Children's Home run by Achieving Aspirations Community Interest Company in Suffolk

Inspection report children's home: 1250253 1 Registered provider: Achieving Aspirations Community Interest Company

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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 home is privately run and provides short-break services for up to four children with physical and/or learning disabilities. The service offers respite stays and assessment breaks. There are 36 children who currently use the service. Two of these children have shared-care arrangements, while the other children attend for short breaks.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1250253 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/12/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/06/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: 1250253 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of inspection, four children were using the service. These children were all spoken to at the inspection. The manager was on annual leave and the inspection was led by the deputy manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the children’s methods of communication. Communication tools around the home have been developed. A new communication board is in all of the children’s bedrooms. This gives children a range of relevant symbols to use when they stay overnight. This supports children to express their views and wishes throughout their stays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a new system to update children’s parents during their stays. They use technology to send parents photos and videos of their child. Staff send an update message in the evening, and another in the morning. Parents said that they were happy with the communication from the home and find this reassuring.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are decorated in child-friendly themes. New cupboards have been fitted to help children to keep belongings in their room safe during their stays. The cupboards have been decorated to match the theme of the room. This helps children feel comfortable when staying at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s successes are celebrated. A mural of a tree has been drawn in the hallway. The leaves on the tree detail children’s achievements. Certificates are displayed for children who have reached personal goals that month. This shows children that staff are proud of them and their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are trained to meet children’s health needs. One child’s health needs changed. In response, additional training was identified and arranged for the staff. This ensured that staff had the relevant skills before the child stayed at the home again.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are not always offered a wide range of activities. Most of the activities take place at the home. Children rarely spend time in the community. This means that children may miss out on new experiences and social opportunities.

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

Children’s behaviour support plans and care plans are detailed and individual to the children. These provide strategies for staff to support children.

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

Safer recruitment processes are followed for new members of staff. Temporary staff are not used. This enables children to build relationships with staff who consistently work at the home. There is an induction process for new staff, which helps them to learn their roles. Inspection report children's home: 1250253 4 Incidents are infrequent. Staff use de-escalation skills when there are incidents. Staff use techniques that work for children and are creative with these. This prevents incidents escalating and restraints are not used. Some non-restrictive physical interventions are used to safeguard children and staff. These are proportionate and used occasionally.

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

Staff do not always speak to children following incidents. They do not have regular conversations with children about the risks they face. This means that children may not understand the staff’s concerns about their behaviour and ways to manage this differently.

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

The staff do not identify concerns about fire doors promptly. Three fire doors were found not to fully seal when closed. Although checks are undertaken weekly as per the home’s policy, the recording of these is limited. It is not always possible to see whether issues were identified from the checks. Most actions from the fire risk assessment have been met, however, one recommendation was not actioned promptly. This could place children at risk from ineffective fire safety measures in the event of a fire.

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

The manager is registered and working towards her level 5 qualification. The manager is supported by an dedicated deputy manager. The managers are aware of children’s progress and celebrate their successes.

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

The managers are aware of some of the areas that require improvement. They have made some positive changes since last inspection, that are still being developed and embedded. The review of the children’s stays and experiences offered are limited. Feedback is gained from children, staff and parents however, there is no evidence of how this feedback is used to develop and improve the care provided.

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

Staff supervision sessions do not always take place in line with the home’s policy. Two members of staff have not had supervision every three months as pledged. Missing supervision sessions means there are long periods without discussing staff practice and identifying any learning.

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

Appraisals take place with staff however, there is no feedback from professionals, colleagues or children as part of these appraisals. This limits staff’s ability to reflect on their practice and identify areas for development.

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

Managers do not have a clear system for monitoring staff training. The training matrix is not fully up to date. This means that the manager is not able to monitor whether staff have all attended relevant training. Two staff members are out of timescales for food- safety training.

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

The independent person reports are not comprehensive. Feedback from professionals and families is not always included. Managers have identified that they do not always Inspection report children's home: 1250253 5 receive constructive comments in the reports to work on. This means that opportunities for development and improvement could be being missed.

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

Professionals and families say that there are good working relationships with the managers and staff.

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

The staff say that they feel supported by the managers. Inspection report children's home: 1250253 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, 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 6 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the actions from the fire risk assessment are completed promptly and checks of fire doors are recorded to ensure they comply. 6 September 2024 Inspection report children's home: 1250253 7 The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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 develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; and

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child's behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child's age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff speak to children about their behaviour and support them in a way they understand to identify strategies they can use to reduce incidents. 20 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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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

develop the child's interests and hobbies; 20 September 2024 Inspection report children's home: 1250253 8 participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child's interests and preferences. (Regulation 9 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs. In particular, ensure that staff undertake training in food hygiene as per the homes policies and that staff training needs are monitored. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that there are systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. The frequency of supervision should be in line with company policy. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should

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Recommendations

take into account, when reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home's care. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should ensure that the independent visitor makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home's care and the manager uses this to develop the home and care offered. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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 children's home: 1250253 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Achieving Aspirations Community Interest Company

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 80 Compair Crescent, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 0EH

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Inspector

Leanne Lyon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1250253 10 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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