Children's Home run by ISW CSC LIMITED in Tameside

Inspection report for children’s home: 2726823 1 Registered provider: ISW CSC Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2023.

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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

Date of last inspection: 22 November 2023

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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: 2726823 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2726823 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The manager and staff have built exceptionally positive and trusting relationships with children. A headteacher described these relationships as ‘secure’. The nurturing environment staff create supports children to make significant progress. Staff also keep in touch with children who have moved out and continue to show an interest in their lives. As a result, children maintain valuable relationships with adults who have been instrumental in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The manager and staff promote a highly inclusive environment for children and staff. Children’s identity and cultural needs are at the forefront of staff practice. For example, when children are welcomed to the home, they are provided with halal and vegan- friendly sweet cones to cater for all children. The home is nicely decorated for the festive celebrations. Children have been able to enjoy creative ‘elf on the shelf’ scenes and been to visit a reindeer lodge.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s health and well-being have significantly improved as a result of the support from staff. Complex health needs are managed extremely well. The child’s social worker said that the improvement in the child’s health indicates that they are settled. The staff are creative in the ways they support children’s health outcomes and have recently had a nutritionist to the home to explain the importance of a healthy diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s emotional health is well supported. Children are encouraged to access support in respect of their emotional well-being, including therapy sessions and additional health assessments. Staff have a good understanding of how therapy may impact children’s behaviours and are able to implement effective strategies to support them through this. As a result, children have a good insight into their lived experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to understand their care plans. The staff and the manager ensure that children have access to independent advocacy to support them when decisions about their lives are being made. Furthermore, children are supported to feel safe in expressing their personality and interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s friendships are supported and encouraged. The children are supported to have friends to the home for tea and for events and celebrations, and they go on activities in the community together. A social worker said, ‘Staff have gone above and beyond to allow [name of child] to have as much as a family life as possible.’ Additionally, children are provided with experiences which they have not had before, such as going on a summer holiday, hatching chicks during the Easter period and having Halloween parties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s school attendance is excellent. Children are supported and encouraged to take part in school activities and trips. Children are making academic progress and staff express how proud they are of the children’s achievements. Additionally, extra-curricular Inspection report for children’s home: 2726823 4 activities are encouraged in line with children’s interests. Both children access these activities in the local community.

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

Staff ensure that the children’s safety is their top priority. Staff demonstrate an excellent knowledge of safeguarding practice and are consistent in the strategies they use to safeguard children. One teacher noted that staff always prioritise safeguarding.

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

Staff are proactive and implement high-quality direct work with children in a preventative way. Staff encourage children to take age-appropriate risks and are transparent with them in respect of any measures or restrictions implemented to safeguard them. The children’s risks are known and well understood by the staff team. This is underpinned by thorough, detailed risk assessments and behaviour support plans.

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

Positive behaviour is consistently promoted by forward-thinking, committed staff. They are aware of effective de-escalation techniques and create strategies specific to the needs of individual children. For one child, this includes spending time with the manager’s cat. For another child, this is recognising the importance of providing a safe space in the home’s summer house.

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

The staff and the manager work collaboratively with other agencies to ensure that children are safeguarded. For example, a comprehensive safety plan was co-produced with one child’s teacher to ensure that the child’s safety was prioritised. A teacher said, ‘Communication is excellent, and children are always at the centre of practice.’

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

Incidents are managed extremely well with the relevant professionals being notified. The manager ensures that any concerns are raised appropriately with the local authority social worker. One social worker said, ‘The manager is appropriately challenging with us and always advocates really well for [name of child].’

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

There is external closed-circuit television (CCTV) in place for security purposes. However, the provider has not sought consent from the local authority to use this.

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

Staff create an environment where children feel safe. Children are aware of how to make a complaint and can identify several people, staff and other professionals, who they could speak to if they were unhappy or worried.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is qualified, committed and extremely child focused. The manager is highly ambitious for children and enthusiastic in making their experiences and memories positive. The manager is supported by an experienced deputy manager. Together, they are dedicated to creating an environment where children flourish. Children are central to the decisions made in the home. The deputy manager said, ‘We (staff) are in their (the children) home, they are not in our workplace.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2726823 5 The staff team has an impressive understanding of the PACE model of care and trauma- informed practice. The model is instilled in the staff team with a huge focus on how the model should be used in practice. This is underpinned by regular consultations with clinical psychologists, which supports decision-making around interventions with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff meetings are held monthly and are meticulously planned. A wide range of topics are covered to ensure that staff understand the children’s needs and preferences and how to meet them. Specific skills and knowledge of individual staff members are shared in team meetings to build the rest of the team’s understanding in specific areas, such as sexual health. Team meetings are creative and made fun to encourage engagement, with role play, quizzes and ‘dingo dollar challenges’ implemented into these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supervision sessions take place monthly. They are reflective, and staff find the sessions valuable for their development. Staff are held to account if they are not meeting the required standards. Clear actions are identified and they are reviewed thoroughly. This ensures that the quality of care provided to children is consistent and in line with the shared ethos.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Annual appraisals are held, which are extensive and incredibly reflective meetings. They also provide staff with feedback about their practice, and this includes the children’s views. In addition, children have input into nominating a star employee of the month and will provide their reasons for why the staff member has been nominated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager ensures that staff receive appropriate training to help them meet the children’s needs. The manager has also sought training from a range of external charities and services, which enhances the staff team’s knowledge in a range of specific topics. As a result, staff feel confident in managing children’s complex health needs and identified risks. Inspection report for children’s home: 2726823 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should gain written consent to any monitoring or surveillance, including CCTV, by the placing authority at the time of placement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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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: 2726823 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Waterside Lane, Rochdale OL16 2YD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Charlotte Larkin

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Inspectors

Kitty Wiper, Social Care Inspector Sylvia Eboigbe, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2726823 8 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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