Children's home run by Bright Futures Care Limited in Bolton

Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 1 SC456157 Registered provider: Bright Futures 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

This home is owned and managed by a private company. It is registered to care for up to 4 children with learning disabilities and sensory processing challenges.

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Information about this children's home

Four children were living in the home at the time of this inspection. The inspector spent time with all children.

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Information about this children's home

The manager of this home registered with Ofsted in January 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/08/2024 Full Good 24/10/2023 Full Good 20/03/2023 Full Good 15/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff provide children with a safe and nurturing environment to live in. As a result, children living in the home are thriving. Staff have developed warm and trusting relationships with children and they are empathic and affectionate in their interactions, which the children respond positively to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are supported to engage in activities that they enjoy. When children go through periods in which they struggle, changes are made to the staffing arrangements to ensure that children can still enjoy activities in the community. When children struggle to leave the home, staff give them fun activities to do indoors. This enables all children to explore and develop their interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children's health needs are very well met. Due to the exceptional support from staff one child who had struggled to access health appointments before moving to the home has now had essential medical investigations completed. Staff also help children to enjoy healthy diets, with one child who had an extremely limited diet now trying a variety of new home-cooked foods.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children attend education. Professionals and family members comment on the positive relationships between staff and education professionals. When children need additional support in school, staff attend school with them. One child who attends college was able to attend a work placement day with support from staff, helping at a local food bank. This demonstrates the high aspirations that staff have for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

New targets are introduced each month to help children to continuously develop and achieve new goals. Staff use relevant research and resources to provide positive, fun and meaningful sessions for children. For one child, this has helped to reduce their risks and has helped them to understand what is and is not safe for them to put into their mouth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to improve their independence skills in a way that works for each child. One child who will be moving onto adult supported living, can now take care of their own personal hygiene, change their own bedding, and help to prepare their own meals. Another child has made significant progress in respect of their toileting needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to express their views through bespoke communication styles. Staff ensure that children can make their own choices and contribute to their own care. Staff create folders showing photos of the child's signs and the words these correlate to. This ensures that any new staff are able to communicate with children. All information about children's communication is shared with new providers when children prepare to move on to adult living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff recognise the importance of sensory input for children and use this understanding to create safe sensory spaces for each child with preferred sensory activities. All children Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 4 benefit from an indoor sensory circuit, and an outdoor space with a swing, trampoline, and 'racetrack'.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff work closely with children's parents to support children's best interests and enable continued progress. Parents and siblings visit children in their home as well as going out into the community together. Parents appreciate the support that staff give to children. One parent said, 'It's so reassuring knowing there are people like them caring for your child.'

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

Staff have an excellent understanding of children's needs and recognise early signs of distress. Staff are responsive to any changes in children's behaviours and work tirelessly to understand what that means for the child. When staff need to hold children to keep them safe, they do this with empathy and reassurance, and as a last resort. Staff monitor the child's wellbeing following any incidents.

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

Staff support children with positive and thorough transitions when they move in or out of the home. Managers complete detailed risk assessments to ensure that children's needs can be suitably met.

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

Staff and managers work closely with the team around each child. Professionals and family members report excellent communication from the team. One social worker said, 'The managers and team are doing a wonderful job, and I am grateful to have them.'

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

Managers and staff know how to keep children safe. Managers respond swiftly and effectively when safeguarding concerns arise. This helps to ensure that children are kept safe at all times.

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

Staff benefit from additional services within the company, which include a specialist support team, a therapy team and a practice team. These services provide direct support and advice to staff during times of crisis. They are provided with training and strategies for managing challenging behaviour, and occupational therapy assessments and sensory support. This ensures that children's specific needs are met.

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

Managers and staff also benefit from thorough incident analysis and functional behaviour assessments which consider the child's needs and reflect on staff practice and any areas for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led and managed by an experienced registered manager and an experienced deputy manager. Managers offer staff a supportive and nurturing environment, while maintaining high expectations to provide exceptional standards of Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 5 care. This has led to an open and positive culture in the home, where staff feel confident speaking to managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager maintains the home to a high standard. Children are provided with a home that is bright and colourful, with plenty of space for them to relax and play, together or individually. Children's bedrooms are kept plain to meet their needs. Two of the children have had their bathrooms refurbished this year, with the others due to be renovated next month. This continuous improvement helps ensure that children live in a nice home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel valued and well supported, particularly through challenging times. One member of staff described the home, and the management team, as a 'safe space' to share emotions on difficult days. Staff say that managers recognise the hard work they do and check on staff wellbeing through challenging times.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff benefit from regular supervisions, appraisals, and team meetings. Staff say that these are useful spaces to reflect on their practice and wellbeing, and to consider their professional development. Staff benefit from ongoing and relevant training to better enable them to meet children's individual needs. Senior workers benefit from a six-week training programme to help them to further develop their skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers follow safer recruitment practice to ensure that all staff are safe to work with vulnerable children. Staff understand safeguarding protocols and have access to senior managers, and a whistleblowing hotline should they need to raise any concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers have excellent oversight of practice in the home. They make good use of internal and external monitoring to ensure that children benefit from a consistently high standard of care. Managers escalate concerns when needed and challenge other professionals in the best interests of children. Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 6

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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: SC456157 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Bright Futures Care Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: c/o Bright Futures Care Ltd, Asher House, Barsbank Lane, Lymm WA13 0ED

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Inspector

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC456157 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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