Children's Home run by Prime Nurture Services Limited in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 1 Registered provider: Prime Nurture Services

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since September 2024. The appointed manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection and they were all spoken to. Since the last inspection, two children have moved out.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 30 January 2024

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is a pattern of staff being unable to meet the well-being and safety needs of children after managers have agreed to admit more children to the home. The impact of this is that some children have moved out in unplanned ways. For example, one child who had lived at the home for almost a year moved out with immediate effect following a serious incident.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have been unable to safely manage the dynamics between children and this has led to serious assaults on staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are gaps in information held for children. Not all children have care plans or plans to support their behaviour. Plans are not individualised to each child’s needs. This has an impact on the ability of staff to care for children when they are not aware of information which is important in relation to the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are being cared for by staff who are unfamiliar to them, particularly during the night. This limits opportunities for them to develop ongoing relationships with staff, build trusted relationships and make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have poor routines. They often sleep during the day and stay up during the night. This means they are not taking part in education and learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff support children to have family time when this is arranged. However, none of the children have regular arrangements in place to spend time with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children enjoy going out on activities or shopping with staff and have enjoyed preparing their own meals, such as making pizzas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have ensured that children are registered with services to meet their health needs. However, not all children attend their appointments and staff have yet to find ways to support them to do this. Not attending important health reviews could impact significantly on their health. Staff have not yet been able to support children effectively to make healthier life choices. For example, children continue to smoke tobacco and cannabis and use vapes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is warm and comfortable. Each of the children has a bedroom that they are supported to look after. There are some areas of damage in the home, however, the managers were already in the process of ensuring this was addressed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 4

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

The manager and staff are not equipped to manage and challenge children’s behaviour effectively. There have been several serious incidents when children have physically harmed staff. This is affecting the ability of the team to keep the children and themselves safe. The police have been called to assist with dangerous situations.

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

Staff have been caring for children alone for several hours, despite children having seriously assaulted several members of staff. The risks to staff and children have not been properly assessed. This leaves staff and children at increased risk of harm. Some staff say they do not feel safe when working at the home during the night.

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

The manager has not ensured that effective risk management plans are in place to keep children safe. For example, children are not allowed in each other’s rooms, however, this is happening regularly. Children are leaving the home during the night and staff are not consistently following children to keep them safe.

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

Children’s fire setting risks have not been appropriately considered or addressed by staff. Specialist support has not been sought.

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

The manager has not always informed Ofsted in a timely way of significant incidents involving children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, changes in the management team and staff turnover have led to instability in the home. Children have not experienced placement stability and their experiences of moving in and leaving the home have been poor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not have thorough systems in place to gather sufficient information about children before they move into the home. Managers are therefore making decisions from an ill-informed position. Accurate risk assessments are not undertaken before children move into the home. Significant information about children has not been included in risk assessments, which has the potential to put others at increased risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not received training in a timely way to understand and respond to children’s needs effectively. Only two staff have completed specialist training, even though this is relevant to children living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff say that, despite the recent challenges in the home, they feel supported by managers, including the senior management team, who have attended the home following serious incidents occurring. Staff have regular supervision and reviews of probation take place, along with team meetings. Some of these reflect concerns around routines not being in place for the children and staff’s loss of confidence. Although children are discussed, not all needs are considered. This means there is not a consistent approach for caring for children or implementing boundaries. Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 5 Leaders and managers have failed to fully identify and act on the shortfalls in the home. However, immediate action was taken during this inspection to address issues. This included reassessing staffing levels in the home, for example increasing staffing levels at night. Leaders and managers have expressed a willingness to make and embed changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recommendations from the last inspection have been superseded by the requirements below. The requirement in relation to regulation 8 has been repeated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 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—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to the manager and staff being equipped to manage and challenge children’s behaviour to ensure the safety of children and staff.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to staffing being arranged to meet the needs of the children according to current assessed risks.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to risk assessments being individualised and specific to the current needs and risks of the children and including strategies to be used to help mitigate the risks, for example, how staff should respond if children leave the home late at night or how to prevent them being in each other’s bedrooms at night. 7 April 2025

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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; promotes their welfare. 7 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to leaders and managers ensuring that staff receive training in a timely manner which equips them to understand and respond to children’s needs effectively.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to leaders and managers continually assessing staffing in order to ensure the needs of the children can be met.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to children being cared for by staff who are familiar to them.

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Requirement Due date

*The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 7 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to the registered person being assured that impact risk assessments are robust, and that the needs of all children in the home can be met.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to the need to reassess risk assessments for all children following emerging or changing risks, such as when children leave the home together or violent incidents have happened in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; 7 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 9 communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(xii)(xiii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to children being cared for by familiar staff with whom they are able to build relationships, in order that behaviours can be challenged effectively and situations de- escalated.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to supporting staff to respond consistently when children are asked to leave each other’s bedrooms at night or if children leave the home at night.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 7 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 10 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to ensuring children are supported to access education and learning by being in good routines and up and ready to learn, and also supported with extra-curricular learning.

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Requirement Due date

It also relates to any concerns that the registered person may have about a lack of a suitable education plan or placement Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 11 being escalated to the child’s education provider and the child’s local authority.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(30) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

In this regulation, "the fire and rescue authority" means the fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(31) for the area in which the home is located. (Regulation 25 (2)(b) (3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the registered person ensuring that known risks around fire-starting are properly assessed before children come to live in the home. This includes contacting the fire service to reassess fire risks, seek advice and meet with the child when they move in. 7 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26 (7)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to, that in the absence of a registered manager, the responsible individual is the person responsible for ensuring safety and quality of care in the home. 7 April 2025

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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— 7 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 12 ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

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Requirement Due date

relates to the child’s development (within the meaning of section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989) or health; and is not arranged or provided as part of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006 M1,

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Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

that the care is delivered by a person who—

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Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)(i)(ii) (3)(b)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to the responsible person ensuring they seek and consider accurate information before a child moves into the home, and that risk assessments and care plans are updated regularly.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring all children have up-to-date care plans.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that when serious incidents have happened, such as staff being injured when they have been assaulted by children, notifications are submitted to Ofsted. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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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: 2749804 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Prime Nurture Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Newstead House, 17 Pelham Road, Nottingham NG5 1AP

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Inspectors

Caroline Hose, Social Care Inspector Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2749804 14 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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