Children's home run by MacIntyre Care

Inspection report for children’s home: SC457423 1 SC457423 Registered provider: MacIntyre Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for five children who may have special educational needs, social and/or communication difficulties, autism or a combination of these.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since July 2023. An application to register a new manager was received by Ofsted in February 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 10 January 2023

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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: SC457423 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2023 Full Good 15/06/2021 Full Good 08/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC457423 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, four children were living at the home. The children are happy and very settled. Two children have moved into the home since the last inspection. The staff plan well for children moving into the home; the needs and potential risks for all of the children are considered. When there were safety concerns that staff could not safely manage, a child was moved quickly. These decisions were made to ensure that all children were safeguarded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy a wide range of positive experiences that support their individual preferences. This includes regular trips out, bowling, rugby, going out for food and helping in the local community by taking the bins out for neighbours. This helps children to build their confidence and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage the children to go to school. They all have very good attendance records and are making progress from their starting points. When the children talk about school, they are enthusiastic about their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to attend all of their health appointments. Children are encouraged to eat healthily, and they enjoy cooking a variety of nutritious meals with staff. They have access to a school nurse and professionals who support the children with their emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a variety of techniques to understand the wishes and feelings of the children. Recently, staff have been trained to use a choice-based activity that is designed to encourage children to express their feelings. This is individualised and links to the child’s interests. One child was able to immerse himself in the activity, expressing his likes and dislikes regarding sporting activities. This form of communication will provide him with a much broader way to show people how easy it is to understand his needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy trusting relationships with staff. There is music and laughter at the house. A parent said, ‘We know he is loved. We know that he cannot make up the affection that he has for the staff and the home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When staff record children’s activities, the photos of the day are not of a high quality. The children’s story books lack detail and are not addressed to the child. These fail to provide a special, good-quality memento of the child’s time at the home.

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

Staff provide children with a warm, loving environment. They understand the emotional and physical needs of the children. Staff are innovative in meeting children’s needs and create a safe and secure environment. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457423 4 Behavioural incidents are dealt with calmly using strategies provided by the therapeutic team. Staff rarely use physical intervention. When it is used, it is appropriate, proportionate and supports children while they are redirected. Incidents are recorded well, with reflective management oversight. As a team, the staff explore incidents to help them understand and respond with consistency to unwanted behaviours.

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

The manager and staff are learning how trauma affects the children they care for. Staff receive regular therapeutic support in team meetings. This helps them explore strategies that can be directly applied in the home. They confidently address emerging behaviours and help children to understand how to express their feelings and emotions in a structured and reliable environment.

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

Staff confidently manage safeguarding concerns. They apply risk assessments using established processes. Children are supported to take appropriate risks by staff who know them well. As a result, children are enjoying becoming more confident and independent.

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good

The home has not had a registered manager since July 2023. The responsible individual was unable to successfully recruit for the post until recently. Combined with a significant delay in the manager’s application being submitted, there has been no registered manager for seven months. The new manager is applying to register. He is studying for the level 5 qualification in leadership and management and has ample experience in residential childcare.

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good

Staff are very positive about the new manager. The manager strongly advocates for developing practice with the staff team. There are established and new career opportunities, including a new therapeutic support course. This will help new managers and support workers develop their understanding of how to apply therapeutic models of care. Staff welcome the chance to use the techniques being taught by the therapeutic lead.

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good

Effective working between the manager, staff and the wider professional network helps foster positive working relationships. Managers attend multi-agency risk and safeguarding meetings, which help support communication between agencies. One social worker said he always visits at the end of the day so that he can see how the child is. He said he can see that the child is thriving at the home.

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good

The new manager knows the staff team well. He and the team leader provide regular supervision sessions that are an opportunity for staff to have time to talk about their work and their emotional well-being. Staff say that they enjoy this time, which is reflective. The manager is encouraging staff to be more involved in the development of the home, including reviewing risk assessments, developing the staff team and exploring and resolving practice issues. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457423 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)) 23 February 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC457423 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Seebeck House, 1 Seebeck Place, Milton Keynes MK5 8FR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jennifer Marshall

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Inspector

Trudy Potter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC457423 7 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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