Children's home run by Manchester City Council in Manchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC063683 1 SC063683 Registered provider: Manchester City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to six young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is run and managed by a local authority. The manager of the home was registered with Ofsted in March 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 25 to 26 September 2019

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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 outstanding

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC063683 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/08/2018 Full Good 16/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 31/10/2017 Full Good 11/07/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC063683 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from well-planned, personalised care that promotes their needs effectively. Young people make good progress in relation to their individual starting points and enjoy good relationships with staff and they sustain their positive attachments. They benefit from continuity of care and have consistency and stability in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people reported, ‘It’s good here sometimes. I like school. I love it. Staff are helpful and the manager’s well pleasant. They really welcomed me and made it feel like home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff aspire to make a real difference to the lives of young people and they strive to achieve the best outcomes for them. Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with social workers, schools and health professionals to ensure 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: good

Young people sustain their close relationships with their friends and families through well-planned contact. A social worker reported, ‘Staff have a good relationship with the child. They maintain good relationships with her birth family and support contact effectively.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are registered with the health services that they need to enjoy good health. Staff work in close partnership with health professionals to promote the young people’s good health. This includes working with the home’s assigned speech and language therapist and a mental health practitioner to promote individual development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have experienced poor school attendance and disruption to their education previously. However, young people are now attending school or alternative educational provision more regularly, and they benefit from extensive support from staff to promote their progress, educational achievements and learning. Staff work closely with the providers of young people’s education to support their career aspirations, training and educational goals. A Social worker reported, ‘Staff are very in tune with the needs of the children and support them to achieve their potential. It’s positive that the home is getting most young people into school most of the time.’

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

The safety of young people is always at the forefront of staff’s practice. Staff have a good understanding of young people’s specific needs and emerging vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address them. The use of clear risk assessment combined with effective safe working practices promotes the safety of young people at the home. Young people are protected from bullying, abuse and exploitation, and all other forms of significant harm. Inspection report children’s home: SC063683 4 Staff are well trained in child protection. Consequently, they have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles. Young people are kept safe and have a strong sense of personal safety. They become increasingly safer because of the actions staff take to support and protect them. Significant incidents are reported to the appropriate authorities to promote the safety and well-being of young people.

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

Staff consistently have high expectations of behaviour. They apply the home’s rules and boundaries fairly to promote a safe environment for young people. Staff use suitable consequences with individuals to address unacceptable behaviour. The use of restraint is a last resort that is only ever used to protect young people from harm. Young people know how to make a complaint and their complaints are addressed effectively.

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

Staff anticipate issues and act quickly to prevent incidents and behaviours from escalating. They have a good understanding of the triggers for young people’s behaviours. Negative behaviours are reducing and incidents that do occur are managed safely and effectively by staff.

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

Risk-taking behaviours such as going missing from care for lengthy periods, self-harm, offending and drug misuse are controlled and minimised. The frequency with which young people go missing has decreased and when young people have gone missing, staff follow and implement the home’s procedures to promote their safe return. Young people benefit from a comfortable and homely living environment. Health and safety issues are managed effectively to promote a safe environment for young people, visitors and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people benefit from a home that is managed highly efficiently and effectively. The home employs an experienced and appropriately qualified registered manager who demonstrates strong and effective leadership of the operation of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is passionate about young people. They have consistently high expectations of staff and high aspirations for young people. The registered manager stimulates the enthusiasm of staff and channels their efforts effectively. A staff member reported, ‘I think we have a good manager who works hard to achieve the best for our home and strives for the best outcomes for our young people. The home is very well managed. I feel the team is very well supported and guided.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is an ambitious and enthusiastic leader. She leads staff, by example, and prioritises the needs of young people. The registered manager escalates concerns and challenges professional decisions when she believes this is in the best interests of young people, for example services that underperform or fail to deliver the support young people need to make progress in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people benefit from staff employed from diverse backgrounds, gender groups and ethnicities. Young people have positive role models with adults with different skills, backgrounds and life experiences. They benefit from staff’s guidance, advice and Inspection report children’s home: SC063683 5 perseverance and have trusted adults they can confide in and learn from.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff working at the home have sufficient knowledge, qualifications, skills, training and experience to meet the needs of young people effectively. Staff meet the aims and objectives of the home’s statement of purpose. They deliver a high-quality service for young people that contributes to continuous change and improvement in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is visited regularly by an independent person who scrutinises the performance of the home. This type of activity enables the registered manager to have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. As a result, the manager can tackle weaknesses to improve the home’s performance and promote the smooth and efficient operations of the home. The registered manager makes effective use of the home’s internal and external monitoring activities to secure continuing improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has met and addressed the requirements and recommendations from the last inspection. Young people are now in full-time education and staff support their regular school attendance. The home has employed a new deputy manager and staff vacancies are being recruited to. This will ensure that there are enough staff employed to meet the needs of young people at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Consent is now in place for an independent person to access young people’s confidential records and the registered manager has completed a quality of care review and sent the completed report to Ofsted. The registered manager has now consulted with the home’s stakeholders and feedback received about the service is consistently positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There are no breaches in regulation. Consequently, there are no requirements or recommendations made at 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: SC063683 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : Manchester City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Albert Square, Manchester M60 2LA

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Inspector

Anthony Kyem: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063683 7 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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Inspector

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