Children's Home run by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council in Tameside

Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 1 Registered provider: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

A highly experienced and qualified registered manager runs the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 27 to 28 November 2019

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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 good

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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: 14 February 2019

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/06/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 3

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4). This is with reference to the manager’s ongoing oversight of the quality of recording in the home.  Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

At the time of the inspection, three young people were residing at the home. The young people have lived in the home since it first opened. Young people benefit from positive attachments with staff, who provide a high level of care, support and nurture. There is evidence of loving relationships between staff and young people. Young people feel safe and secure in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people have worked through some difficult and traumatic life experiences. Secure attachments with staff have helped young people face some difficult life experiences. Staff have shown excellent care and sensitivity to support young people through the loss of a parent. Young people have felt safe in the knowledge that staff are always there to support and advocate for them. Young people benefit from a resilient staff team, which understands them and genuinely cares about their well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people engage in several activities and personal interests. Staff actively support young people to ensure that they have positive experiences. Positive experiences ensure that young people build good self-esteem and confidence in social situations. Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 4 Young people make excellent and measurable progress with their education. One young person, who had difficulty in reading and writing, has significantly excelled in the past five months. He attends full-time school and has additional tutoring every day. The young person is working hard alongside a dedicated tutor who is very happy with his progress. Another young person has transitioned to mainstream education and has settled into his new school environment. Staff have been instrumental in identifying the correct and most suitable education provision for all young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are encouraged to access an advocate. This was effective for one young person who has been without a social worker for several months. Senior managers have been proactive in challenging this on behalf of the young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff work consistently with families to ensure that young people maintain regular contact with their family. Staff have supported the cultural needs of one young person and have encouraged food parcels from family to ensure that the young person has his favourite food. More importantly, the young person continues to have indirect contact with his family, and this is helping to maintain family relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are maturing into young adults. During this phase of maturation, young people are developing their own interests and hobbies. House meetings do routinely occur; however, it is difficult to get all young people together all the time. Staff continue to support communal living and are planning more joint activities.

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

Young people are helped and protected by a competent and caring staff team. Staff manage challenging behaviour through good teamwork and a detailed understanding of each young person. Staff set clear boundaries and expectations. Sanctions and rewards are fair and proportionate. Staff recognise that behaviours escalate when young people become anxious and/or worried.

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

Young people have access to community healthcare provision, which addresses their primary health needs. Young people and staff have access to therapeutic support. This support helps young people to talk through some difficult and upsetting situations. Staff can also talk to the therapist through direct consultation. This helps staff to understand complex behaviours that young people may display due to earlier childhood experiences of trauma. Through this increased level of understanding, young people feel safe and understood by staff.

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

Detailed risk management and behaviour plans are in place. These are under regular review and are updated frequently. In practice, the detailed guidance helps staff set appropriate boundaries and positively manage behaviours. Although missing from care is not an issue at the home, there have been incidents of a young person leaving school premises without permission. The school has followed its procedures and protocol for unauthorised absences. However, the home has not notified Ofsted of these incidents. Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 5 There is evidence that detailed and thorough key-working sessions take place. A wide range of subject areas are covered. These individual sessions help young people to talk openly about their feelings. Some sessions focus on keeping young people safe, for example online safety or keeping safe in the community. Pictorial images are used for some young people who do not like to read. Staff use creative ways to engage young

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a competent manager with several years’ experience of working in social care settings. The registered manager is a qualified social worker and has achieved a recognised qualification in leadership and management. She is passionate about the young people in the home and is child-focused. The registered manager has an additional responsibility of managing another home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A competent deputy manager is in place; she has recently returned to work to resume her role with passion and vigour. The two senior managers work hard to establish the continuity of care within their staff team. The registered manager recognises that running of the two homes can be personally challenging for her. There is ongoing increased management oversight of the home’s records, to check that staff are recording incidents with the correct information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have high aspirations for all young people to do well and achieve. Poor care planning has been challenged on behalf of young people. Managers are not afraid to challenge where necessary to ensure the best outcomes for their young people. Although, some staff are new to residential care work, the staff team is a committed and passionate group of professionals. Staff enjoy their work; their positivity reflects onto the young people who know that staff genuinely care about them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular monthly supervision and are learning from experienced managers. All new staff complete a mandatory induction programme. All staff receive regular training. The home is developing its practice in nurture and attachment theory. This therapeutic understanding promotes the staff’s awareness of young people’s emotions and how to help individuals to progress in placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals and family members during the inspection was very good. Professionals spoke highly of managers and the staff team. Family members felt confident that young people were looked after by experienced staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a good understanding of what the home does well and is very committed to improving the quality of care for young people. On some occasions, there are frustrations with the wider authority that can have a direct impact on young people. The registered manager ensures, where possible, that this does not have a direct impact on young people. Her strong voice and motivation to improve outcomes remains consistent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring systems are in place to ensure that the manager receives an independent review of practice within the home. Although the format has improved, the Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 6 registered manager does not feel that her practice is challenged sufficiently. The quality of reports requires some improvement as there is a duplication of information. Where necessary, it is important to get the views of families and young people during the monitoring visit.

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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: 1263768 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Market Street, Hyde, Tameside SK14 1AL

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Inspector

Kamal Bhamra, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1263768 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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