Children's Home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC390190 1 SC390190 Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions II Ltd

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

p.1

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.

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

p.1

outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC390190 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/01/2018 Full Outstanding 07/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/09/2016 Full Good 14/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC390190 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children develop excellent relationships with staff. Staff understand children’s needs well and recognise the impact of early childhood experiences.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have long-term placements. Because they have very strong relationships with staff, they make outstanding progress emotionally, socially and academically. Challenging behaviours reduce. This means that children benefit from a wider range of social opportunities.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A therapeutic approach is promoted by all staff and is integral to the home. This is backed up by the company’s therapy team. The psychotherapist said, ‘This is a very settled, committed staff team. Its members are offering nurturing and playful care. They are very proactive and seek appropriate advice and support.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make excellent progress in their education. A headteacher said, ‘I would recommend this home for other children. They are good at communicating and advocating for children.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff advocate well for children. Staff recognise that their role is to advocate in the best interests of children as well as ensuring that children’s views are heard. All the children have an independent advocate.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff understand the importance of supporting family relationships. One parent said, ‘Everything is perfect. My daughter’s risks have definitely reduced, and staff have been able to put boundaries in place.’

p.3

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

Staff work hard to ensure that children are safe. The staff team promotes a positive ethos so that children feel safe and comfortable. Children feel so comfortable that, when the inspector explained her role, a child said, ‘Well this is my home, so why are you here?’

p.3

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

Staff are aware of the potential risks for children in their care. Staff are creative and flexible in devising behaviour management plans with a view to reducing risks. Staff are diligent in the way they respond to children who run away. Consequently, missing episodes for children reduce.

p.3

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

If allegations are made, they are well managed. Relevant agencies are informed promptly. Children are central to safeguarding processes. There is a high standard of recording of safeguarding incidents. This makes it easy for managers to maintain a good oversight of events in the home.

p.3

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

Physical interventions have significantly reduced. These have been replaced by nurturing Inspection report children’s home: SC390190 4 care and positive behaviour management strategies.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers are strong and experienced. They are passionate about driving a high-quality care provision. This significantly improves the life opportunities and outcomes for children. This extends to children who have moved on. Staff continue to offer ‘staying close’ support and maintain positive relationships with care leavers.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Stakeholder feedback has been unanimously excellent. A consistent comment that has been noted from professionals and parents is that staff ‘go above and beyond’ in their roles to meet the needs of the children and to support them to make progress.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff morale is excellent. Staff work well together and share the core values of the home. Staff have excellent knowledge and experience of working with children who have a history of trauma and disorganised attachments.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home’s development plan is used very effectively to celebrate achievements. It is a great pictorial log of what children enjoy about life at the home. It shows a wonderful range of opportunities available for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision. Staff feel supported and can share their views, wishes and feelings. Staff work very well together. The strength of the team is its good communication skills. A social worker said, ‘They are doing everything right. They have been really flexible with supporting contact arrangements.’

p.4

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

p.4

Information about this inspection

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: SC390190 5

p.4

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions II Ltd

p.5

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Merchants Place River Street, Bolton, Lancashire BL2 1BX

p.5

Inspector

Bev Allison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC390190 6 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.5

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 http://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.6

Inspector

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

p.6

Inspector

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

p.6