Children's Home run by Aspireone Care Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 1 SC472325 Registered provider: Aspireone Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who have had adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home. Two children were present during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2023 and is suitably experienced.

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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: 16 January 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/01/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/02/2023 Full Outstanding 21/09/2021 Full Outstanding 21/01/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home and one child has moved out of the home. One child spoke to the inspector during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children moving into the home receive careful and individualised transitions. The manager and staff ensure that assessments consider the needs of the children already living in the home and the experience of staff before they agree to children moving into the home. Managers ensure that children visit the home and have all the information about the home, children and routines before they move in. This contributes to children feeling less anxious about moving and helps them to settle and make progress. A child’s social worker said, ‘[Name of child] is doing brilliantly, the worrying behaviours that were being seen and reported are no longer present.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child moved from the home into their own property in line with their care plan. Managers were proactive in challenging professionals about delays and advocating for the child. Professionals have been complimentary about the support staff have provided to help prepare a child for the next stage of their life. Managers and staff remained involved and offered practical support to the child for some time after the move, which helped the child to settle. The child continues to visit the home and remains in contact with staff and managers. The commitment of staff has enabled the child to experience a positive move from the home. The child wrote to managers thanking them for their support over the past five years living in the home. One professional commented, ‘The care and support you have given and the positive and trusting relationship with managers will give [name of child] good foundations for their future.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff are committed to supporting children to embrace their unique qualities and individuality. Staff use a variety of resources, forums, organisations and activities to support children to confidently explore and understand their identity. The commitment from staff and managers has supported children to understand and value diversity. This practice supports children to build emotional resilience, which leads to them experiencing improved emotional and psychological well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers provide children with valuable experiences to support their interests, development and well-being. For example, one child is being helped to learn how to drive. Managers and staff help children who have neurodiversity needs to overcome barriers to participation. This approach supports children to achieve and exceed expected outcomes, which results in them thriving and being well prepared for their next stage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are central to the running of the home. Staff consult children in all aspects of their care and support them to be actively involved in decisions that affect them. Staff and managers encourage children to read, write and review their internal plans, which enables them to contribute to their care and care planning. This approach Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 4 helps children to feel valued and respected. It also provides children with a sense of ownership and responsibility for their care, which contributes to them making progress.

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

Since the last inspection, managers have taken action to address the shortfalls identified in relation to how investigations into allegations are managed. Managers, senior leaders and staff have received training to improve their knowledge about various aspects of safeguarding. For example, managers have been trained in trauma-informed practice and adverse childhood experiences, which has increased their knowledge and awareness of the link between children’s lived experiences and their behaviours. This training, alongside opportunities to reflect on practice, has resulted in improved staff morale and a strong safeguarding culture that prioritises children’s safety and welfare.

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

Children can identify trusted staff who they can talk to and who they rely on if they have any worries or concerns.

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

Staff encourage positive and appropriate interactions with peers. On the rare occasions when issues occur between children, these are identified and addressed promptly. A restorative approach is used to teach children the benefits of treating each other with respect. This helps children to develop positive and safe relationships.

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

Incidents where children are involved in, or exposed to, risk situations are rare. If an incident occurs, staff and managers take prompt and responsive action to ensure that children’s safety is prioritised. Managers ensure that appropriate professionals, such as police and social workers, are notified without delay. Additional support is sought promptly, and children are educated and supported to manage the impact of such situations. On one occasion, a record of a discussion with a child about an incident was not sufficiently detailed, which prevented effective oversight.

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

The positive and nurturing relationships children develop with staff, alongside ongoing support with their well-being, have contributed to children managing their behaviours and emotions positively. Staff use a restorative and rewarding approach to promoting positive behaviours. As a result, the use of consequences is rare. Records relating to consequences are not sufficiently detailed to enable evaluation of the appropriateness and effectiveness of consequences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have high aspirations for the children in their care. Managers and senior leaders have a shared commitment to improving practice in the home and achieving positive outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Motivated and skilled staff support children. All staff said that they feel supported and equipped to care for the children. This support has contributed to a positive working environment for staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 5 Professionals are complimentary about the communication and support from managers and staff. One professional said, ‘Staff have a lot of insight around [name of child]’s needs and meet these to a high standard and advocate for child.’ The approach from staff and managers is supporting children to thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and leaders have made improvements to the quality of supervision. Managers ensure that supervision is used to reflect on staff well-being, practice, training and development needs, safeguarding issues, children’s progress and any other information relevant to children’s welfare. This ensures that any shortfalls with practice are quickly identified and addressed so that the quality of care children receive is not compromised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and senior leaders ensure that staff receive training to meet children’s individual needs. Managers and staff have monthly consultations with the home’s psychologist. These meetings are used as training and development opportunities to enhance the knowledge and skills of the staff team. For example, the psychologist delivered training during a meeting to support staff to have a greater understanding of children’s behaviours and how best to support them. This has helped staff to implement a trauma-informed approach into their practice which is consistent with the home’s therapeutic model of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have reviewed the way they recruit staff. A rigorous and robust approach is used, which ensures that staff are safely recruited to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers use a variety of systems to monitor and review children’s care and all aspects of the home. External monitoring, such as the independent visitor, is used effectively. These systems have been effective in ensuring that the quality of care children receive is regularly reviewed and that children are making progress. These systems are also effective in maintaining a strong safeguarding ethos in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

No requirements were made at this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 6

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Recommendations

 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. This specifically relates to staff and managers ensuring that when discussions take place with children, the purpose of the discussion is recorded clearly. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that behaviour management strategies are understood and always applied by staff and the manager. This includes involving children and relevant others wherever practical in behaviour management. This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that when children receive a consequence which is later deemed inappropriate, there is a clear record of the discussion with the child explaining the reason for the change. This also relates to the

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Recommendations

manager recording a rationale for not upholding the consequence. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.35)

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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: SC472325 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspireone Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4 Lyme Drive, Lyme Vale Court, Parklands, Stoke-on- Trent, Staffordshire ST4 6NW

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Inspector

Nateisha Cardoza-Evans, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC472325 8 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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