Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Today

Inspection report children's home: SC025409 1 SC025409 Registered provider:

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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 owned and provides care for up to 3 children. The home can support children experiencing social and emotional difficulties, as well as those with learning disabilities and mental health needs.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, there were 3 children living at the home.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none. Inspection report children's home: SC025409 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2025 Full Outstanding 05/12/2023 Full Outstanding 02/08/2022 Full Good 01/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC025409 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are settled, have good relationships with staff and are making steady progress. Staff take time to get to know children and understand what is important to them. For example, a member of staff spent time with one child in their hometown to develop a better understanding of their early life experiences and share positive memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively promote children's education. They provide children with positive praise and rewards for their engagement, and two child’s attendance at school is excellent. When children struggle to access education, the acting manager advocates for them to receive home learning whilst a suitable education provision is identified. This has helped one child receive online tutoring at home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met and support them to attend appointments. Staff engage children in discussions about their physical and emotional wellbeing. They provide support to help children improve their self-care skills, for example personal hygiene.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Moves out of the home are well-planned and at a pace that is suitable for children. Since the last inspection, one child has moved to a foster placement in a positive and successful way. The foster care said the move ‘couldn’t have gone any better’, and the support they received from staff was fantastic. When children leave the home, staff promote positive endings and keep in contact.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive experiences engaging in activities at the home and in the community. Their views are ascertained about what they’d like to do and acted upon if appropriate. As a result, children go to restaurants, the cinema and on holidays. This is positive progress for some children who previously struggled to access community activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children’s relationships with their families. Staff work hard to build strong relationships with families, helping children stay connected to their family and ensure their safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to be actively involved in developing and reviewing their care Children's plans are personalised and written in a child focused way. However, the plans do not include all the children’s known behaviours and strategies for staff to support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides comfortable spaces for children to relax together. It is personalised to the children with lots of photos on display and children have been involved in choosing décor for the home. However, damage to the children’s walls has not been repaired in a timely way and there are locks on some internal doors which was raised as a shortfall at the last inspection. Inspection report children's home: SC025409 4

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

Risks have significantly reduced for children living at the home. Staff understand children's individual behaviours and how to support them. Staff are calm and consistent in their approach to managing incidents which has led to a significant reduction in incidents.

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

Staff understand the risks that using the internet may pose for children and monitor devices to keep children safe. Staff provide children with advice and support about keeping themselves safe online.

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

Staff have regular conversations with children about how to manage their behaviour and feelings safely. This takes place with children individually and as a group. Engaging children in these conversations provides them with opportunities to reflect on important topics, consider different perspectives and learn from peers.

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

Leaders and managers respond effectively to allegations made by children. They are taken seriously and relevant agencies are informed, including the local authority designated officer, in a timely way. Leaders and managers ensure that children are provided with an opportunity to share their views and keep them updated about the outcome of any investigation as appropriate. Additional support is put in place to help maintain positive relationships between the children and staff if necessary.

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

Children’s incident records do not always include all relevant details. For example, actions taken by staff to de-escalate incidents are not consistently recorded. On one occasion, staff did not record an incident that had taken place. This affected the effectiveness of the monitoring and review of staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a new acting manager in post who has applied to register with Ofsted. The acting manager is committed to ensuring that the children’s individual needs are met and they have positives experiences whilst living at the home. She spends time with each child and has built a positive relationship with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team in place who are suitably qualified and experience. There have been minimal changes in staff since the last inspection and agency staff are not used. This means that children are cared for by consistent adults who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak positively about leaders and managers. They say that they feel well supported both personally and professionally. Staff have regular supervision and team meetings take place once a fortnight. These provide staff with opportunities to be kept informed about the children’s needs and a time to reflect on their practice individually and as a group. Inspection report children's home: SC025409 5 The acting manager is a strong advocate for children and challenges external agencies about there being no formal education in place. She has raised complaints when necessary. This has helped one child gain access to learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager has reasonable oversight of the children’s care and their records. At times there is a lack of evaluation about the effectiveness of staff practice and the children’s progress. This limits the opportunities to identify shortfalls in staff practice and identify areas for development. Furthermore, the records are not consistently well organised. The acting manager is beginning to develop new systems and processes to improve the organisation of the children’s records, and the monitoring and review of staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff build positive working relationships with professionals involved in the children’s care. Professionals speak positively about the acting manager and staff, highlighting the positive care they provide to children. One professional said that the staff are ‘patient’ and ‘dedicated’ to providing good quality care to children. Inspection report children's home: SC025409 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, 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children's home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that there are effective monitoring and review systems in place, and children's records are effectively organised to allow for evaluation and continuous improvement of the quality of care provided to children. 16 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date (Regulation 36(1)(b)).

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children's records accurately detail all actions taken by staff to meet their needs and ensure their safety. Furthermore, the children's plans must detail all strategies in place to support children. 16 April 2026 Inspection report children's home: SC025409 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is always maintained to an acceptable standard, and any damage to the property is repaired in a timely way. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9).

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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 children's home: SC025409 8

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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

Hayley Smith, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC025409 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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