Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Stockport

Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 1 SC008487 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Services.

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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 provides care and accommodation for up to six young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The home is maintained by a partnership.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s registered manager is temporarily absent from the home, and there is an interim manager 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 outstanding

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/07/2018 Full Good 17/10/2017 Full Good 02/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/10/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people thrive and make rapid progress in relation to their individual starting points. They benefit from well-planned, highly individualised care that meets their needs effectively and contributes to change and improvement in their lives. A social worker reported, ‘[Young person] is beginning to develop positive relationships with members of staff. Their extended family have also commented positively on the level of care the home provides and the positive difference they see in them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with health professionals to promote the young people’s positive health. They ensure that young people are registered with all local health services and have access to these services when they need them. Staff ensure that young people have access to specialist health provision, such as trained therapists, drugs and sexual health advisers to promote the young people’s psychological, physical and emotional well-being. This ensures that young people benefit from the best possible help and all-round support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A social worker reported, ‘I am delighted with the care [the home] has provided. Since [the young person] moved there, I have seen a positive change in his attitude and behaviour. He is more open, talkative and happier.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage and value the importance of young people’s education. Staff develop strong partnerships with the providers of young people’s education to maximise young people’s education progress, achievements and learning. Some young people are currently home tutored until a suitable and appropriate full-time school placement is identified for them to attend. Other young people are already attending school on a full- time basis. All young people are engaged in education and they are learning, making progress and achieving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people enjoy a broad range of exciting, enjoyable and stimulating activities. They participate in many positive activities, such as go-karting, football and rugby, visiting theme parks, sports events, museums and cinema, and one young person visits a music recording studio to make and record his own music. In this way, young people’s time is occupied constructively, and young people develop their own talents, specific interests and hobbies. A young person reported, ‘It’s good. I’ve been swimming, visited museums for educational activities and I’ve been to see an air raid shelter. Best thing is getting to know everyone and having a fresh start.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff actively promote contact for young people to ensure that they can sustain their close relationships with the people who are most important to them. Staff purchased a young person’s family a bed and provide weekly food hampers to support and facilitate overnight contact taking place. Staff are excellent advocates for young people. They pursue young people’s wishes and act on their reasonable requests. This has led to one young person having planned, long-distance contact with his friends in a different area. This led to a reduction in him going missing from the home. Staff are fast tracking the Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 4 arrangements for managing family contact for a recent admission to address his anxieties about seeing his family. Staff are hugely supportive of contact and will do everything possible to facilitate safe contact taking place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home provides young people with a physically safe, appropriately secure, warm, comfortable and very homely living environment. All parts of the premises are maintained to a high-quality standard for young people.

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

The safety and well-being of young people are consistently at the centre of staff’s practice, irrespective of the challenges this presents. Staff have an excellent understanding of young people’s needs and emerging vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address them. Young people are kept safe and have a strong sense of personal safety. They benefit from positive role models in staff and have adults they look up to and learn from.

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

High-quality risk impact assessments are completed prior to a young person’s admission to the home. This ensures that young people have a better chance of placement success than they do of placement breakdown, disruption or failure. Young people know how to make a complaint. However, there have been no complaints since the last inspection. Young people raised no complaints or concerns in relation to their care during this inspection.

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

There is evidence to show that young people become increasingly safer because of the actions staff take to support and protect them. For example, risks associated with young people in relation to drug misuse, self-harm, going missing from care for long periods and child sexual and criminal exploitation have reduced considerably in relation to their individual starting points. Staff actively look for young people if they are missing. They maintain highly effective partnerships with the police and implement and follow the home’s procedures to locate young people quickly and secure their safe return.

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

Young people are proactively protected from abuse and all other forms of significant harm. Staff are trained in child protection, human trafficking, county lines and understanding child sexual exploitation. They know how to recognise the possible signs and symptoms of abuse and are always alert to the risk of harm. Staff are trained to deal with allegations and know how to report suspected abuse.

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

Staff actively support young people to self-regulate their own feelings and behaviour. Consequently, the use of restraint is rare and, if used at all, it is only ever used as a last resort to protect young people from harm. The use of rewards exceeds the use of sanctions. Where sanctions are used as a deterrent for addressing negative behaviour, they are always fair, balanced and proportionate.

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

Staff provide young people with clear rules and consistent and safe boundaries. Consequently, young people know and understand the home’s rules and are clear about staff’s expectations of behaviour. A young person reported, ‘It’s nice here. I’ve been here Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 5 a couple of months. The staff here, they help you calm down. If we are good, then we get to go on more activities. It’s good.’

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

Staff anticipate issues exceptionally well. This enables them to take preventative steps to stop negative behaviours and incidents from escalating. Staff have an excellent understanding of group dynamics and are trained and skilled in de-escalation. When disagreements occur, staff use a restorative approach to help young people understand the impact their behaviour has on themselves and others. Young people know that staff care about them and that the care provided by staff is sincere and genuine.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people benefit from a home that is managed efficiently and effectively. The home employs a very experienced registered manager and deputy manager. The registered manager is now on maternity leave, so the deputy manager is acting up in the registered manager’s absence. The deputy manager continues to demonstrate strong and effective leadership of the day-to-day operations of the home. Additionally, a registered manager from another children’s home is supporting the deputy manager as and when required. Ofsted was notified of these suitable interim and contingency management arrangements for the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home’s management team is inspirational and aspires to make a difference to the lives of young people. Leaders and managers are very much ‘hands on’ and they stimulate the enthusiasm of staff and channel their efforts effectively. They provide staff with a clear sense of purpose and direction and lead by example. Staff work extremely well together as a team and they share and implement the home’s ethos, approach, culture and philosophy in caring for young people. They meet the aims and objectives, as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose, comprehensively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people benefit from a warm, caring, supportive and nurturing environment. The needs of young people are prioritised very effectively. Young people are looked after by dedicated, committed, enthusiastic, skilled, capable and very experienced staff. Staff are professionally managed and consistently well supported and led by leaders and managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are not afraid to escalate concerns appropriately and challenge any professional decisions when they believe this course of action is in the best interests of young people. This ensures that other professionals deliver and work in partnership with the home to help and support young people and deliver the services they need. Significant incidents are reported to the appropriate authorities to ensure that the right action is taken by the right professional agencies to support and protect young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has met and addressed all the recommendations from the last inspection. The renovation work to the garden has now been completed successfully. New garden furniture has been purchased so young people and staff can now sit and socialise together in the summer. New kitchen units, a cooker and carpets have also been fitted in the home. Young people now attend their routine health appointments regularly and Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 6 receive the support they need to be healthy and enjoy good health. Young people are attending education daily, and those not attending full-time education are actively working towards achieving this goal.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is always looking at ways to further develop its practice, and there is a strong focus and commitment to continuing improvement. Leaders and managers are receptive to feedback and make effective use of the home’s monitoring activities to secure the home’s improvement. There are no breaches in regulation. Consequently, there are no recommendations or requirements made following this inspection.

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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: SC008487 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : The Partnership of Care Today Services.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Anthony Kyem, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC008487 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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