Behind the Inspection Rating: Activities build children's skills

An unwavering emphasis on tailoring services to individual children and young people is what made the Together Trust’s Meridian children’s home stand out to Ofsted inspectors in its most recent inspection.
It is an approach that helped the short-breaks service land an "outstanding" rating and nowhere is this commitment to catering to the individual clearer than in the social activities that Meridian organises for young people in the home.

"We do lots and lots of activities," says Sarah Hopwood, the manager of Meridian. "The young people choose their activities in a way that suits their communication abilities and that builds their skills and confidence."

Sports on offer include bike riding, swimming and bowling but the young people can always suggest new outings they would like to try.

Specific support

Every new activity gets a risk assessment and environmental check but Meridian also takes the time to support children who want to get involved but might find it difficult to take part. "If a young person would struggle with an activity, we do some work around building them up to it," says Hopwood.

"One young person might be able to go swimming and that will be absolutely fine but another might not even be able to go to the shops. So we do very in-depth plans and teach them how to act and cope in that environment. That can take up to a year – it’s very individual-specific."

Running such activities also involves building strong relationships with local businesses and public services. "One example is that we’ve developed a good relationship with an Indian restaurant," says Hopwood. "They are absolutely fantastic with our young people – they aren’t fazed at all by any of the things they might see."

These social experiences help the young people learn how to manage in different and potentially challenging situations, she adds. "Busy shopping centres for example can be very difficult places for someone with autism so it’s about giving them and teaching them a coping strategy that they could use if they are feeling anxious while out in a social place," she explains.

Another aspect of Meridian’s work that helped it to gain top marks from Ofsted is its approach to frequently monitoring the needs and situation of each young person. "We always do a home visit as part of the initial assessment process but all the key workers also do regular home visits to keep relationships with the parents positive," says Hopwood.

"That way we can make sure they agree with what is in their child’s plans and they often give us ideas of different things to try. Things can also change very quickly from the initial assessment – we could do a visit six months later and find that things have changed in relation to the young person’s independence skills, for example."

Meridian’s monitoring also extends to daily checks on each child’s medication requirements, instead of the monthly checks that are obligatory. "Everybody has their own individual needs but with the added difficulties around a diagnosis of autism in terms of communication abilities and understanding, we have to be very specific in how we do everything," she says.

FACT FILE

• Location Stockport, Cheshire
• Description Meridian is a short break children’s home for children and young people with autism, communication difficulties and Asperger’s. It is run by a charity, the Together Trust. The home caters for five to 18 year olds and takes in a maximum of five children at a time. The sessions are planned so that children and young people of similar difficulties and ages are grouped together.
• Number of children There are 43 children and young people on Meridian’s books, 39 of which come for overnight stays.
• Ofsted inspection unique reference number SC025745

HELPFUL HINTS

• Work with the families. "The families of the young people we work with are the experts," says Hopwood. "It’s very important to maintain good relationships with parents. You’re only as good as those families and young people – that constant working and relationship building with them is important."
• Don’t forget that fun is part of the service. "It’s important to make sure coming to Meridian is fun because if it wasn’t the young people wouldn’t want to come back," says Hopwood. "We also need to make the families feel comfortable in entrusting their children to us. If that wasn’t the case then Meridian wouldn’t work."
• Let young people change their minds. The Meridian encourages young people to pick the activities they want to do but the home always makes sure that they can change their minds about taking part. "The young people should be allowed to change their minds," says Hopwood. "If they decide suddenly that they didn’t want to do something and go somewhere else instead the staff are very adaptable and change to that very quickly so that we can let them do something else."