Children's Home run by Aspris New Education Services Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC443959 1 SC443959 Registered provider: Aspris New Education Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation. The home provides care for up to eight children with learning disabilities, of whom up to three can be cared for on a short break basis.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is managed by an experienced registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2024 Full Good 02/03/2023 Full Outstanding 08/03/2022 Full Good 18/07/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children thrive in this home. They are happy, settled and make excellent progress in all areas of their lives. Children are supported by a dedicated and enthusiastic team. The team has high aspirations for the children and consistently looks for creative and enjoyable ways to help them have enriching and rewarding experiences that also enable them to develop their skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children learn essential independence skills, such as feeding and dressing themselves, choosing and purchasing items from the local shop and using public transport. Children are also supported to enjoy a planned weekly visit from the ice-cream man. This activity helps children to develop their confidence and is something that all children thoroughly enjoy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

From their initial starting points, children make exceptional progress in being able to communicate with others. Communication, choice and preference are championed in this home. Each child is supported to develop ways to communicate their needs. Children who were previously nonverbal or had limited communication, learn to communicate their needs either verbally or by using bespoke communication aids. These skills enrich children’s lives and help to build their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are consistently supported to attend specialist educational provisions. Staff ensure that children’s daily routines, such as the journey to school, are consistently adhered to, and this helps children understand and prepare for their school day. The education providers and staff work collaboratively to enable children to achieve their education targets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s health is prioritised. Children are supported by a range of health care professionals who are actively involved in the child’s life. Health care needs are regularly reviewed, and where necessary, concerns are escalated to ensure that children receive the help they need without delay. Likewise, staff closely monitor children’s sleep patterns, behaviours, diet and mood changes. This understanding ensures that the signs of a child becoming unwell are quickly identified and acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are actively involved in their community and have helped to raise money for charity by undertaking sponsored walks. This is an incredible achievement, as some children were not mobile when they came to live at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A dedicated activity coordinator ensures that children are provided with a wide range of new and exciting activities each day, including rock climbing, swimming and horse riding. When a group activity may be difficult to manage, staff bring the activity to the home. For example, the home hosted a ‘farm’ within the grounds for a weekend, enabling all the children to pet and care for the animals. This was an immense success. Children who Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 4 experience pica disorder are provided with unique pica sensory boxes and edible play items. This ensures that all children can access a range of activities safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff work closely with families and build strong and trusting relationships with them. Children enjoy regular family time, including visits home and regular video calls. Families are provided with daily updates and monthly ‘my week in pictures’ reports from their children. The positive connections with families serve to enhance children’s overall experience in the home. One parent said, ‘My child has made so much progress, and this is down to the team’s outstanding care.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are supported to feel comfortable around other children and make friendships. For some children, this can be very difficult. However, the team provides opportunities where children come together and enjoy being around each other. For example, the home has regular themed parties, such as Halloween and cultural parties, including Bollywood. Children and staff dress up, dance and play games together. Photos and videos show children thoroughly enjoying the moment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are exceptional advocates for children. They consistently seek out the best opportunities and ensure that children’s wishes and feelings are sought and prioritised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s cultural and religious backgrounds are consistently respected and supported. A dedicated cook ensures that meals are prepared in keeping with religious beliefs, and some children settle to bed with the Quran playing softly in their room. Likewise, prayer space and prayer mats are available to children. Staff enable children to attend prayers in accordance with the child’s and family’s wishes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A children’s guide is available to children in different formats to ensure that all children and their families are provided with essential information about the home. A video format is narrated by children and explains in simple terms what to expect at the home and the fun activities available to all children. However, the guide does not include information regarding the services available to children if they stay in the home once they have reached the age of 18 years.

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

Children’s safety is consistently prioritised. Their risk plans are routinely updated in partnership with external professionals. Plans identify changes in behaviour, health concerns or potential risks, such as time in the community. They provide staff with clear guidance to keep children safe.

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

Using storyboards, staff help children to understand potential dangers when in the community, for example using public transport, road safety and stranger danger. Children enjoy these sessions and can pick out the dangers. This essential understanding serves to support children’s growing independence and ability to navigate the world safely. Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 5 Children live in a home where daily routines are consistently implemented. Each child has their own routine displayed in an appropriate format, which tells the story of their day. When children are due to attend appointments, their routine is adjusted to include a storyboard, which helps to prepare them for their appointment. This provides children with a sense of security.

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

Children receive a high level of support. A team of three key workers supports each child in the home. When a child becomes overwhelmed, key workers work together, offering a change of face or activity to help children settle and relax.

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

Children are helped to understand the impact of their behaviours on themselves and others. Staff use a trauma-informed approach to help children recognise their behaviours and celebrate their achievements. Through positive reinforcement, reward charts and awards, children develop in confidence. As a result, incidents of children becoming overwhelmed have reduced.

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

Staff are trained to understand the impact of children’s disabilities and diagnoses on their lives. All staff are alert to the potential dangers and ensure the home and community are checked for potential hazards. When incidents occur, swift action is taken to address the situation.

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

Staff are trained to hold a child to keep them safe in the event of significant risk of harm. Records evidence that holds used by staff are the least restrictive, such as holding a child’s hand or placing their hands on a child’s shoulders to keep them safe. In the event of a hold, staff ensure that children’s families and the placing authority are informed and are provided with a full report. This information is then used to identify any patterns in behaviours and the steps required to further support the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers and staff have an excellent understanding of the children’s needs and are passionate about making a positive difference in their lives. They hold high aspirations for all the children and work tirelessly to ensure that children continually thrive. Parents and professionals are highly complimentary about the care provided by the team and the exceptional progress children make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is supported by a deputy manager and two assistant managers. Managers undertake dedicated tasks to ensure that children’s universal needs are consistently met to a very high standard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Practice in the home is underpinned by the theoretical framework of trauma-informed parenting and the social model of disability. Staff receive mandatory and specialist training in accordance with the needs of the children. This training helps to prepare staff for their role and provide children with the love, care and support they require. Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 6 Staff are exceptionally well supported by managers. They receive regular formal and informal supervision and are provided with a debrief at the end of their working day. This level of support allows staff to talk about any issues that may have occurred during their shift and ensures that they are provided with additional support if necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Internal and external monitoring reports are consistently completed to a high standard. The management team, external professionals and responsible individual work together to assess the outcomes for children and to develop specific enhanced programs to support their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Although records are extremely detailed, some records are in need of updating. Additionally, children’s information is spread across a range of files, resulting in some information being difficult to locate. Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide is amended to include the services available to children if they stay in the home after they have reached the age of 18 years. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards.’ Page 24, paragraph 4.22).  The registered person should ensure that records are consistently updated and that pertinent information is easily accessible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3).

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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: SC443959 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspris New Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Barton Close, Grove Park, Enderby, Leicester LE19 1SJ

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Inspector

Maria McGranaghan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC443959 9 regulates and inspects 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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