Children's Home run by Esland North Limited in Rotherham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC488223 1 SC488223 Registered provider: Esland North 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 owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager registered with Ofsted in July 2025.

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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: 18 January 2023

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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: SC488223 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2023 Full Good 15/02/2022 Full Good 19/11/2019 Full Outstanding 25/04/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC488223 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s voices are central to the running of the home. They are provided with a variety of opportunities to express their wishes and feelings. Staff actively listen to children and ensure that children’s views are recorded, demonstrating respect for their views. Staff support children to understand their rights and the importance of their voices in influencing decisions that affect their care. This approach promotes a culture of empowerment for children and increases children’s confidence in contributing to their own care planning and the management of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff keep detailed daily logs that offer a clear and child-friendly account of each child’s experiences. These records regularly include direct quotes from children, ensuring their voices are captured. This practice reinforces a child-centred approach and contributes to personalised care, while also supporting meaningful engagement between staff and children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Regular meetings are held with the home’s clinician to support staff to enhance their therapeutic practice, which are individualised to each child’s needs. These child-focused meetings encourage staff to reflect on their approaches and provide a supportive environment where staff can share their feelings and reflect on their learning as a team. This supports staff to develop professionally and to continuously improve the care provided to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s therapeutic model of care is consistently embedded across the staff team, which is clearly reflected in their recordings. Staff demonstrate a strong and confident understanding of the model and apply this to inform their interactions and approaches with children. The use of the model creates a supportive and consistent environment which helps staff to respond sensitively and effectively to children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The admissions process is strong, and the registered manager ensures effective plans are in place to welcome children into the home. Where possible, staff meet with children before they come to live at the home, which eases anxieties the children may be feeling. Staff welcome the children into the home in a sensitive manner, which promotes children’s feelings of security and safety. During this inspection period, one child left the home quickly due to safeguarding concerns external to the home. Despite the quick transition from the home, the registered manager ensured a suitable plan was in place. This included staff staying with the child in their new home for a week. This provided a sense of continuity for the child and helped to reduce any feelings of rejection. Staff who missed saying goodbye to the child later visited them at their new home to ensure that the relationship ended appropriately for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC488223 4

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

Staff have a good understanding of each child’s risks and behaviours and respond to them appropriately in line with their plans. Staff act promptly to address any concerns, while also supporting children to engage in age-appropriate risk-taking. Children are actively involved in discussions about their behaviours and are encouraged to participate in their own care planning, which supports children to understand their own risks and how to be safe.

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

Staff create a safe and trusting environment, which helps children to share any concerns. Staff actively listen and work with children to think about solutions and strategies which help to keep them safe. This furthers children’s opportunities to be a part of their own care planning and risk management. Children feel able to confide in staff about some traumatic experiences that they have had in the past, which staff have handled with sensitivity. Staff respond swiftly to ensure children are supported emotionally while also maintaining their safety.

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

Staff work well with other agencies and professionals to safeguard children, and they have a clear understanding of each person’s role and responsibilities. Professionals are held to account when they are not supporting the child’s safety effectively. For example, a member of staff had concerns regarding the conduct of an external professional during a visit to the home. The staff member confidently challenged the individual and offered more suitable ways of engaging with the child.

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

The registered manager takes decisive action to prioritise children’s safety and well- being. For example, when a child subject to a restrictive court order had their order reviewed, the manager disagreed with a change that they believed would compromise the child’s safety. The manager challenged this and escalated concerns with relevant professionals to promote the child’s safety and best interests.

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

Staff have a clear understanding of children’s risks and vulnerabilities, enhanced by detailed risk assessments and strong relationships with the children. One child living at the home was involved in several safeguarding incidents, including prolonged episodes of going missing. When the child went missing, staff responded effectively in line with the child’s plans to ensure their safety. However, on one occasion, the child left the home unnoticed during the night due to a gap in the risk assessment, where a prevention strategy was not included. Following this incident, the registered manager and staff team reflected on the incident and their actions and promptly implemented changes to the risk assessment to reduce the risk of this happening again.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager leads with confidence to ensure that children are provided with the care they deserve. The manager’s timely escalations to other professionals have been key in ensuring that children can access the support that they need. For example, when a request for weekly multi-agency meetings for a child went unanswered, the Inspection report for children’s home: SC488223 5 manager escalated the matter to a senior level, providing sound rationale for the importance of these meetings. As a result, the meetings were agreed, which supported the overall care planning for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak highly of the management team and say that they feel well supported in their roles. They describe the manager as approachable and caring, which promotes a culture of open communication. Staff feel confident raising concerns or discussing ideas with the management team and appreciate the manager’s positive approach to their well-being, which has led to an improvement in their overall practice. During this inspection period, the home has had two registered managers; however, the transition between managers was well coordinated, and the change was largely unnoticeable to children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff consistently show a reflective approach to their practice, particularly during supervision. The manager actively encourages staff to consider their experiences working in the home and to identify any additional development needs, such as training which would be beneficial. Supervision sessions are child centred and in-depth discussions about the children’s needs and progress are included. Clear action plans are produced which support the staff to develop and enhance the lives of children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high aspirations for children and dedication to achieving positive outcomes for them. She is actively involved in the children’s lives and has a strong presence in the home, ensuring children can seek her out when needed. This child- centred approach is apparent throughout the staff team, whose members speak warmly of the children. Staff promote a sense of care and security for children by ensuring that they are always available when they need them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a suitable system in the home to support record-keeping. However, there have been incidents of incorrect dates being recorded on some children’s documents, which could impact the accuracy of information that is held and shared. Inspection report for children’s home: SC488223 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that updated strategies to prevent children going missing are reflected in the child’s risk assessments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that records in the home are accurately dated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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: SC488223 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Ladean Wilson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC488223 8 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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