Children's Home run by Aspire House Ltd in Brent

Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 1 Registered provider: Aspire House Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in May 2018 and is privately owned. It provides care for up to 5 children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home. The inspector was able to speak with one child during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2018.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/03/2026 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/12/2024 Full Outstanding 19/03/2024 Full Outstanding 10/05/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 3

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Summary of findings

Children receive good-quality, nurturing care from staff who help them to feel settled, safe and valued. Children benefit from positive relationships with staff, good support for their health, education and emotional wellbeing, and meaningful time with people who are important to them. Staff use trauma-informed approaches to promote children’s safety and help them develop confidence and independence. Leaders and managers provide stable leadership and invest in staff development to improve outcomes for children. However, management oversight of some records is not consistently evident, and opportunities to gather feedback from children and relevant professionals are not always fully maximised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home are well planned, and staff work collaboratively with multi-agency professionals. This helps children to feel settled and understand what to expect from the start. Children visit the home beforehand and receive a video introducing the home and staff to help familiarise themselves. Where possible, children choose their bedrooms, helping them to feel involved, valued and welcomed into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves on from the home are thoughtful and well planned. Staff support children throughout the process and continue to maintain contact after they move, where appropriate. This helps children maintain meaningful relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their interests and personalities. Staff support children to maintain their bedrooms and develop independence skills. Through creative and individualised approaches, children are encouraged to make choices and participate in activities that interest them. This helps children to develop confidence, independence and positive relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met well. Staff encourage and support children to attend health appointments and use one-to-one sessions to help them understand their health needs. Staff also promote children’s emotional wellbeing through regular check-ins and activities that reflect their interests. This helps children to stay healthy and develop positive emotional wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with schools to ensure that children’s educational needs are met. They attend relevant education meetings, work alongside professionals and support children to achieve their educational targets. Staff and schools maintain a collaborative approach, helping to ensure consistency and a shared understanding of how children’s needs are best supported. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 4 Staff promote meaningful time with people who are important to children. Family members are welcomed into the home and supported to spend quality time with children. Children are also supported to spend time with their friends, including agreed overnight stays. This helps children sustain important relationships and enjoy experiences like those of other children their age.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek children’s feedback, and leaders and managers use this information to inform practice in the home. However, systems for routinely gathering feedback from children and professionals about the quality of care provided are not yet fully established. As a result, opportunities to use this feedback to inform evaluation and continuous improvement are not always maximised.

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

Staff are supported by managers to use trauma-informed approaches that help children to better understand their emotions, develop positive relationships and feel safe. Staff take time to build trusting relationships with children and respond to their individual needs in a sensitive and nurturing way. Physical intervention is not used. Instead, staff use child-led activities and meaningful engagement to build positive connections and support children to express themselves.

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

Staff have a good understanding of how to support children when they go missing from care and are familiar with relevant procedures. Relevant professionals are notified, and staff continue to make attempts to contact children until they return. When children return, staff provide emotional support and help them to settle back into their routines. Staff also advocate with relevant professionals to ensure that return home interviews take place.

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

Leaders and managers follow safer recruitment processes and support staff through induction, mandatory training and ongoing development. This helps staff to understand the needs of the children and develop the knowledge and skills required to provide safe and effective care. Staff build meaningful relationships with children and respond to them in ways that reflect their individual needs.

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of children’s vulnerabilities and use individualised approaches to support their safety and wellbeing. However, leadership oversight of some risk assessments and children’s care plans is not consistently evident. As a result, some records do not always reflect the approaches used by staff to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a clear understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development. A trauma-informed model has recently been introduced to enhance support for children and is in the early stages of implementation. Staff report that this approach has strengthened their understanding of children’s needs and experiences and helps them to build positive relationships with children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 5 Professionals spoken to during the inspection spoke positively about the quality of staff practice and the progress children are making. Feedback reflects good partnership working and a commitment to meeting children’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff attend regular team meetings, which they report provide opportunities to share information, raise concerns and contribute to discussions about the home. Meetings take place both in person and virtually. However, records of team meetings are not consistently maintained. This limits leaders’ ability to demonstrate how information is consistently communicated across the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, which they say is supportive and beneficial to their practice and professional development. However, supervision records are not consistently maintained for all staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children continue to receive good-quality care despite shortfalls in leadership oversight of some records and documentation. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring. This should include obtaining regular feedback from all professionals and children to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that records of supervision are kept for staff, including the manager. The records should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation, and records should consistently be maintained for all staff members. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of clear, objective and child-focused

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Recommendations

recording. Records should be subject to effective managerial oversight to ensure that they are accurate, up to date and provide staff with clear guidance to support consistent care for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1278959 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 32 Byron Hill Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 0HY

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Inspector

Nirmal Gracian, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1278959 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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