Children's home run by A&M Care Solutions Limited - T/A Metropolitan Care Solutions

Inspection report for children’s home: 2496764 1 Registered provider: A&M Care Solutions Limited - T/A Metropolitan Care Solutions

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately operated. It can provide care for up to four children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living at the home at the time of this inspection. The inspectors saw all children.

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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 outstanding

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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: 17 December 2024

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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: 2496764 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/12/2024 Full Good 05/02/2024 Full Outstanding 21/02/2023 Full Good 27/07/2021 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2496764 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in this home. Notably, certain areas of the children’s care are excellent, such as the progress that children are making with their ability to communicate. This stems from a committed, motivated and stable staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know which staff are delegated to supporting them throughout the day. This gives children a sense of reassurance. Notably, relationships between children and staff are substantive. Children feel comfortable to humorously say which staff member makes them laugh and which staff members are the best and worst cooks. Therefore, this creates a homely, family-orientated environment that is built on love, fun and laughter.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social workers and parents say that they get a sense of home when they visit. The manager takes great pride in the home and is keen for it to reflect the personalities in it. Framed photos capture special events that the children have experienced with staff. Children enjoy using their photos to help them to bring their experiences to life for people who visit them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager’s planning around children moving into and out of the home is thorough. In particular, the planning around managing the complexities of children moving across to adult services is effective. This has greatly reassured parents, as well as assisted the children’s respective local authorities in their transition planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents say that they have been greatly reassured by how their children are cared for and loved. One parent said, ‘I haven’t got anything but fantastic things to say. The staff are so reassuring; they care about children.’ Another parent said, ‘The staff consult me. They have asked me what my daughter’s favourite colour is; what her favourite food is. They see me as the expert and this is so reassuring. They have been amazing!’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s care is approached individually, with staff basing their care around the child’s unique characteristics and interests. However, there is limited exploration of other aspects that make up the child’s being, such as their heritage and being curious at exploring the child’s family background, alongside family, and bringing this alive with the child.

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

Staff are skilled at writing reports concerning incidents that involve children. Incident reports make it clear which staff had an active role in the incident and who did what. This better enables the manager, and the child’s social worker, to effectively evaluate the incident and, when necessary, seek additional information.

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

Social workers, a children’s advocate and teacher all said that they value information that comes from the manager and staff concerning the children’s care. Referring to the Inspection report for children’s home: 2496764 4 quality of information, an advocate said, ‘I couldn’t do my job if it wasn’t for the staff there.’ Additionally, a teacher noted that staff ‘convinced’ school that allocating a child a communication device was right for that child. These examples show the respect and confidence that other professionals have in the manager and the staff.

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

Staff are skilled at increasing the children’s confidence and ability to develop an array of important life skills. Leaders have developed an effective and easy to apply system that better enables staff to achieve this at the child’s pace. An important element of this work is recognising the need to support older children to learn about their growth and development through adolescence.

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

Learning is taken forward when there are perceived shortfalls in practice, whether this is highlighted by the regulator or identified internally. A good example of this is around the administration of controlled medication. Since the last inspection, this area of practice has been strengthened. Guidance for staff is much clearer and there is improved management oversight, including the production of an incident report.

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

Staff record important events and conversations involving children. The love and care that children experience on a day-to-day basis is not always reflected in how the conversations are written in the children’s records. Consequently, this will be unhelpful if the child, or their loved ones, reflect on the children’s written records in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers are respected by staff and are seen as inspirational figureheads. Furthermore, staff say that leaders and managers nurture their personal career aspirations. This makes staff feel valued by making their career objectives a tangible goal. In doing so, this contributes to a productive and positive work environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is a true learning environment that is driven by the manager’s commitment to inspire staff to grow and develop. The manager seeks out relevant training to give staff confidence to carry out their role. This has involved external professionals being invited into the home to deliver bespoke training centred around a specific child’s needs. Staff embrace these learning opportunities and recognise the positive impact on the children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The purpose of supervision sessions is understood and embraced by the manager to influence better practice in the home. Importantly, staff understand, through the supervision and appraisal process, their accountability to carry out their role effectively. Furthermore, when the manager identifies areas of practice that requires strengthening, this is achieved through the implementation of a clear support plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager insists that staff read and understand the workforce development plan. This is a meaningful live document that shows how the manager intends to enhance the children’s experience of care. Seeking staff input is a further example of creating a shared sense of accountability across the children’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2496764 5 The organisation has invested in software that helps staff to quickly produce social stories for children. This enables staff to support children through a multitude of events that occur in the child’s life. The ability to do this at pace also quickly reassures children and prevents unnecessary anxiety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Team meetings are well attended. Staff embrace the manager’s expectation to actively participate. There is dedicated time to talk through how the children’s care needs to be planned. Staff apply the art of reflective practice in these forums, which is embedded in the way that staff carry out their role. Inspection report for children’s home: 2496764 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should promote staff to delve deeper into the children’s heritage and being. Understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social care practice, for example through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)  The registered person should support staff to write information in the children’s written records 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: 2496764 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: A&M Care Solutions Limited - T/A Metropolitan Care Solutions

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16 Regent Street, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG1 5BQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Katherine Adkins

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Inspectors

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Jacqueline Tate, Social Care Compliance Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2496764 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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