not all key conversations have this approach. The child is not consistently supported to explore their feelings, address their concerns, or foster positive behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child to spend time with their family. They have supported them to extend this from daytime to regular overnight stays. In addition, the child attends a youth club regularly, which has reduced their isolation from peers and has helped them to develop friendships.

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improvement to be good

The staff work with external agencies to support the child to attend health appointments to support their specific needs. However, review of the child’s medication and diet discussed at the home’s previous monitoring visit has not progressed.

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improvement to be good

When incidents occur, senior management oversight after an incident is comprehensive. Actions are implemented to reduce the risks identified.

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improvement to be good

When the child is missing from the home, staff act promptly to report them missing and search extensively to try and locate them and return them safely to the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 4 However, there are weaknesses in practice to prevent incidents continuing to occur. Practice lacks focus on preventative strategies. Staff do not always implement boundaries to help the child manage their behaviour safely or to prevent the child from going missing from home.

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improvement to be good

The child’s plans do not address all risks effectively. A new risk assessment has been created to provide staff with clear strategies. However, there are not well-established approaches in place that seek to reduce all areas of harm effectively. This includes plans to support the child to learn how to use knives safely and to develop positive coping strategies when they feel overwhelmed.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding procedures have not always been followed when allegations have been made. On two occasions, staff did not report concerns to managers, and managers did not have robust oversight of the daily logs to identify the allegations made by the child. Clear procedures are needed to effectively safeguard the child. Managers responded to these concerns during the inspection, and appropriate action was taken.

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improvement to be good

Staff’s approach to monitoring the child’s online activities is inconsistent. Staff have increased their monitoring, but they do not always show curiosity about the child’s online activities, which is needed to ensure that they are always safe.

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improvement to be good

Senior managers have taken action to respond to medication errors identified previously. However, medication recording errors continue due to an auditing system that is not effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is a permanent and stable staff team caring for the child. This has supported the child to build positive relationships with some staff team members. Staff speak positively about working in the home and the management support that they receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

However, changes in management arrangements have disrupted consistent care and progress in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There are not well-established systems to ensure that oversight of the child’s daily care is robust to continually improve the quality of care they receive. The four requirements made at the last inspection are not full met and have been restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have attended training and in-house workshops to increase their knowledge about issues affecting the child. This includes training to increase awareness about contextual safeguarding. They have completed the required qualifications within the designated timescale. However, they do not always apply their learning to the care of the child to ensure that their experience, progress and safety are improved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers recognise that the changes and events in the home have had an emotional impact on staff. All staff have received supervision sessions that focus on their well- being, and additional emotional support has been made available to them. Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 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, 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 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the responsible person must ensure that safeguarding procedures are followed when allegations have been made.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the responsible person must ensure that staff are provided with clear strategies to intervene effectively to reduce the risk of incidents occurring. 28 June 2024

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— 28 June 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 6 understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; and

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; and

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This directly relates to the responsible person ensuring that staff have clear direction and strategies to ensure that the child develops positive daily routines.

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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 ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing 28 June 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 7 authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; and

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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)(i)(v)(vi)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the responsible person ensuring that while the child is out of education, a timetable of educational activities is implemented during the school day.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the responsible person should challenge services effectively to ensure that the child returns to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the responsible person must ensure that the monitoring of care is effective in safeguarding the child and promoting their well-being. 28 June 2024

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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: 2535166 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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Inspectors

Louise Bacon, Social Care Inspector Hannah Spencer-Townesend, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2535166 9 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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