Children's Home run by Care Today Parallel Parents in Leeds

Inspection report children's home: SC403890 1 SC403890 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides care for up to four children. The home specialises in caring for children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on the 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 8 to 9 December 2021 to carry out an assurance visit. This report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2020

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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: SC403890 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2020 Full Good 12/03/2019 Full Outstanding 12/09/2017 Full Good 23/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC403890 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusting relationships with staff. These relationships enable the children to begin to feel safe and protected. Children’s self-confidence has grown as a result of living in this nurturing and caring home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work effectively with education professionals to ensure that the children have access to education that meets their educational developmental needs. As a result, the children engage well with their education plans and have improved attendance. This helps them to fulfil their educational potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are prioritised by the staff. Staff work in partnership with the looked after children’s nurse and other health professionals to ensure that the children can access the help they need. For example, the staff have advocated for a specialist assessment of one child’s health needs and ensured that an initial health assessment was completed in timescales. Consequently, the child’s physical and emotional needs were immediately identified and addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s voice is central to the running of the home. The children have weekly meetings, key-work sessions and monthly consultations with the manager. These opportunities enable the children to have a voice in how their home is run. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic the children requested bikes at a children’s meeting and the staff responded to this request promptly. As a result, the children and staff experienced many fun days cycling in the wider community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to pursue their hobbies and interests. Two children have plans to start boxing lessons and another is being supported with his interest of anime, which he proudly displays on his bedroom walls. This demonstrates that children are able to enjoy and take part in things they like doing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals and parents told the inspector how the staff have gone over and above to support the children to have family time with their loved ones. This has helped to support the children’s identity and ensures that they remain connected with people important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals told the inspectors that the staff are caring, resilient and work effectively with other agencies to meet the holistic care needs of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children told the inspector they are happy and settled in the home, and they love the banter they can have with staff. Inspection report children's home: SC403890 4

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

There are low levels of missing from care and physical interventions. When incidents happen, staff follow risk assessments effectively to help better protect the children.

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

The staff use training, team meetings, handovers, supervisions and reflective sessions to help improve the quality of care they provide. These opportunities ensure that the staff have the knowledge and understanding to respond consistently and effectively when children are in crisis. As a result, the children can self-regulate as they experience consistent and nurturing care.

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

Bespoke training is provided to staff as the children’s needs evolve. For example, staff completed bereavement training and nurturing hearts to support the children who had experienced a family loss. This led to the children being able to work through their emotions and talk about their loss.

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

Risk assessment and behaviour support plans are good and individualised. The staff have good knowledge of the emotional and behavioural needs of the children and follow plans to help better protect the children. Risk assessments and behaviour support plans are routinely reviewed by the key workers and managers.

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

The children have positive rewards and incentives in place. Weekly targets are agreed in children’s meetings. When children achieve their targets, these are routinely celebrated through praise and reward. There has been a marked reduction in children’s risky behaviours as a result of these incentives.

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

Staff carry out regular key-work sessions and complete reflective sessions after any incidents. This means the children develop a better understanding of risks and are more able to make better choices to help keep themselves safe.

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

Professionals told the inspector that the staff work in partnership to ensure that the children’s risks are understood. Staff ensure that the children have safety plans which help to keep the children safe. For example, when supporting the children in the community for family time or with their peers, staff ensure that they maintain regular communication with the children and remain in the local community.

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

Children told the inspector they feel safe and secure and that they can talk to the staff when they are worried or need support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager of the home is suitably experienced and has been in post for five years. She is child centred and role models positive practice for her staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is safer recruitment in place, and new staff have good inductions and probation periods. All staff have training and development plans leading to ongoing Inspection report children's home: SC403890 5 retention of staff and development opportunities. This means that the children experience a skilled and stable staff team that provides consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy provide the staff with monthly supervisions, fortnightly team meetings, reflective sessions and daily handovers. As a result, the staff are reflective and open to develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring and auditing tools in place to track the progress of the children and staff development. This ensures that children’s needs are being reviewed and that any gaps in staff practice are addressed to help improve outcomes for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager values her staff and provides them with effective leadership and support. This mean the staff morale is good and staff are committed and passionate to provide the children with a nurturing and caring experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals said that the manager is ambitious for the children, she will challenge other professionals to ensure that children’s plans can effectively progress, and that children have access to resources that they need to support them. For example, the manager advocated for the right support and interventions to a child’s behaviours in his school as he was having lots of behaviour incidents. Her challenge helped to significantly reduce these incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a home’s development plan which is regularly reviewed, and she is aware of the areas for improvement and development in the home. However, there are areas of the home which need levels of maintenance to ensure that the children can live comfortably in their home environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that all children have planned admissions and transitions out of the home. She completes effective impact assessments to ensure the compatibility of the children in the home. As a result, children are able to experience planned endings and continue to have links with the manager and her staff when they have moved on. Inspection report children's home: SC403890 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and 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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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the home decor is maintained to a high standard and is routinely maintained. 12 October 2021

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC403890 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today

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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

Noel Cooper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC403890 8 to 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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