Children's home run by Wigan Council in Wigan

Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 1 SC051856 Registered provider: Wigan Council

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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 local authority home provides short breaks or shared care arrangements for up to 4 children with diagnosed disabilities. This may include autism and a learning disability, or multiple complex learning needs.

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Information about this children’s home

Four children are currently accessing the care provided. Three of the children were seen and spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 14 May 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: 10 February 2025

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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: SC051856 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/02/2025 Full Outstanding 04/03/2024 Full Outstanding 11/01/2023 Full Outstanding 09/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make exceptional progress. Staff understand their needs and provide highly responsive, individualised support. Many children have complex and challenging needs. The skilled and consistent care they receive enables them to achieve outcomes that exceed expectations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s experiences of being welcomed into the home are exemplary. Children experience highly nurturing and emotionally attuned care from the moment they arrive. Staff demonstrate deep insight into each child’s emotional world and are proactive in reducing anxiety and uncertainty. Plans are flexible, responsive, and purposeful, allowing children to form trusting relationships before and during their move. This creates stability and supports children to settle quickly and confidently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children build strong relationships with staff who invest considerable time in getting to know each child and the people who are important to them. This creates trusting relationships and an environment that feels like a ‘home from home.’ This sense of emotional safety enables children to build meaningful connections with the staff who care for them. Feedback from children, families and professionals was consistently positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit from exceptionally well-planned and individualised transitions. Staff place children’s needs, experiences and wishes at the centre of all decisions. When a child comes to stay it is progressed at a pace that feels safe and manageable for each child. As a result, children feel valued, understood and informed of important changes in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children maintain connections with staff. The ethos of ‘once a BASE child, always a BASE child’ is deeply embedded in practice and is a strength of the service. Families described feeling genuinely held in mind, this offer continues after children have moved on. Families said they are always able to reach out to the staff. This contributes to children maintaining emotional connections with trusted people. As a result, children experience exceptional relational care that promotes resilience, and long-lasting support networks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s plans are reviewed regularly, with clear outcomes agreed and progress tracked. This ensures that support remains focused, purposeful, and aligned with children staying safely within their family networks wherever possible. Where shared-care arrangements are in place, these are reviewed frequently and adapted as children’s needs change. This flexible and dynamic approach means children’s circumstances are continually assessed to ensure the support they receive is both effective and proportionate. As a result, many children successfully reduce the time they spend away from their families. Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 4 Staff are highly attuned to each child’s developmental stage. Children receive support to build confidence, independence, and essential life skills. For some children this focuses on practical independence, and for others, the work is centred on developing skills that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are exceptionally skilled in communicating with children, ensuring each child’s voice is heard and understood. The service has invested in specialist speech and language support, enabling children to develop bespoke communication approaches that meet their individual needs. This specialist input ensures that every child can be heard. The highly individualised approach ensures that every child can contribute to their daily life and decisions that affect them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s achievements, no matter how small, are celebrated with genuine pride and enthusiasm. Staff recognise and value the importance of these moments as significant steps in each child’s journey. These ‘wow moments’ are captured thoughtfully, helping children to develop a strong sense of accomplishment. Children experience a wide range of activities. Staff know the children well and support them to take part in activities that reflect their interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Memory books provide a detailed and cherished record for children. They are personal and beautifully presented, offering children a reminder of their time in the home. These books include photos, written reflections, and evidence of achievements, celebrating everyday moments and significant milestones. These memories are captured and help children to understand their own experiences and progress. This thoughtful approach ensures that children have a lasting record, reinforcing the message that they are valued, celebrated, and remembered.

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

Children feel safe. The culture of safeguarding is embedded across the home. Staff are vigilant, and highly attuned to children’s needs, ensuring risks are well understood and managed. As a result, children experience consistently safe and nurturing care that promotes both their physical and emotional safety.

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

Missing-from-home incidents are exceptionally rare. There have been no missing-from- home episodes during this inspection period. Risks identified for children are well known and understood. Clear and comprehensive plans are in place, ensuring that staff understand the actions they must take to safeguard children. In the absence of incidents, children continue to benefit from an outstanding safeguarding approach.

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

Positive behaviour is consistently and proactively promoted. Staff know children extremely well and use detailed plans to guide their responses. Staff respond with confidence, clarity, and consistency. Staff use a restorative approach when incidents occur. This supports children to reflect and repair relationships and understand their actions safely. As a result, children experience predictable and compassionate responses that help them develop their own strategies for managing feelings and behaviour. Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 5 Staff are skilled at de-escalating incidents and behaviours. Staff use recognition and praise to celebrate children’s achievements and reinforce positive behaviour. The emphasis is on understanding the child to reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring. The staff continue to use this approach, ensuring staff provide care which changes to reflect the children’s needs.

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

Multi-agency relationships are embedded into the care provided to the children. Professionals said their work with the staff and manager is a ‘genuine partnership.’ The collaborative approach enhances the care, protection and support provided to children. Children benefit from a well-connected network of adults working together.

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

Communication is timely and child-focused, enabling agencies and families to share information and learning. Professionals stated the staff’s contribution is both highly valued and integral to achieving positive outcomes for children. One professional commented, ‘I don’t know how we would have managed without the partnership with BASE,’ reflecting the high level of trust and confidence external agencies place in staff. Exceptional partnership working ensures that safeguarding information is shared effectively, plans are coherent and responsive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by a permanent, knowledgeable, and deeply committed manager. The manager is passionate about getting it right for children. The child-centred focus is embedded in all aspects of children’s care. The manager knows each child well and speaks confidently about their needs, progress, and wider networks. This depth of understanding ensures that care planning is effective and responsive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is described as visible, approachable, and present within the home. Children and staff benefit from the calm and supportive leadership style. The manager has high aspirations for the children and expectations of the staff. The manager’s strong oversight and high expectations drive continuous improvement and ensure that children experience outstanding care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has an exceptional understanding of the service and is reflective of the strengths. This insight is used to drive continuous improvement and ensure that the quality of care remains high. The reflective approach means that challenges are identified early and addressed to strengthen practice. Staff described feeling valued, listened to and well supported in their roles. This contributes to a confident and motivated staff team whose practice is firmly aligned with the home’s ethos and ambitions for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager uses effective review and monitoring tools. These provide insight into the quality and detail of the home’s records and ensure managers have a detailed understanding of children’s day-to-day experiences. Where shortfalls are identified, they are promptly challenged and addressed. This supports continual improvement and Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 6 ensures that practice remains focused on securing the best possible outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supervision is valued and prioritised across the home. Staff receive regular, high-quality supervision that is reflective and focused on developing their skills and strengthening the care for children. This strong culture of reflection promotes learning, improves practice, and ensures that staff remain attuned to children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is a strong learning culture. Staff are highly knowledgeable and skilled to meet the specific needs of the children with complex needs. Training is comprehensive and responsive. Learning and research are identified and delivered to address the unique needs of individual children, enabling staff to apply newly acquired skills directly to their practice. This targeted approach ensures that staff develop specialist knowledge and confidence. As a result, children benefit from informed, skilled, and thoughtful support that is exceptional in meeting their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff use respectful and child-centred language when describing children and their experiences. Records are sensitive and written in a way that children would find pleasant to read. This reflects the home’s nurturing culture and the staff’s genuine regard for each child. However, this high standard is less evident in one document, where the narrative is more descriptive and less aligned with the home’s usual child-focused tone. The manager has identified this and is addressing it to ensure all records meet the expected standard. Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children using kind language in a non-stigmatising way. Information about the child must always be recorded 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: SC051856 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN

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Inspector

Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC051856 9 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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