Children's home run by Maple Leaf Care Limited in Trafford

Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 1 SC366343 Registered provider: Maple Leaf Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately run and managed.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has two joint registered managers in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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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.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 22 November 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2017 Full Outstanding 23/11/2016 Full Outstanding 10/08/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children should be in full-time education whilst they are of compulsory school age unless their personal education plan contained within the care plan or other relevant plan states otherwise. The home must aim to support full time attendance at school unless the child’s relevant plan indicates this is not in their best interests. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.14)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The needs of young people are carefully assessed prior to their admission. The registered manager completes a risk impact assessment for all new admissions, having considered the needs of young people that already live at the home. This ensures that young people placed are appropriately matched. A commissioning officer reported, ‘It is notable that there is great attention to the impact assessment regarding the young people in placement and the matching of the young person moving in.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Care planning is carried out exceptionally well, and practice is highly personalised to meet the specific needs of young people. Young people make significant progress in relation to their individual starting points. Young people benefit from effective, high- quality support from staff that contributes to continuing change and improvement in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people enjoy warm and secure relationships with staff. They benefit from excellent role models and have appropriate adults they look up to and learn from. Young people have stability in their lives and are developing a sense of permanence and belonging. An independent reviewing officer reported, ‘The staff team [appears] very flexible [and] resilient, and [perseveres] even when a child does not wish to engage. Progress has been such that the child I review could not have been clearer in stating her wish to remain living at the home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home maintains constructive and extremely supportive relationships with the families of young people. It promotes contact to ensure that young people sustain their close relationships with the people who are most important to them. Young people reported, ‘Before, I felt nervous but now I feel safe, chilled and happy’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home works closely with health professionals to ensure that young people’s specific health needs are met. Young people are registered with a doctor, dentist and optician and have access to the support they need to promote their physical and emotional well- Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 4 being. Young people become increasingly healthy because of the help and support provided to them by health professionals and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are consulted, and there are highly effective mechanisms through which they can influence and make a positive contribution to the running of their home. Young people feel actively listened to by staff. There is evidence to demonstrate how staff act on young people’s views and reasonable requests. Young people are involved in key decisions, and staff ensure that they are fully involved in all aspects of care planning and daily living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home subscribes to, ‘Mind of my own’, referred to by young people as ‘MOMO’, an application that has revolutionised the way in which young people are able to communicate with social workers, staff and other designated professionals, by using technology, such as a computer, tablet or mobile phone. This empowers young people to have a real voice and ensures that their views, feelings and opinions are heard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Most young people attend school or alternative educational provision. Staff consistently have high aspirations for young people and maintain strong partnerships with their schools to promote their educational achievement and learning. Young people that are excluded or fail to attend school regularly should continue to receive the support they need to resume their education at the earliest opportunity.

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

Staff demonstrate an excellent understanding of young people’s specific needs and emerging vulnerabilities. Risks associated with young people are well known and understood by staff. Young people become increasingly safe because of the actions staff take to protect them.

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

Risk-taking behaviours, such as self-harm, offending, drug use and anti-social behaviour, have reduced significantly, and young people are less likely to suffer actual harm. Some young people show a significant reduction in the frequency at which they are absent or go missing. When young people have gone missing, staff actively look for them and work closely with the police to secure their safe return.

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

Young people benefit from a caring, nurturing and supportive environment that affords them emotional warmth, safety and stability, and provides them with clear and consistent boundaries. This, combined with effective reward systems and incentives, helps young people to develop their self-esteem and confidence. Significant incidents are reducing, and incidents that do occur are addressed effectively by staff.

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

Staff consistently have high expectations of behaviour. The consequences they use to address negative behaviours are proportionate, clear and fair. Staff help young people to think about the impact their behaviour has on others. They support young people to self- regulate their own behaviour. As a result, the use of restraint is rare, and no restraints have occurred since the last inspection. Staff anticipate incidents exceptionally well because they understand the triggers for young people’s behaviour. This enables them Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 5 to act quickly to prevent negative behaviours being presented and incidents occurring.

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

Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with the police, social workers and all other safeguarding agencies to promote the safety and well-being of young people. Young people are protected from abuse, and staff are knowledgeable and competent in relation to their safeguarding roles. Young people are kept safe and feel safe living at the home. A young person reported, ‘I like being here because it is a settled house and is very calm. It is a fair and friendly house. The staff are nice and it’s a much better home than my older ones.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff meet the aims and objectives, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. The team can demonstrate the positive difference that it has made to the lives of young people and can evidence change and improvement in their lives. Staff reported, ‘There is not much I would change about my work place. We just need to keep doing what we are doing and continuing to look after the children to the highest standard… Everyone knows what is expected of them. We all work together as a team to keep our young people safe.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home benefits from strong and effective leadership provided by joint registered managers. The registered managers prioritise the needs of young people and ensure that their needs are met consistently by staff. Staff communicated that they are extremely well supported and managed. Leaders and managers lead staff by example. They provide them with a clear sense of purpose and direction. They are uncompromising in their efforts to provide young people with the highest standards of care that contributes to their improved outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people benefit from a home that is managed efficiently and effectively. Staff spend good-quality time with young people both individually and as a group. They show a genuine interest in what young people do, think and feel and provide them with the support they need, when they need it most. Young people benefit from having trusted adults who they can talk to and receive sound advice, help and support from. Staff build and maintain highly effective partnerships with all professional agencies to ensure that young people benefit from the best possible help and all-round support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The performance of staff is routinely supported and further developed through appraisals, high-quality training and regular, practice-related supervision. Staff have sufficient skills, knowledge, qualifications, training and relevant experience to meet the specific needs of young people at the home. Staff are well qualified and have access to relevant high-quality training to support their learning, practice and professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff fully embrace, share and implement the home’s ethos, approach and philosophy in caring for young people. Staff are passionate about young people, and their efforts and enthusiasm are channelled effectively. Leaders and managers have consistently high expectations of staff and have high aspirations for young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 6 The home is visited, each month by an independent professional who scrutinises the home’s arrangements to safeguard young people and promote their well-being. Leaders and managers are always looking for improved ways of working. They make good use of the home’s internal and external monitoring activities to secure the home’s continuing improvement.

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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.

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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: SC366343 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Maple Leaf Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16a Regent Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 1RP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Morgiana Nazerali

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Children’s home details

Registered managers: Nicola Higham Susan Murfitt

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Inspector

Anthony Kyem, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC366343 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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