Children's Home run by Meadows Care Limited in Oldham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 1 SC066072 Registered provider: Meadows Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private provider operates this children’s home. The home is registered to provide care for three children with emotional or social difficulties. Three children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2023.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2022 Full Good 26/07/2021 Full Good 05/06/2019 Full Good 26/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they feel safe and cared for by staff. Staff know the children well. Children have individual care plans. These provide clear guidance which ensures children’s needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s relationships with their families. Staff welcome families into the home and support safe family time, in line with local authority care plans. A parent said, ‘The staff goes above and beyond what I would expect and support myself and [name of child] as a family.’ This enables children to keep their sense of identity and maintain their family relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are all in education or are taking part in educational activities. When children are not in school, the manager and staff advocate for them and support them to return to formal education. One member of school staff said, ‘[Name of child] is a model student. We speak to the staff daily and always know what’s going on for him.’ This positive emphasis on education supports children to develop healthy routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a variety of fun activities. They enjoy going out with staff, for example, on cinema visits and day trips and going to the gym. Activities such as these broaden children’s experiences and help them develop confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with calm and consistent care. A therapist supports the staff to promote consistency of care for children. Children also benefit from individual work with the therapist.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop independence skills when this is appropriate. This supports children’s progression and development of life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are not personalised to their individual likes. Some areas of the home were not clean. This does not convey a homely and comfortable impression.

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

Staff are effective in supporting children to manage their behaviours. They enable children to take responsibility and find solutions to address unwanted behaviours. This encourages children to reflect on incidents and maintain positive relationships with staff.

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

Staff support children in managing risks arising from the internet. Trained staff work with children to teach them to become safe online. Children have access to therapeutic support to help them make safe choices online. This means that children are enabled to keep themselves safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 4 Safer recruitment practice ensures that staff are appropriate to work with children. This helps keep the children safe.

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

The manager understands children’s risks and vulnerabilities. She is proactive in identifying concerns and taking appropriate action. For example, she ensures risk assessments reflect current risk and that staff act on safety plans.

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

The manager follows multi-agency safeguarding procedures and communicates with relevant agencies. She acts on allegations and children’s complaints. This means children feel heard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has an ambitious vision for the home and high expectations for the children. She knows the children and staff very well. She is very focused on ensuring the children’s needs are well met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training is thorough. All staff have participated in mandatory training, both face to face and online. Supervision is regular and of good quality. It provides plenty of opportunities for staff to reflect on their work with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are regular. They enable staff to discuss their plans and ambitions for the children. This helps to ensure a consistent approach to caring for children. Staff boundaries are clear, which helps children to feel secure.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring of the home is very thorough. There are quarterly audits of the home, including of the education and therapeutic provision. This helps to support the manager in her critical evaluation of the home. This promotes change and improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a strong advocate for the children. She challenges external agencies when children are not receiving appropriate services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not recently reviewed the use of monitoring systems, such as door alarms. This means that these systems may no longer be necessary. It also as alarms go off whenever a child’s bedroom door is open throughout the day and night it does not encourage a homely impression Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 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, The 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

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

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that the need for door alarms on children’s bedroom doors is reviewed regularly, as written in the home’s statement of purpose. 28 July 2023

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; 28 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 6 help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that safety plans are acted on and actions recorded by all staff and that risk assessments reflect current risk.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children are supported to personalise their bedrooms and that all areas of the home are kept clean and tidy, so the home is homely and comfortable. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC066072 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Meadows Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Meadows Care Ltd, Egerton House, Wardle Road, Rochdale, Lancashire OL12 9EN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Alison O’Donnell

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Inspectors

Cathy Wilkins, Social Care Inspector Sue Garner, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066072 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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