Children's home run by Bright Futures Care Limited in Bolton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 1 SC456537 Registered provider: Bright Futures Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of several homes owned and managed by a private organisation. It provides care for up to four children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and/or sensory impairment and who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2021.

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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 February 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2023 Full Requires improvement 01/03/2022 Full Good 12/02/2020 Full Good 14/11/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and settled in this home. They form trusting relationships with staff who understand their individual complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with bespoke communication aids, such as pictorial aids, storyboards and electronic devices. These help to ensure that children are consistently supported to express their feelings, make choices and reflect on their day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health is prioritised. They are supported by a range of external healthcare professionals who work in partnership with the home. Individual healthcare reports highlight the progress children make in areas such as communication and the use of language.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Family time is prioritised. Staff collaborate closely with families to ensure that sufficient support is provided to enable children to have positive time with their parents and siblings. Storyboards help children to prepare for and understand the arrangements for family visits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff implement robust routines to ensure that children understand their daily plans. In addition, staff support and encourage children to personalise their bedrooms with photos and posters. Bedrooms are spacious and clearly reflect children’s personalities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have suitable full-time school placements. School reports provide a positive insight into the progress children make. However, children’s targets in their education plans are not routinely updated. Therefore, it is not clear if these are being met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children safely participate in a range of activities. They are encouraged to choose their activity from bespoke pictorial aids, for example visits to the beach, soft play and walks in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to be independent. With encouragement, children are now able to dress and undress, wash, make a light snack or drink and put their toys and games away. A parent said, ‘My child has made so much progress since living in the home, we are very happy.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to make sure that children are provided with equal opportunities. With careful planning, children are enabled to experience new activities, places and surroundings. As a result, children have grown in confidence and are more likely to try out different things. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 4 Some staff are not fully aware of children’s heritage or how this can be supported in the home. As a result, opportunities to include the families in learning about individual backgrounds are missed.

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

Children’s safety is prioritised. Risks to children are suitably managed. The team works collaboratively with the placing authority, families and carers to agree plans on how risks to children will be reduced. The plans clearly detail children’s behaviours, triggers and de-escalation strategies.

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

Most risks are well documented and provide a suitable commentary for the management of the risk. However, on one occasion, a new behaviour was not included in the updated risk management plan. Therefore, strategies to reduce and manage this risk are not in place.

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

Children are provided with two-to-one support inside and outside the home. This level of support ensures that children are provided with a consistent elevated level of supervision and protection.

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

Since the last inspection, there has been a significant reduction in the need to physically hold one of the children to keep them safe. There have been three such restraints in this period. Records are clear and include initial de-escalation strategies, the type of hold, debriefs and opportunities for learning. The manager said, ‘We have undertaken additional training and have developed our recording systems. We use reflective learning for all incidents in the home.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff have created a home where children can flourish. She has a good understanding of the individual needs of children who come to live in the home. She leads the team in developing bespoke packages of care that enable children to make progress and develop trusting relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are dedicated to their roles and understand their responsibility to the children. They are happy and enthusiastic around the children, which is reflected in the relationships they form with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have an individual training package. One member of staff said, ‘I have learned a great deal since I came to work here from formal training to the work we do with all the external agencies.’ Staff training is routinely monitored through supervision. Additional support and training are offered to staff when necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they are extremely well supported and receive consistent supervision. One staff member said, ‘We have made lots of changes and things are much better. The manager is supportive.’ However, in one example, the manager’s action to address staff practice has not been recorded. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 5 The manager has taken steps to escalate concerns where a placing authority has not responded appropriately to a concern raised. However, where a response is time limited, the manager has not taken steps to escalate the issue to a higher level.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the manager’s oversight of the quality of work carried out is good. Records demonstrate that the manager regularly reviews and comments on all aspects of the children’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s progress towards their educational targets is routinely updated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.2)  The registered person should ensure that equality and diversity are consistently promoted in the home to support children as individuals. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.22)  The registered person should ensure that records are held of any practice concerns that have been addressed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.19)  The registered person should consider additional levels of escalation should a local authority not respond accordingly to an outstanding concern. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 11,

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Recommendations

paragraph 2.3)  The registered person should ensure that risk assessments are consistently updated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC456537 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bright Futures Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o Bright Futures Care Limited, Asher House, Barsbank Lane, Lymm WA13 0ED

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Inspector

Maria McGranaghan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC456537 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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