Alexandra House Children’s Home Statement of Function and Purpose

Children’s Accommodation and Support Services

Review Date: April 2011

Ashby House Children’s Welcome Booklet

December 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashby House has a large kitchen, a dining room, large lounge and games room with a multi games table, PlayStation 4 and Dart Board . We have 7 bedrooms which have their own bathrooms, a

communal bathroom and 1 independence flat.

We live over the road from the beach, close to one of the main bus routes in our town; we have the Britten center which is for those of you who like shopping. Sports center, cinema, bowling

alley, fast food restaurants and has the local train station

We have several different sports clubs within the town: football, cricket, rugby, swimming, boxing, judo, gymnastic,

horse riding. We also have dance classes; ballet, tap, modern, jazz, hip-hop, street, break dancing. You can join any of these

groups if they take your fancy

You can bring your friends in as long as their behavior and your behavior is okay and doesn’t cause any problems with the other children. Also check with staff first but we do ask for friends

not to come up during school hours and they leave by 9pm.

While you live here your bedroom is your bedroom and you can decorate it any color you would like and have posters or

pictures up of your own choice. You all are given electric keys fobs to your bedroom door so nobody else can get in.

There will be staff around 24 hours of the day. Throughout the days there are 3 changes of staffing. Morning staff will help you

make sure you are ready for school, afternoon staff make sure you get home from school and take you to clubs or do other activities & night staff make sure all

the building is secure and locked while you sleep.

Ashby Houses

Rules & Expectations No smoking inside the house or bedrooms, outside only.

Be respectful to the home and the environment around you.

Be respectful to other children, staff members and the outside community: neighbours.

Be respectful of other children’s wishes feelings, and always make them feel welcome.

Behave when you are out in the car with staff or out doing something fun or even homes holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

Pocket money & incentives Every Saturday you will be given your pocket money, but there is

couple of thing you have to-do… make sure that you have changed your bed and tidied your room. Staff will always go up and check.

Here is the amount of pocket money you can get…

11-12 years old… £4.60

13-15 years old… £5.55

16+ years old… £7.45

Incentives can help you earn more money to add into your pocket money. Each incentive will be designed and made especially for you to

achieve.

You can earn up to an extra £3.50each week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keyworkers Each child as their own key workers, who are members of staff who take interest into you and make sure that all your paperwork is up to date. So it is important that we have the correct information about you so we can support you properly. Your key workers will set your incentives with you and make sure they you have all your doctors,

dentist, and opticians’ appointments up to date. Your key workers will attend all your meetings and will help you stay in touch with your

family, friends, and social worker.

Each month you get a budget for

Toiletries, Clothes, phone credit, Activities.

You need to make sure that you tell your key workers if you run out of anything and they can take you out and get them all replaced at the beginning of each

month

Leading a Healthy Life

Within Ashby House we encourage a healthy life-style, whether its fitness to healthy eating we make sure you get what you need.

In the kitchen is food that you can help yourself too and we also have our own cook which cooks all the children home made food for their tea. If there is any food that’s you are not keen on then please let the

cook know and she is happy to give you an alternative.

Once every week you will all have a snack bag made up and it’s up to you whether you want to make it last or eat it in one go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you have already read about the house being a non-smoking building, but if you wish to give up then let your key working team

know and they will be able to put you in touch with people that can help.

Drugs & alcohol is not allowed on the premises of the house, if we fi8nd any of these thing we will take them, away. If you are feeling like you need some help with drug or an alcohol addiction, then ask your

key worker team for more information.

 

Staying Safe in the local community

and at Ashby House

It is very important that you inform staffs where you are going if you go out, if you are going to be late then please let the staff know back

at the home.

Your bedroom is your private space; please think of others when you have your TV on and don’t have it too loud. But if staff has reasons to believe that you have something in your room that could be a danger

to yourself or others we may have to do a room search. For everybody’s safety children are not allowed in each other’s rooms at

night time, and we prefer you not encourage others into your room, if another children does come into your room make sure you bedroom

door is open so staff can check you are okay.

Children can sometimes get upset or angry. Staff put the safety of the child first and will not let them harm yourself or others. They are

trained in a safe way and will help you talk through the situation with you after you have calmed down.

Bullying

We don’t tolerate bullying at Ashby House whether it is name-calling, teasing, pushing or pulling, fighting, ignoring or leaving others out or

even spreading nasty rumors about others.

If you feel you are being bullied or you see somebody is being bullied, please tell a member off staff or the Childrens Right Officer, We can arrange for them to visit the home so that you can speak with them.

Staff will take action to prevent someone being bullied or prevent the bully themselves.

We also have an ‘I want you to know’ form, which allows you to write to any of the team, manager or head of service and you are able to

express all your worries or concerns. You will get a response from the person you have written to explaining what they can do to help or what maybe the next steps.

Education We think that education is really important to give you the best opportunities in the future and at Ashby House we expect each young person to attend education every day. Your education is

important and staff will do their best to help in any way they can whether it’s finding the right support for you in school or helping you to motivate yourself to get up in the mornings for school. Within the

home we have a computer. We also have had Wi-Fi installed so you could do your homework somewhere quiet if needed.

With your education you can talk with your Keyworkers about have an incentive in place for good attendance. This can be anything you

choose but bear in mind you will have to put in the hard work to get the rewards. It may be something small that you get at the end of the week or something bigger for the end of a term. This can all be agreed

with your Keyworkers.

. 

 

Activities Even though you have your everyday activities staff plan big activities

within the school holidays. You can have your say along with the other children where you would like to go. Also within the summer you

can get the chance to go on the holiday which are up and down the country. But in the past years children from Ashby House have been

aboard for their summer holiday.

Also if we can find a reason to have a party we will! Not just because it’s your birthday but there may be other reason why we would like to have a party. Valentine’s day, Christmas day, New Year’s eve, Easter, Pancake day, Bonfire night, Halloween and many more. Also we do

theme nights and have different variety of food cooked by the cook to have a change. On the first Friday of every month we have take

away night which is always good.

 

We encourage and help you to take part in The Passport to Independence programme where you can learn life skills and help prepare for when you leave Ashby House. You can earn credited certificates to take with you as an additional qualification. As you get older and move towards independence you and your keyworker will begin to work with Catch 22, the leaving care provision.

People who can help

A Children’s Rights Officer visits our home when requested and an independent advocate that visits the home regularly. You may wish to discuss any issues that you may have with them, which will be independent of the staff at Ashby House.

Anne Longfield is the Children’s Commissioner for England

She be contacted by: Free Phone: 0800 528 0731

Email: advice.team@childrenscommissioner.gsi.gov.uk 

Our Regulation 44 Visitor visits the home every month and produces an independent report that goes into detail about your care and the way the home operates. The visitor is always keen to hear your opinion on the home.

 CIC Nurse

We have a looked after children’s nurse who will meet with you soon after you arrive. The Nurse will keep an eye on your health and will listen to your worries and concerns. She can be contacted on 01502 527593.

Ofsted

OFSTED is a government organization that inspects all children’s homes to make sure they are run well and follow your care plan. An Inspector visits twice a year. Before the Inspector comes, they will send you a questionnaire to fill in and during the visits they may ask you questions. You can, if you wish ring OFSTED on 0300 123 1231.

We hope you enjoy living at Ashby House as much as we will love having you here!