Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 1 SC408655 Registered provider: Aspris Children’s Services Limited

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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 large national provider. It provides care for up to 7 children who may have a learning difficulty and/or autism. There were 4 children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 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

Date of last inspection: 2 September 2025

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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: SC408655 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/09/2025 Full Good 15/01/2025 Full Good 25/01/2024 Full Good 14/07/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 3

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Summary of findings

The home continues to provide stable, consistent and individualised care for children. Children are being supported to develop life skills and move on to their adult placements with careful planning and at an appropriate pace. Staff are skilled at meeting a wide range of care and communication needs. They use a variety of methods and communication tools to ensure each child is supported to engage in the day-to-day arrangements for their care and communicate their wishes, feelings and needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have established positive relationships with staff and receive stable and consistent care from staff who know them well. For one child, this provides stability after experiencing a significant number of moves. A calm, patient approach from staff supports children’s emotional regulation and helps them feel safe and understood. Children benefit from clear boundaries, reassurance and predictable routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s preferred methods of communication and consistently support and promote these methods. Staff use communication tools confidently. This enables children to be fully involved in their day-to-day care. Staff are able to recognise children’s different cues, adapting responses accordingly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are engaging in education. This has been tailored to their individual needs. One child has recently been supported to move from a specialist provision to mainstream college. Children enjoy a range of leisure and community-based activities that enable them to further develop their own interests, to have fun and develop life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s important relationships are valued by staff. They are supported to spend regular time with family members. Staff work effectively to make sure this goes well, travelling with children and supervising family time when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transitions from the home are well planned and developed at each child’s pace, ensuring they understand the arrangements. Learning from previous moves is taken into account to ensure the process is as supportive as possible. One child who recently moved on remains in contact with staff, demonstrating ongoing positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a warm, comfortable feel to the home. The bedrooms are individualised and the home reflects a real sense of each child’s personality. There are creative adaptations to support behaviours and children’s unique behaviours are supported and celebrated.

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

The risks and vulnerabilities of each child are known, managed and responded to well by staff. Children are kept safe and receive a high quality of care to meet their emotional, Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 4 physical and health needs. Staff support children to understand risks and to develop skills to keep themselves safe as far as possible.

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

Children’s safety plans identify individual risks for each child. Strategies used by staff to support children in managing risks are clear and are reviewed regularly. However, staff do not always ensure that risks are recorded as historical, or removed if they are no longer relevant.

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

Support plans are tailored to each child’s needs and are subject to careful oversight and regular review. This ensures the support provided evolves and develops as the skills and needs of the children change.

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

Incidents are managed well, with debriefs with children and staff involved. There is a good level of management oversight. However, not all elements of practice are fully considered, meaning that learning may not be incorporated into the process of continuous improvement in the quality of care provided in the home.

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

Before new staff come to work in the home, the manager ensures that safer recruitment practices are followed and continues to review how the process can be strengthened and remain robust.

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

Staff respond constructively to challenging behaviour. Strategies are in place to promote positive behaviour. Physical interventions are rarely used. When they are, this is only when necessary and there is good attention to repairing relationships between children and staff afterwards. This helps children to feel safe and enjoy secure relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a stable leadership and management team, with an effective manager who has high expectations of staff and high aspirations for the children. The manager and deputy manager inspire the staff team to deliver the home’s vision of high-quality care. When practice has been slow to improve, leaders have provided consistent messages and clear expectations to staff, reinforced through team meetings and supervision sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is due to move on from the home. Although this may bring challenges, leaders have considered the potential impact of the change. The incoming manager is now in post, and a comprehensive handover is planned. Staff and children have been well prepared for these changes with the support of the in-house therapist, ensuring that the transition is managed well for the children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the home’s strengths and weaknesses well. Despite some staff vacancies, the quality of care has remained high. The manager undertakes careful planning for any children moving into the home and has not rushed moving children in, especially taking account of staff capacity. Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 5 Staff have completed mandatory training as well as training specific to the needs of the children living in the home. This helps to ensure that children receive care from familiar staff who are well equipped to respond to their needs. Staff knowledge is regularly refreshed through discussions, quizzes and scenarios in team meetings and regular supervision. Consequently, staff show appropriate professional knowledge and consistently act to ensure that children remain safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about their roles and the support they receive from managers and colleagues. Staff have a good understanding of children and of their safeguarding responsibilities, and they demonstrate an empathic approach to care. Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments contain up-to-date information and that historical risks which are no longer relevant are removed. 11 December 2026

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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

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)) 11 December 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 7 In particular, the registered person must ensure that the management review of incidents considers all aspects of practice in the home and must identify areas for development when policies are not followed by staff.

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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: SC408655 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aspris Children’s 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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Vanessa Caldicott

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Inspector

Gemma Bullen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC408655 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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