Children's home run by Aspire Child Care Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 1 SC403464 Registered provider: Aspire Child Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is run by a private organisation. The home is registered to provide care for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there was one child living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2023.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/03/2024 Full Good 07/12/2022 Full Good 01/09/2021 Full Good 17/02/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living at the home has been there for over two years. They are settled and making significant progress in many aspects of their life. They have developed positive relationships with staff, who are caring and nurturing in their approach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prepare children well for adulthood and independence. One child recently moved out of the home in a planned way, and they had the skills to be able to move successfully and live with less support. The manager ensured that the child had the appropriate support around them, so the move was a positive and successful experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff provide a stable, secure and homely living environment. Staff’s warm, nurturing care and support help the child to develop a sense of belonging. This is reflected in the child’s comments. ‘Living here is good, I love it. I like all the staff and I get to do the activities I like.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff regularly encourage the child to express their wishes and feelings through daily conversations and regular planned discussions. The child can choose their meals and activities for the week and share their views on how the home could be improved. This enables the child to participate fully in the daily life of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are good arrangements in place to meet the child’s health needs. Staff support the child to attend all routine appointments. They also educate the child on healthy eating and the importance of exercise. The child is now choosing to cycle to and from school and this is helping to improve their emotional well-being and their fitness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has excellent attendance at school. Staff have clear communication with teachers, so any issues are quickly resolved. The child has made significant progress and has moved from the nurturing small classroom base to the mainstream setting. The child enjoys school and has an ambition for the future to work in catering. However, the manager has not ensured that the child’s current personal education plan is kept in the home. This means staff do not have the most up-to-date information on the child’s educational achievements and the support that they need to offer to help the child with their learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support family time for the child. This includes facilitating weekly family time in the home with the child’s father and brother. Also, staff take the child to see their mother, so they have regular time together. As a result, the child spends time with people who are important to them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 4

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

Keeping the child safe is a priority for staff and is integral to daily practice. The child says that they feel safe and trust staff and can talk about any worries or concerns.

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

Staff encourage positive behaviour. They provide consistent advice, guidance and support which help the child to make safer choices and resolve conflict with others more appropriately. The child benefits from clear rules and consistent boundaries and they respond well to this approach. Consequences are appropriate and the child is spoken to, so that they understand why any consequences used were necessary. This helps the child to develop more positive ways to express their emotions.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the child’s risks and vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address these. There are risk assessments in place. However, risk assessments have not been kept up to date and so do not include clear guidelines for staff on how to manage all known risks.

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

Staff support the child in taking age-appropriate risks as part of their development for independence. Staff support the child to take part in positive activities in the community. The child attends a football club each week and has developed friendships. They are now meeting friends in the community. Staff being proactive in their approach to educating the child about personal safety helps the child to feel more confident and to develop their social skills.

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

The child enjoys a comfortable, clean, tidy and safe living environment. They have been able to personalise their bedroom. The manager completes a full audit each month to ensure that he can quickly identify any shortfalls and rectify these. This ensures that the home is a safe place for children.

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

Staff employed to care for the child are carefully selected and vetted. This ensures that children are looked after by suitable adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and qualified. He has a detailed understanding of the child’s needs and works hard to ensure that they are met, and their plans are progressing. The manager is dual registered and has management responsibility for another of the provider’s homes. He is supported in his role by an experienced responsible individual.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is now a committed full staff team in the home who work well together and provide consistency and stability for the child. Having a full staff team means that the manager has more time to ensure that he has clear management oversight of the day- to-day running of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has completed a quality of care review that identifies the home’s strengths and areas for development. The manager has obtained feedback from the child and Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 5 parents. However, the review does not include feedback from staff or external professionals to give him a full overview.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an in-depth training programme available to staff. This gives them the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the child. Staff said that they value this training and it gives them confidence in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported in their roles by having regular supervision sessions with the manager. These are reflective, identify any areas for future development and give them an opportunity to discuss the child’s needs and risks. Staff said that they feel supported by the manager. Appraisals take place annually and the manager ensures that he obtains feedback from the children to help assess staff members’ performance and relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly and are an opportunity for staff to come together and share information, knowledge and skills. This helps to support consistent practice across the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager communicates regularly with external professionals and parents. This ensures that all relevant people are kept updated on the child’s progress and any changes are known or concerns are quickly resolved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person visits the home each month, spends time with the child to obtain their views and produces a report. However, the manager has not ensured that the independent person also seeks the views of parents. Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 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 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

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study.

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must make sure that information about children’s learning needs and academic levels are on their files. Staff must understand each child’s individual learning needs and how best to support them by the home having an up-to-date personal education plan for the child. 20 January 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality-of-care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children; 20 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 7 any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(c) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the review of the quality of care identifies the context and shortfalls, and includes the views of staff and external professionals to help inform assessment of the home’s strengths and any areas for improvement.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent person offers parents the opportunity to speak to them about the quality of care provided for their child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered person should ensure that they continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Risk assessments should be kept up to date and include details of the steps staff will take to manage any assessed risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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 for children’s home: SC403464 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspire Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christine MacKay

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Inspector

Simon Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC403464 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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