Children's Home run by Carbrey Care Hempsted Ltd in Gloucestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 1 Registered provider: Carbrey Care Hempsted Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties. The home’s statement of purpose states that it provides holistic care for children between the ages of five and 17 years.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2024.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/07/2024 Full Good 06/07/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they like living in their home. The interactions between staff and children are warm and friendly. Children feel comfortable around staff and enjoy spending time with them. One child said, ‘It is the best home that I have lived in.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to participate in a range of fun activities, including ice skating, going to theme parks and spending time with friends and family. Children are also helped to develop positive relationships with each other. When relationships become fractured, staff encourage children to talk about their feelings, resolve their differences and repair their relationships swiftly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff create memory books for children that display photos of them doing the things that they enjoy and sharing enjoyable experiences with others. However, memory books provide no descriptive narrative, and children may struggle to remember where they were, what they were doing and who they were with when they look back on the photos in later life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans help staff to understand their needs and the care that they require. Plans are written to the children and are presented in friendly and accessible ways. This helps children to understand and contribute to the care that they receive. Internal and external support services are also encouraged to share their views to inform children’s care planning. As a result, children are supported in making good progress from their starting points. One professional described the progress that their child has made as ‘incredible’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

However, when planning children’s care, there is a lack of consideration of children’s individual identity and their cultural and religious needs. As a result, staff are not meaningfully supported to think about what these aspects of children’s lives mean for them and how their care should be personalised in these areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work collaboratively with children, their placing authorities and education provisions to support children to reintegrate back into the classroom environment. When needed, children are provided with reduced-hours timetables to help them gradually increase the time they spend at school, in line with their developing confidence and abilities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment feels warm and homely. Leaders and managers listen to children when planning how the rooms in the home should be used. As a result, the lounge is undergoing refurbishment and will be converted into a games/chill-out room. Children are encouraged to express their ideas about what games and soft furnishings should be added to the room. Furthermore, when children move into the home, leaders and managers take action to enrich the environment to ensure that it is suitable for each child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 4

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

Staff use the children’s plans to help support children to stay safe. Safety plans help staff understand the risks associated with risk-taking behaviours and provide clear guidance about how to recognise concerns and respond to them effectively. Staff are provided with suitable training opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge of risk management. As a result, children say that they feel safe in their home.

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

Staff help children recognise and talk about their feelings rather than ‘acting them out’. This has led to a reduction in behaviours that staff find challenging. This progress is also observed in the classroom setting and is improving children’s engagement in their learning.

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

Children are better able to resolve conflict, live and play cooperatively, and appreciate the views and opinions of others. As a result, children make and maintain positive friendships.

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

Since the last inspection, there has been one incident in the home that has involved the use of restraint. When children are upset and frustrated, staff use a range of strategies to avoid the use of restraint and help children to express themselves more safely. The use of restraint is proportionate and necessary, and children and staff are encouraged to reflect on what they could do differently in the future.

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

When children are missing from home, staff follow the agreed procedures, including searching for the child, reporting them missing to the police and trying to contact their friends and family. When children return to the home, they are welcomed back by staff who are curious about their welfare, where they have been and who they have been with. As staff develop an understanding of children’s reasons for going missing, actions are taken to prevent similar occurrences from happening again in the future.

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

When concerns about children’s safety are identified, there is a robust multi-agency response from staff. Internal and external specialist services are consulted to ensure that the strategies staff use to help children stay safe are effective. A focus is placed on helping staff develop positive relationships with children. These relationships support staff in helping children consider risk and how they can become increasingly safe.

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

When children raise concerns about their safety, leaders and managers take appropriate action to protect them from harm. However, the actions that are agreed and the outcomes that are reached are not always shared with the child. As a result, children are not always helped to understand how they have been listened to or protected.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Before children move to the home, leaders and managers carefully consider their needs and risks, as well as those of the children who are already living there. Leaders and Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 5 managers seek advice and guidance from the provider’s therapy team to ensure that staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to care for each child effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers acknowledge the difficulties that they have encountered when staff have left their role in the home and how this can affect children’s care and experiences. To mediate the impact of using agency staff, who do not always know the children well, leaders and managers use known agency staff whenever possible. Following a successful recruitment campaign, the home is now fully staffed, and children are benefiting from increased continuity of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

To further improve the consistency of care that is provided to children, clear boundaries and routines are agreed with them. This helps children and staff know what to expect each day. In addition, staff are helped to understand and follow children’s care plans effectively. However, some actions that are agreed with external professionals to help staff meet children’s needs are not always completed. This vulnerability relates to leaders and managers’ oversight and responses to the agreed actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recognise and celebrate children’s achievements. This helps staff to promote positive behaviours and encourage children to do their best and develop aspirations. Conversely, consequences are used in response to children’s unwanted behaviours. Leaders and managers have focused on helping children understand why their behaviour is considered unacceptable, rather than issuing a punitive response. As a result, consequences are restorative, and children are encouraged to develop socially aware behaviours and become increasingly safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider uses safer recruitment procedures to help leaders and managers determine that staff are suitable to work with children. However, leaders and managers do not demonstrate sufficient professional curiosity about the results of the checks that are carried out. As a result, some discrepancies and areas of uncertainty are not identified or resolved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they enjoy working at the home and that they feel supported by leaders and managers. Professionals say that the staff work well with multidisciplinary teams and help children to make progress and protect themselves from harm. Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 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 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must make sure that the actions that are identified through planning children’s care are responded to swiftly to ensure that children receive the care they need.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must maintain robust oversight of the safer recruitment checks that are carried out for permanent and agency members of staff. This must allow for the registered person to identify and resolve any discrepancies that are uncovered by the checks before staff start working with children. 29 August 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when children raise concerns about their care and/or allegations of harm or abuse, they are provided with a suitable overview of the actions and outcomes that are agreed. In particular, the registered person should ensure that children are satisfied with the actions taken and feel listened to and protected as a result. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.17) Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 7  The registered person should ensure that children receive individualised care that meets their needs and promotes their welfare. Specifically, the registered person should ensure that staff are supported to meaningfully consider and meet children’s cultural, religious and identity needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff keep appropriate memorabilia of

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Recommendations

children’s time living in the home. In particular, staff should provide context to the photos that are included in memory books so that children are helped to remember where they were, what they were doing and who they were with when they look back at the photos in later life. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: 2709670 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Carbrey Care Hempsted Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3 Ambrose House, Meteor Court, Barnett Way, Barnwood, Gloucester, Gloucestershire GL4 3GG

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Inspector

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2709670 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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