Children's home run by Kites Children Services Limited in Colchester

Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 1 SC029560 Registered provider: Kites Children Services 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 one of two children’s homes operated by a private provider. The home provides specialist therapeutic care and treatment for up to six children with complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2023.

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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At the last inspection in April 2025, there were serious shortfalls in respect of how children are helped and protected. As a result, the home was judged inadequate. Ofsted served one compliance notice under the protection of children standard. At the following monitoring visit on 11 June 2025, the provider had met the steps set out in the compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/04/2025 Full Inadequate 01/05/2024 Full Good 06/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All four children spoke with the inspector during the inspection. Many of the children have lived at the home for a long period of time. Children have built positive relationships with staff, and the interactions are warm and receptive. These relationships have helped children to make progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers have improved the home since the last inspection. Children’s bathrooms have been refurbished, and several rooms have been redecorated. Children contributed to how they would like the rooms decorated and items they would like at the home. Staff support children to clean their bedrooms and keep these in good condition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have education arrangements that support their individual needs. Staff encourage children to attend daily. Children have high levels of attendance and are making progress with their learning. One child has successfully completed a college course and has been supported to apply for jobs in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer children a range of activities to explore their interests. Trips include the circus, riding bikes, mini golf and activity assault courses. Children often take part in group activities. This helps them to build positive relationships with one another.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see people who are important to them. Where there are barriers, staff offer support to children to reconnect with family members at the children’s pace. This has helped children to maintain family links.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At times, children have raised concerns regarding one another. Staff have supported children to reflect on their relationships with each other. The staff have supportive conversations with children as well as restorative meetings. This has been effective in supporting the children to speak about their concerns with one another and find resolutions to move forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide regular children’s meetings and ad hoc conversations with children. Staff respond to the children’s views. Two children have advocates, and referrals have been made for other children to have advocates. These arrangements encourage children to share their views and feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has moved out since the last inspection. The child was supported to visit their new home before moving. The staff capture their time at the home thoughtfully. Another child is due to move out of the home due to their age. However, there is currently no arrangement in place for when or where the child will be moving to. The child has had regular conversations with staff and expressed that the unknown is causing them to feel anxious. Staff have attempted to support the child. Managers have attempted to gain clarity from the child’s local authority; however, they have not Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 4 formally raised their concerns or escalated these to the child’s local authority. This does not demonstrate that mangers escalate their concerns in relation to the child’s care planning.

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

When children have made allegations against staff, these have been well managed. On each occasion, children have retracted their comments. Despite this, protective measures have been implemented, and appropriate consultations have been made with the relevant professionals. Children have been supported when they have made allegations and spoken to by someone independent. Staff spoken to were confident in their roles and responsibilities with reporting and recording safeguarding concerns. One parent said they were happy with the new process that managers have taken regarding when their child has made allegations against staff.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been no physical interventions or missing-from- care incidents. All staff have physical intervention training. Staff can demonstrate the action they would take if a child was to go missing from the home and under which circumstances they would use a physical intervention.

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

Consequences for the children are proportionate and fair. These support children to demonstrate acceptable behaviour at the home and in the community. Children’s views are sourced in relation to consequences, and each use of consequence includes management oversight. Incentives used by staff support children to understand acceptable behaviour.

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

Children are supported to develop their independence skills in line with their ages. For some of the children, they have been supported with money management, dispensing their own medication and free time in the community. For other children, this has been road safety and household chores. All children undertake an external training session regarding online safety. These approaches support the children to understand the risks in the community and help prepare them for their future.

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

Children are provided specialist support from therapists to work through their previous trauma. Children generally engage well with the therapeutic support offered, attending weekly therapy and group therapy sessions. Therapists are in regular communication with staff and support staff during children’s case discussions. Children are supported to attend routine health appointments. However, one child, who has a nicotine addiction, has not been provided smoking cessation support. This means there is a delay in the child receiving support regarding their health.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been absent from the home since the last inspection. The responsible individual and deputy manager have been overseeing the home in the manager’s absence. Staff speak highly of the deputy manager’s commitment and support that they receive from her and each other. Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 5 Senior managers have made significant changes to improve their oversight. These have contributed to there being a more analytical and responsive approach to safeguarding incidents, staff training and monitoring of the service. Overall, these have strengthened the quality of care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have taken part in mandatory training. Additional safeguarding and recording training has been implemented by managers. This has helped staff have a better understanding of the children’s vulnerabilities and respond accordingly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions. These explore topics relevant to the children and staff’s well-being. Team meetings are well attended and explorative. During meetings, input is given from the children’s therapists and discussions take place about different approaches that will support children. These approaches help to build positive relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals involved with the home provided positive feedback about managers and staff. They have no concerns about the quality of care provided to children or communication.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child’s records and plans are detailed. However, aspects of the child’s risk assessments contain inaccurate information about when to report a child missing from care. These do not reflect current arrangements and could lead to inconsistencies in how staff respond.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported to work towards the relevant level 3 qualification. Most staff are either qualified or working towards this. However, one staff member has not achieved the qualification within the relevant timescale. This does not provide all staff with the required skills for the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Four requirements from the last inspection have been met. One requirement has been restated, and one further requirement has been set. Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 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)) 9 September

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 3 Diploma’); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b)) 30 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 7 This requirement has been restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, ensure that all records are clear and detail the information in a concise and factual way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff support children to understand the dangers of nicotine addiction and help them to stop smoking by referring children to specialist smoking cessation health services. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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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: SC029560 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kites Children Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Forge, Langham, Colchester CO4 5PX

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Inspector

Syvanna Matthew, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC029560 9 and inspects to 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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