Children's Home run by New Horizons (Stockport) Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 1 SC008600 Registered provider: New Horizons (Stockport) Limited 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 six children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2008.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/08/2021 Full Good 26/11/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/10/2018 Full Good 26/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have individual plans and are enabled to build secure relationships with adults. Staff pay attention to the details of each child’s needs and are starting to get to know them well. Children are supported to have positive experiences and they are starting to make progress. This builds children’s confidence and feelings of security. A social worker said, ‘Staff have a good understanding of [name of child]’s needs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to attend school. Staff have positive relationships with children’s schools. Some children who have been in the home for a shorter period of time are not yet in education. When the children are not in full-time education, staff encourage their participation in a structured day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain good physical and emotional health. Staff are aware of children’s individual needs and work hard to ensure that those needs are met, including working in partnership with health professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote social skills. Some children have made friends locally and play football or go fishing with them. The inspector observed the children engaged in playing a board game together. Children are encouraged to socialise and play together, which builds their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to keep in touch with family members even when they live far away. This means that children maintain their family links and retain a sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff do not regularly meet with children to discuss their needs and wants. Children do not have input on the day-to-day decisions that affect them, including what meals they will have or what activities they will participate in. This means that children can feel that they are not being listened to.

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

The staff team has effective links with social workers and other safeguarding agencies. There is good communication about safeguarding issues. These links support a coordinated response to promote children’s safety.

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

Each child has individualised risk assessments. Known risks are identified and strategies to prevent harm to children are in place. Staff understand children’s safety plans and follow individual plans. Children are aware of their boundaries and are kept safe.

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

Staff occasionally intervene with physical restraint to help keep children safe. When this has happened, staff and children are encouraged to debrief with the manager. Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 4 This helps staff and children understand how to prevent future incidents and reduces the need for physical interventions to occur.

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

Staff are aware of how to manage safeguarding issues. They are clear about the whistle-blowing policy and what actions they should take if they have any concerns.

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

Staff are aware of the statutory guidance for children who are missing from home and take the appropriate steps to escalate their concerns. Each child has an individual plan should they go missing, and staff are aware of these plans. Staff search for children when they are missing and ensure that parents and partner agencies are informed. This means that if children are missing, staff are doing all that they can to ensure their safety.

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

Key-work sessions with children to follow up incidents are not consistently evidenced. This means that staff are missing opportunities to increase children’s safety.

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good

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified manager. There has been a shortage of staff, which has led to the manager having to cover some shifts herself. The deputy manager has not been able to support with management tasks as she has also been covering shifts. The home has remained full and all staff available are needed to care for the children. This means that the managers have not had the capacity to complete some management tasks.

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good

The home itself lacks appropriate storage because the cellar, which was previously used for storage, is damp. Staff bedrooms are used as storage rooms. When staff sleep at the home overnight, they sleep in a cluttered room, which is not conducive to a comfortable night’s sleep.

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good

The home has locks on all internal doors. This means that children could be restricted from using all the rooms in their home.

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good

The manager monitors children’s files to ensure that they are up to date, and this is effective. However, the work that the staff do with the children is often not monitored, and key-work sessions where children can discuss individual issues are inconsistent. Health and safety checks are not monitored, and food in the fridges and freezers is not checked or date labelled.

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good

The manager completes a monitoring report twice a year. This report is very descriptive. For it to be useful as a tool to improve the service, it should be more analytical and identify areas of the home that need to be worked on.

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good

The manager supports staff with regular supervision where they can reflect on their work with the children. Staff also have annual appraisals to support them with their career development. Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 5

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children’s records demonstrate regular key-work sessions with children that have been completed to address risk-taking behaviours, such as children going missing from care or those who are at risk of self- harm. 5 September 2022

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

This was a requirement at the last inspection and is restated.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 5 September 2022

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— 5 September 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 6 the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’). (Regulation 45 (2)(a) (3))

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Requirement Due date

This was a requirement at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that the quality of care review is purposeful and that the report is evaluative and used to improve practice.

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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; and

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this includes removing locks on internal doors that could restrict children from accessing all areas of their home. 5 September 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views about the care they are offered. They should have the opportunity to influence their care and choose meals they want to eat and activities they want to participate in. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that the home is staffed sufficiently to meet the children’s needs. This includes ensuring appropriate levels of staff so that children can participate in activities outside of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15) Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 7

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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 for children's home: SC008600 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Horizons (Stockport) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 154 Buxton Road, High Lane, Stockport, Cheshire SK6 8EA

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Inspector

Cathy Wilkins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC008600 9 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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