Children's home run by Parkwood Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 1 Registered provider: Parkwood Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in May 2022, and the manager registered in March 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection and spoke with the inspectors.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection, and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/05/2023 Full Good 20/09/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 3

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outstanding

The same two children have lived at the home since the last inspection. Both children experience excellent individualised care that gives them emotional support, high levels of warmth and a sense of belonging. The relationship and quality of care the manager and staff provide enable children to make significant and sustained progress. This alters children’s life chances and outcomes for the better.

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outstanding

Children now attend education and are achieving well, which is a remarkable difference from their starting points. Formal and informal education is promoted extremely well. Children learn about a number of different topics at home and are encouraged to develop their independence skills. This gives the children the skills required for them to be able to function as they get older and gain knowledge about the world they are growing up in.

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outstanding

Children’s health needs are a priority in this home. Both children are registered with local health services and attend regular appointments. A psychotherapist supports the staff team and provides clinical supervision to all managers and staff on a monthly basis. This ensures that the staff continue to meet the children’s emotional health and well-being needs well.

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outstanding

The manager and staff have high aspirations for the children. They actively model positive behaviours and attitudes and challenge negative behaviours effectively using a therapeutic approach. Positive feedback was received from a social worker, who said, ‘Professional expertise is good; significant progress has been made by [name of child] while at the home.’

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outstanding

Children are encouraged to pursue their hobbies and interests, and they attend a variety of different activities in the local community. Staff are not risk-averse, and following risk assessments, they allow the children to have time away from the home. This further enhances children’s experiences and develops their independence skills.

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outstanding

Family time and friendships are highly supported and recognised as important by the staff team. The manager and staff have excellent relationships with family members and friends’ carers. Staff actively support children in speaking to, visiting and having friends over to the home regularly. Children’s friends have sleepovers and have been on holiday with the children. This helps children to keep in touch with people who are important to them and develop long-lasting relationships and supports their sense of identity. Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 4

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outstanding

Children are protected from harm due to the strong safeguarding ethos at the home. As a result, children have made positive and exceptional changes which have reduced the risks they face. Managers and staff know the children exceptionally well and have a thorough understanding of their risks, vulnerabilities and how to minimise the risks. Staff understand and implement safeguarding procedures. This ensures that children’s risk-taking behaviours reduce and children learn to identify and manage their feelings in a more acceptable way.

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outstanding

Relationships between staff and children are strong. They provide a solid foundation for the children to thrive. Due to the nature of the relationships, staff are able to manage children’s feelings effectively, including those that may result in conflict. As a result, the number of times that staff physically hold a child to keep them safe has significantly reduced and missing-from-care episodes are low.

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outstanding

Staff implement clear boundaries, routine and structure that create a space for the children to feel emotionally safe. Incidents are managed extremely well by staff, and relationships are repaired quickly.

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outstanding

When staff give the children consequences, these are fair and proportionate. However, the manager has not reviewed the consequences to track and evaluate the effectiveness of the consequence and identify patterns and trends.

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outstanding

The recruitment of staff is thorough, and the manager ensures that all necessary background checks are conducted. This means that the adults caring for the children are safe to do so.

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outstanding

The home is clean, tidy and homely, and it is free from hazards. The staff implement strong health and safety procedures to protect children from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is ambitious, confident and inspirational and is supported by an equally confident and experienced deputy manager. This ensures that the children have received highly effective care, support and positive outcomes over a sustained period of time due to the therapeutic environment created. The management team, including the responsible individual, has a great presence in the home. This means that managers are accessible to the children and staff. The management team spends a lot of time with the children and knows them well. Children respect the managers and staff, and the feeling is reciprocated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is a strong advocate for the children in her care and for children who have previously lived at the home. The manager challenges professionals to ensure that children receive the services and support they need to fulfil their potential. This is a real strength of the home and is worthy of further dissemination. Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 5 The management team leads by example and provides strong and effective leadership to a highly motivated staff team. Managers have a strong sense of the service strengths and weaknesses of the home. They make effective use of internal and external monitoring and review systems to make sure that high standards of care practice are maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff speak highly of the manager, have confidence in her and describe her as being very supportive. Staff have regular supervision sessions, training, team meetings and a yearly review of their progress. This allows the manager to remain confident in the abilities of the staff team to meet the needs of the children. One member of staff said, ‘My managers are incredible; they deserve all the praise in the world for the way that they run the home and inspire the team. Throughout my journey so far, I have learned so much, and that is mostly down to the leadership and support that I have received from dedicated individuals who have worked in children’s homes for many years.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers have excellent relationships with external professionals, parents and partner agencies. They value input from them in relation to the care and safety of the children. Consequently, this is embedded in their everyday practice and has an exceptional positive impact on the children. One parent said, ‘It’s brilliant, superb; I cannot speak highly enough of the managers, directors and the team. They go above and beyond for my child and for me.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

One requirement and three recommendations raised at the last inspection have all been met. Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of discipline are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that discipline is fair and that timescales are clear when the management team has oversight of the documents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: 2678673 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Parkwood Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 5, Level 4, Arrive, Tomorrow Building, Media City, Salford, Greater Manchester M50 2AB

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Inspectors

Julie Elder, Social Care Inspector Deborah Turner, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2678673 8 regulates and inspects 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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