Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Stockport

Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 1 SC008487 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is one of a number of homes run by a partnership. It is registered to provide care for up to six children.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably experienced and has been registered with Ofsted since July 2020.

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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: 13 February 2024

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2024 Full Outstanding 31/01/2023 Full Outstanding 01/02/2022 Full Outstanding 02/07/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have lived in the home for over a year, with one child joining in the last year. The children living there now have known most of the staff for a significant period and have strong, trusting relationships with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff and children are supportive and caring of each other and the home is run like a family home. Staff involve children in all planning for the home, such as meals, activities and holidays. Listening to children is integral to staff practice. Children feel heard and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff offer children emotional security and a stable base. This allows children to safely explore and process their previous experiences. For all three children, this has achieved stability and meant they have been able to trust adults and develop their confidence to verbalise their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is well decorated and well maintained. Staff involve children in any changes to their home, and communal areas reflect all the children’s interests. Staff encourage the children to make changes to their bedrooms for a personalised feel, in line with their evolving tastes. There are photos throughout the home of children’s special memories and important people. Children are relaxed and at home in their space. Staff encourage children to include photos in their hard-copy and digital memory books.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All the children have made exceptional progress in education, from their starting points. The manager advocates for suitable education that results in regular attendance and educational achievement. Staff implement alternative education plans when children do not attend school and promote children’s engagement with their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff use research-informed methods to create visual plans for children and plot their progress with them. Children can choose their own goals and are motivated to learn skills for adulthood. The staff and in-house therapist have made an independent passport booklet. This is an interactive process, encouraging participation, self-reflection and planning. Targeted skills, such as cooking, personal hygiene and managing finances are included for the child. The passport offers a stage-by-stage progression, allowing for regular review of independent opportunities. The child collaborates with staff to analyse their own progress. Staff provide clear conclusions to completed skills and celebrate achieving the overall completion of the passport.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff use the in-house therapist to inform training. The therapist also provides resources for the children to help them understand and express their emotions. In doing so, helping children to develop stable behaviour patterns and gain a sense of personal reward through growing confidence, self-esteem and emotional regulation. Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 4

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

Children’s safety is consistently at the centre of the staff’s practice. Staff have developed positive, trusting relationships with children. Children are confident that if they had any concerns, staff would listen to them. Since the last inspection, there have been no complaints made by children.

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

Staff have an excellent understanding of children’s vulnerabilities and risks. Risk assessments are clear and provide steps for staff to follow to manage and minimise risks. Children are supported to be involved in their risk assessments through age- appropriate discussions, including on positive relationships, internet safety, personal safety and road and fire safety. This has resulted in children understanding their own vulnerabilities and making safer choices.

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

Safeguarding practice is excellent. When incidents occur, they have been well managed. The manager invites external agencies, such as the fire service, knife crime prevention team and the police, to the home to speak to children. This has resulted in a significant reduction in high-risk behaviour.

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

There has been one incident of a child going missing from home, and this was well managed. Staff took steps to locate the child and ensured that their safety was paramount. They worked with other professionals to ensure the child’s safe return. Due to the work completed with the child, there have been no further incidents.

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

Positive behaviour is supported by the staff through strong relationships. They support children to identify how staff can help them when their emotions are heightened, involving the in-house therapist in this. Staff talk to children after any incident to look at ways for them to express their frustrations in a safer way, or to keep them informed. This has helped children, and behavioural incidents have significantly reduced.

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

When children feel unable to share their thoughts and emotions verbally, the manager has worked with the in-house therapist to develop a digital application that enables children to share their feelings, thoughts and wishes indirectly. The application is informed by the modern technical skills of children in using digital platforms and adds greater options in supporting children’s progress. The application is accessed by staff and enables planned interventions and support for children in achieving confidence to share and understand their emotional needs.

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

Physical interventions have been used on two occasions. These are implemented safely and appropriately by trained staff. Children are supported after an incident to reflect on their feelings and understand why the hold was necessary. The manager has clear oversight of each incident record and reviews potential triggers to then provide additional support.

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

The home environment is well maintained and decorated to a high standard. It is welcoming and bright, and there are age-appropriate games and activities. Children have access to a well-equipped games room and a therapy room, which they enjoy using. All Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 5 health and safety checks are carried out, and there are no outstanding issues. This means that children live in a safe environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The management team is stable, and the managers have worked in the home for a long time. The manager is experienced, skilled, reflective and ambitious, maintaining a child- focused environment. They are supported by an equally experienced and committed deputy manager. The manager and deputy manager work well together and provide consistent leadership to the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers and leaders have excellent relationships with children. Children seek them out to ask questions and spend time together.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff know the children and their needs well. Most staff have worked in the home for years and the manager does not use agency staff in the home. Staff are focused on providing children with the best care they can.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers and leaders have designed the rota so that newer staff are always supported by more experienced staff. Staff share good practice and communicate effectively with each other. Children experience the same high quality of care every day.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have a high-quality induction and further training. The managers and leaders prioritise staff’s training and learning. The in-house therapist designs and delivers training on areas specific to the needs of the children in the home, such as emotional regulation. The deputy manager is working with the therapist to complete a counselling qualification. Staff are well prepared to meet the needs of the children they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have regular supervision, which is thorough, reflective and focuses on staff development. Managers and leaders discuss the therapeutic model and how this is used in practice at every supervision, which firmly embeds the model in the home. Actions are put in place to drive staff progress. Staff understand their practice and how to improve it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Team meetings are regular and well attended. The in-house therapist attends and there is space for reflection and group learning. Staff have a shared understanding of the goals for children and how to achieve them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and staff understand the progress children make. The manager completes progress scoring with children using star-chart tools. This ensures that progress is evident and shows each child’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers and staff have extremely positive relationships with external agencies. They communicate with them regularly and effectively. The manager respectfully challenges other professionals on behalf of the children to ensure their needs are met, which has been instrumental in children’s progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 6 No requirements or recommendations were made following this inspection.

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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: SC008487 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor, Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspectors

Paul McKay-Smith, Social Care Inspector Sarah Billett, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: SC008487 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 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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