Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Today

Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 1 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today

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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 provider. It provides care for up to 3 children who may experience emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2019.

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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 good

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good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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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: 2557152 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/03/2025 Full Good 12/03/2024 Full Good 28/06/2022 Full Good 11/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children form warm and trusting relationships with staff. They describe the home as a place where they feel cared for and understood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress both physically and emotionally. They show greater engagement, growing confidence and are more willing to seek support from staff. Children continue to face barriers linked to their earlier experiences and staff continue to help them work through these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Educational progress for children continues to be limited. One child is not in education, employment or training despite support being offered to re-engage the child. Another child often takes time away from education, which results in very low attendance. Staff implement alternative plans for children when they are not attending formal learning. However, the children do not always participate in this, despite encouragement and advocacy from staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children's health needs well. They encourage children to attend health appointments and advocate for them when needed. However, both children often choose not to engage with external health support, which limits their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Daily routines and activities provide children with positive experiences. However, both children continue to spend time alone, avoid engaging in activities or become involved in situations that place them at risk, which reduces the consistency of their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children are supported to develop their independence skills and are making progress in range of tasks to help build their confidence. Staff continue to provide guidance as children's vulnerabilities in relationships and decision-making influence how prepared they are for future moves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their family and friends. Despite some difficult relationships between children and their parents, staff consistently mediate communication to help maintain stability and promote positive, healthy relationships for the children and their families.

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

Staff respond quickly when children are missing from home. They make efforts to locate children and check on their safety. However, learning from return home interviews is limited because written information from the independent person who conducts the interviews is not always shared. Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 4 Staff demonstrate an understanding of the risks for each child and take appropriate action to mitigate them. Risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated and reflect the needs of the children.

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

Staff take appropriate action to safeguard children during serious incidents by following their individual safety plans. Despite this, some concerning patterns continue and direct work has not yet reduced these repeated concerns. This is often due to the timing of support, or because the child's physical or emotional presentation has not been fully considered when interventions are offered.

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

There have not been any incidents requiring the use of physical intervention. Staff manage children's behaviour without the need for physical intervention and are able to calm situations well. The physical intervention training completed by staff means that they know how to manage situations requiring physical intervention safely and effectively should it be required.

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

Children say that they feel safe. They are supported to take appropriate risks based on their age and level of understanding. This is reflected in their safety plans, activities and independence work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well and offers strong emotional and practical support to staff. However, supervision records do not always include clear or measurable actions and the quality of these records is inconsistent. This reduces their usefulness in supporting improvement in staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager oversees the home and uses a range of monitoring systems to set tasks for staff, including those related to the quality of care provided to children. However, the quality of the manager's analysis is inconsistent and does not always provide the level of evaluation needed to drive improvement or address ongoing issues. When actions are identified, the timescales for completing or reviewing them are not always clear, making it difficult to measure progress effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are trained to meet the individual care needs of the children in their care. Staff describe feeling well supported. Staff have identified additional training needs linked to barriers to children's education and the manager is exploring options to source this training. This reflects staff insight into the needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Record-keeping has improved following challenge from the manager. This has led to various administrative improvements at the home, further demonstrating effective managerial oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable and motivated, with no recent staff turnover. However, attendance at team meetings is inconsistent for a small number of staff, which impacts continuity of shared learning. The manager has addressed this in line with individual Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 5 circumstances and has ensured that key information is disseminated effectively so that all staff remain informed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are committed to children's wellbeing and advocate strongly for them with external agencies. However, evidence of this challenge is not always clear, particularly in relation to return home interviews when children have been missing from home. Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the 'Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards'. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that when completing a quality of care review, children's feedback is taken into consideration and evidenced in the report.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that quality of care reviews provide analysis and evaluation of the care provided, alongside an action plan that is necessary to measure improvement. 30 July 2026

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children's home's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children's needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 30 March 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 7 understand and apply the home's statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(vii)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the home environment is homely, clean and well cared for and any damage is repaired as quickly as possible. This includes external repairs that impact internal conditions, such as dampness and mould, which can have a detrimental impact on the health of a child.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care, along with measurable actions. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the quality of the recordings of key-worker sessions are purposeful, evaluative and non-stigmatising, so that they are helpful to a child. This should ensure continuity of quality and ensure that identified areas of need are explored with the child. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards' page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 8

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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: 2557152 9

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Children's home details

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

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Inspector

Paul McKay-Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2557152 10 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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