Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 1 SC005050 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 by a private company. It provides care for up to 5 children who may have experienced childhood instability, resulting in trauma and associated complex behaviours.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living at the home. Two children spoke about their experiences of living in the home.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2009 and is suitably qualified. In October 2024, they became a dual-registered manager, responsible for this home and another home in the same organisation.

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Information about this children's home

The organisation has a registered school on the same site. This inspection focused solely on the residential provision.

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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

Date of last inspection: 1 December 2025

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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: SC005050 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/12/2025 Full Good 25/02/2025 Full Good 27/02/2024 Full Good 05/10/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making good progress and benefit from improved school attendance, effective health support, positive family relationships and a range of enjoyable activities that promote development and some independence. Staff build trusting relationships and children's risks have reduced. Leaders provide good support to staff and work effectively with partner agencies. However, staff are not sufficiently aware of educational targets, limiting learning opportunities. Bedrooms require improvement to provide a more homely environment. Peer relationships remain challenging. Independence opportunities could be enhanced, and some safeguarding practice following missing-from-home incidents needs strengthening.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain meaningful relationships with people who are important to them. Family time is promoted and managed in a way that helps children to sustain positive connections with their families and support networks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

School attendance for all children has improved significantly. However, staff are not aware of children's educational targets, resulting in missed opportunities to use everyday experiences and interactions to reinforce learning and support the achievement of these goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children's health needs are well understood and effectively supported by staff. Children access a range of universal and specialist health services, including child and adolescent mental health services, to ensure that their physical and emotional wellbeing is promoted. The involvement of the linked in-house therapist strengthens targeted emotional wellbeing work with children and supports them to make measurable progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in a variety of activities that they enjoy and that contribute positively to their development. Staff encourage children to take part in age-appropriate tasks and responsibilities that help them develop practical skills in preparation for adulthood. However, some children find restrictions relating to free time and access to mobile phones difficult, which can affect their overall experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The provider has invested in improvements to the communal areas of the home, creating a more welcoming environment. However, children's bedrooms do not yet provide the same standard of comfort and homeliness. Issues, including excessive dust, inappropriately placed cables, a broken lamp and unpleasant odours, detract from the quality of the living environment and do not reflect a consistently nurturing home. Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 4

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

Children's risks reduce from their starting points and the home's remote location supports this. One professional reported that children would benefit from greater opportunities to develop independence skills in the community and increased access to mobile phones in preparation for future transitions.

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

Physical intervention is rare and, when used by staff, is proportionate to the risks presented. Records are maintained appropriately, and children and staff are provided with opportunities to reflect on incidents and identify learning.

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

Safer recruitment processes are in place and help to reduce the risk of children being cared for by unsuitable adults.

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

Staff understand online risks and know how to promote children's online safety. There have been no concerns related to children accessing the internet inappropriately since the last inspection. Children continue to enjoy the benefits of accessing the internet.

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

Staff develop warm and trusting relationships with children, helping them to feel cared for and supported. However, strategies to improve peer relationships in the home are not yet consistently effective, and this affects children's experiences of living together.

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

Children rarely go missing from home. When missing incidents occur, staff take appropriate action by searching for children. They work effectively with family members and the police to locate children. There was a missed opportunity to check on one child's welfare following an extended period of being missing when they refused to return to the home straight away. Furthermore, staff do not have access to information that children discuss with an independent person following missing episodes. This limits their ability to respond to and manage incidents using learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The oversight of the care children received is generally well executed by leaders and managers. They understand the needs of children in their care. They know how to support staff to gain and maintain the skills and knowledge they require to give children positive experiences and keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report feeling well supported by leaders and managers. Supervision sessions provide reflective opportunities for staff to discuss children's progress and consider their own professional development. This helps them to build resilience to manage difficult times in the home and further expand their understanding of children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular team meetings support effective communication and help staff to provide children with consistent care. Leaders and managers have established positive and productive working relationships with partner agencies, which contribute to coordinated and effective support for children. Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 5 Staff are up to date with mandatory training and have completed additional learning that is relevant to some of the needs of children living in the home. However, further training in some areas specific to children's identified risks would strengthen staff knowledge and practice. Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff take effective action to check a child's welfare when they are located after being missing but there is a delay in their return home. Furthermore, managers should ensure that children have the opportunity to speak with an independent person on their return. A record of any information shared about the child's experiences should be made and used to inform future care arrangements and risk management plans, helping to keep children safe.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, effective strategies should be used by staff to manage peer conflicts and reduce verbal conflicts that cause emotional upset and anger. 20 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children's bedrooms are not generally entered without their permission, though it may be necessary to establish routines to allow for rooms to be cleaned. In particular, staff should support children to maintain the cleanliness of their bedrooms and ensure they are welcoming spaces for children to spend time in. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including quality standards', page 16, paragraph 3.20)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This is specific to training to support the individual needs of children who live in the home. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including quality standards', page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child's education and training targets and their next steps for learning. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including quality standards', page 27, paragraph 5.11)

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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: SC005050 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

Helen Dunn, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC005050 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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