Children's Home run by Children To Prosper Limited in Milton Keynes

Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 1 Registered provider: Children to Prosper Limited

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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 registered to provide care for one child who experiences social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there was one child living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since April 2025 and has submitted their application to register with Ofsted. Prior to commencing their post, they were the registered manager for one of the organisation’s other homes.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered provider has recently appointed a new responsible individual, and Ofsted is in the process of checking that this person has the relevant capacity, experience and skills to carry out the role.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: requires improvement to be good

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/02/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been substantial changes in the leadership and management oversight since the last inspection. More recently, this has resulted in improved care and support for the child. Despite this, some of the foundations that are needed to enable the child to make positive progress have not been in place. The improvements needed are linked to statutory and legislative processes, and so the staff team is in a limited position to effect change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most staff have been able to build a positive relationship with the child and provide well- informed and child-sensitive responses. This has helped the child to develop confidence and trust in preferred adults. Some staff continue to build their skills and confidence to support the child. Since the new manager joined the home, this has been formalised and there are positive signs of improvement. One staff member has been highly effective at supporting the child to meet with external professionals, and this is positive progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate a strong sense of commitment to the child and a desire to help them to progress. Staff provide sensitive and supportive care to the child, and this has enabled them to better understand their feelings and emotions. This has included some creative strategies to help the child find appropriate ways of expressing themselves. The management team recognises the importance of this being shared across the staff team to promote consistency and for wider staff development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The physical environment has been personalised for the child and includes photos that reflect their positive experiences of living in the home. There is also a note wall, which has notes between the child and preferred staff, including words of encouragement, sentiment and jovial messages. This promotes a positive sense of belonging for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has not attended formal education since moving to the home, and this was an existing concern prior to them moving in. Although staff have attempted to implement a bespoke education plan for the child, this has had only very limited success. The child has experienced several rejections from identified schools. The home’s manager effectively advocated on behalf of the child, and a school place has now been allocated for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has not benefited from any advocacy support since they moved to the home. This has meant that their voice has not been independently represented among a substantial network of professionals surrounding them. The child has not been able to access the care and help they require through statutory and commissioned services within the local community. This support is beyond the scope of the staff and manager to provide and has impacted on their ability to help the child progress. The new management team recognises that more effective action should have been taken to promote advocacy for the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 4

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

The child has benefited from some specialist external support since they moved to the home. This has helped to aid staff’s understanding of the child’s presenting care needs. Although staff have used this information to the best of their ability, there have been several barriers in progressing elements of this child’s support package, recommended by an external professional. The placing authority are now exploring private provision, but several months have passed since this work was initially recommended.

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

The child’s neurodivergence is not fully understood and there has been ambiguity among relevant professionals about the support the child requires. The home’s manager has proactively liaised with external health professionals and has secured a second referral to the local child and adolescent mental health service department.

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

Most of the time, staff implement effective responses when the child goes missing from the home. However, on occasions, staff have not promptly reported the child missing and spent too much time trying to seek communication from the child, meaning that the multi-agency response has not been as quick as it could have been. This has not had a negative impact on the child’s safety or well-being. The manager has set clearer boundaries for staff practice since commencing at the home, which will support more proactive safeguarding responses.

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

Despite the otherwise good practice, the child has not benefited from any face-to-face return interviews and too much reliance has been placed on virtual and telephone interviews by the placing authority. Although the management team has demonstrated appropriate professional challenge regarding this, this has been ineffective and there has been no further escalation to more senior leaders in the placing authority. Despite known vulnerabilities for the child and substantial geographical distance between the placing and resident local authorities, the use of an independent or more local organisation to undertake return interviews has not occurred.

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

Staff have continued to develop their understanding of the child’s online safety. Effective monitoring systems have enabled prompt identification of clear safeguarding concerns, and these have been escalated to safeguarding professionals. This has supported the professional network around the child to enhance their understanding of the child’s actions when they are away from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has not been sufficient understanding and professional challenge about the experiences of the child and the steps required to support their progress by the previous management team. This has meant that, despite good intentions, the basic foundations for progress have not been in place and too much emphasis has been placed on external agencies to help the child. When this support has not been forthcoming or has been delayed due to lack of identified services or thresholds not being met, the management Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 5 team has not taken effective action to challenge this, when this could have led to positive change for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been several changes in the leadership arrangements. This has included a new home manager, new deputy manager and new responsible individual. The organisation has also changed the independent person undertaking monthly visits. This has had a refreshing impact on the home following a high number of regulatory shortfalls identified during the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The new leadership team recognises that the support the child has required since moving to the home has not been effectively planned and implemented in a timely manner. Although there have been recent achievements regarding education and mental health support for the child, the impact of this has yet to be established and the child has lived in the home for almost one year. The management team recognises that more effective and assertive leadership is required to advocate on the child’s behalf and ensure that the measures required to meet their support needs are arranged without delay.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Most staff support the child with confidence and high ambition, although some staff are still developing their skills and knowledge to be able to work in a consistent manner alongside their colleagues. The management team has set clearer expectations around staff practice across the home. Some staff have found this more challenging than others and have made the decision to leave the home. This has not impacted on the child’s sense of stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

All staff benefit from a range of training opportunities and frequent supervision. New staff are appropriately vetted when joining the home. The management team is committed to undertaking a learning review to consider wider practice development across the team and tailor training in accordance with the needs of staff and the child. This review will also consider improvements to management monitoring and oversight across the home, with a focus on supporting staff to enhance children’s progress and attainment in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The actions that staff take to support the child are well recorded and demonstrate child- centred practice and language that cares. The new home manager is now working hard to embed this practice across the home. The new deputy manager who has recently stepped up to their role is a positive role model for practice and aspires to share their knowledge and skills for wider improvement across the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must engage all statutory services, including the placing authority, to meet children’s care needs. This includes challenging decisions about the provision of care and support to the child, and escalating to senior leaders in the placing authority if the child’s presenting needs are not being sufficiently met, or they are not being seen in accordance with statutory responsibilities. 29 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(b)(iii)) 29 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 7 In particular, the registered person must ensure that any child living in the home has access to appropriate advocacy support if this is required.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, that the placing local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. The registered person should ensure appropriate escalation to senior leaders in the placing authority if this does not happen. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the Quality Standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should support staff to be ambitious for every child in the home and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential. To ensure that staff understand and can meet each child’s needs, in line with their responsibilities, the registered person themselves will need to have a high level of understanding of the needs of the children in their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the Quality Standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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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: 2740871 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Children to Prosper Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71 Knowl Piece, Wilbury Way, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG4 0TY

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Inspector

Ashley Edwards, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2740871 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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