Children's home run by Aspireone Care Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 1 Registered provider: Aspireone Care Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately operated home provides care for up to five children between the ages of eight and 17 years who have come from a variety of situations, backgrounds and experiences and who have a range of complex needs.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home has two managers who are dual registered. The original manager will deregister from their role once they have provided the new manager with a thorough induction to her role. Both managers are suitably experienced.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, four children were living in the home. All children spoke to the inspector about their experiences living in the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

There is a school on site for children accommodated within the provider group. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision on this site.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 29 November 2023

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive and trusting relationships with the staff team and managers. Staff provide nurturing care for children, so that they feel relaxed and comfortable in their home. Staff work hard to support children to engage with external professionals, such as social workers and child and adolescent mental health workers. When children have lost trust in specific professionals, staff have helped them to rebuild these relationships to ensure that their needs are fully met.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children living at the home make progress in many areas of their lives. Social workers and families spoke highly of the care that children are provided with and of the progress they have made. This includes areas such as self-care skills, managing their emotions and improving their self-esteem. Staff understand children’s additional needs and how to best communicate with them. The staff implement clear routines and structure for children. Consequently, children have settled into their home well and adapted to their plans.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are monitored consistently by key workers to ensure that all health appointments and additional specialist support that children require are in place. The staff are guided by a psychologist to support children’s emotional well-being. Children are provided with a safe space to talk to staff, to help them understand their emotions and support them to work through their trauma.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education attendance has significantly improved since living in the home, with most children achieving full attendance. Leaders and managers have challenged placing authorities and virtual schools when they have been dissatisfied with children’s education plans. This has had a positive impact on one child’s opportunities in education. Out of school, children’s interests and hobbies are promoted. They spend time together doing fun activities and have enjoyed a holiday together.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The ability to develop relationships with families and help them to rebuild their relationships with their children is a strength of the staff team. Family time is promoted and children regularly see those who are important to them. This includes staff taking children to visit friends from their hometown, despite this being some distance from the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel listened to and involved in decisions about their care. Regular key-work sessions allow children to have honest and open conversations with staff about their views, wishes and feelings. The manager has introduced children’s weekly catch up sessions to capture children’s suggestions to improve how they are looked after and cared for. Children know who to speak to if they wish to make a complaint. Minor grumbles are responded to by the manager, who provides reassurance and feedback to the child about how their concern will be resolved. Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 4 Structured plans are in place for developing children’s independence skills. Children are supported to secure employment and make links with important agencies to help them in the outside world. When children are preparing to move out of the home, staff help to implement planned and supportive transitions for the child to their new home.

p.3

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

Children feel safe and secure in their home. This is because the staff understand their responsibilities to safeguard children and they are invested in children’s well-being. The staff consistently monitor and manage any risk taking behaviour to ensure that children can continue to live together safely. Children are supported to understand boundaries of acceptable and safe behaviour. Staff effectively support children through any initial resistance to rules and expectations.

p.4

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

Risk management planning for children moving into the home is mostly effective. Children’s needs and risk taking behaviour are carefully considered. Managers consult with significant others to be able to make a balanced decision about the suitability of children living together. On one occasion, a substantial amount of information was not shared with the provider prior to a child’s move into the home. Leaders and managers promptly challenged this with the relevant professionals in terms of the impact this had on other children living in the home, and lessons learned were identified.

p.4

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

Individualised risk management plans evidence risk reduction for children. Children are supported to make positive choices and to keep themselves safe though well-directed and sensitively managed direct work. This has covered areas such as child exploitation, substance misuse and emotional well-being. In addition, the staff work positively with multi-agency professionals to keep children safe.

p.4

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

Children’s behaviour management plans include their views about how they prefer to be supported to manage their behaviour and strategies that they find helpful to help them regulate their emotions. In addition, staff use their positive relationships to support children. Consequently, restraint is not used in the home.

p.4

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

Children’s missing-from-home protocols are comprehensive. When children go missing from the home, staff use initiative to try to locate and return children safely. Consequently, children have not been missing from home overnight and the level of missing incidents has reduced. The review of the location of premises risk assessment does not include intelligence from professionals and children about the local area.

p.4

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

Positive parenting and recognition are a priority in this home. Children’s achievements are celebrated. Rewards systems to promote positive behaviour and to support progression are individualised to each child. Consequences are mostly restorative to help children make better choices. However, the manager does not provide an evaluation to see if the measure was effective or should be used again to support children with their behaviour. Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 5

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Both managers know the children very well. They are integral to children feeling safe and happy in the home. They are both positive role models for the staff team. Leaders and managers confidently challenge professionals to ensure that children’s needs are met and they are provided with the individualised care and support that they require.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers keep children well informed about any action that has been taken to explore allegations or concerns. However, on one occasion, managers failed to recognise a delay in staff reporting concerns to the on-call manager when additional information relating to an allegation was shared by a child. Managers have communicated the alleged concern by email to the social worker, which is also not an effective or prompt way to share potential concerns with a placing authority. No harm came to the child because of this, but leaders and managers’ oversight of allegation management and the processes has not been effective.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported by leaders and managers. There have been some internal changes to the staff team. However, the staff team remains stable and there has been no reported impact on the continuity of care for children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with regular supervision. They are used effectively to reflect on children’s needs, safeguarding concerns, incidents and staff well-being. Annual appraisals drive staff development and opportunities for children. Any performance issues are dealt with quickly, so that support and training can be implemented to improve staff practice.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are trained in a wide variety of areas that are bespoke to children’s needs and risk taking behaviour. Leaders and managers use team meetings to share important updates with the staff team and to direct children’s individual key-work sessions. The manager has introduced workshops and staff champion roles to develop staff knowledge of their role and their quality of care and support for children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor reports provide a detailed overview of the quality of care provided to children and any recommendations to drive change and improvement. Alongside the manager’s review of the quality of care report, a home development plan demonstrates that leaders and managers recognise the home’s strengths and areas they plan to develop further. Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 6

p.5

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.

p.6

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—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and;

p.6

Requirement Due date

delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

p.6

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)(a)(h))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to allegation management and oversight of the process. 25 April 2025

p.6

Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

p.6

Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii)) 25 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 7

p.6

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home. Specifically, the review should include intelligence from professionals and children about the local area. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 15.1)

p.7

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: 2706926 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspireone Care Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

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

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered managers: Rachel Harris and Emma Nelson

p.8

Inspector

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2706926 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9