St Christopher’s Fellowship

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 1 St Christopher’s Fellowship Registered provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is owned and operated by a voluntary provider.

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provider

This service can accommodate up to 66 children and young people, in five shared- living homes that are limited to accommodating looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, this service was providing supported accommodation for 15 children.

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provider

The organisation and the registered service manager registered with Ofsted in February 2025. The nominated individual was registered with Ofsted in May 2025.

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provider

The registered service manager left on 22 August 2025.

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Inspection dates: 18 to 22 August 2025

The inspection was announced on 18 August 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site on 20 to 22 August 2025.

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Outcome

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action. The next inspection will be within approximately three years.

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Summary of findings

This is a strong service. Leaders and managers create a culture where children are at the very centre of the service. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 2 Children’s voices are central to their plans. Staff actively consult with children about the support they receive. Staff listen to the children and help them to achieve their goals.

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Summary of findings

Staff ensure that children’s safety is a priority. Through appropriate training and reflective practice, staff identify risks to children and take suitable action to keep children safe.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers are committed to creating a stable and resilient workforce, who are enthusiastic about working with children. This approach ensures that children are central in all areas of the service.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children have positive experiences. They are fully involved in the planning of their support. Children receive high-quality support. This enables them to make progress across all areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children build trusting relationships with staff, who have high aspirations and advocate well for children. Children say, ‘The staff are caring, very kind, helpful,’ and ‘generally very good people’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

All children spoken to had positive things to say about their experiences. One child said, ‘It is beautiful here. It is safe. It is a very good place to be.’ Another child said, ‘It is good here, I have [Name of support worker] who helps me a lot.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children have a strong voice. Staff enable children to talk about their feelings, views and wishes. Staff are excellent advocates for children and help them to achieve their goals. This includes supporting children with their chosen interests or career options.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff successfully encourage children to achieve their aspirations. Significant numbers of children are involved in education, employment, or work experience opportunities. Children talk of their plans to move on to university, further work experiences, or to secure specific employment. Other children apply for and gain access to in-house grants that help them to develop skills in starting up new ventures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff are proactive in their support of children so they can develop and maintain safe, strong and healthy relationships with friends and family networks. This endorses children’s feelings of belonging within their wider community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff organise various activities for children in-house and in the community. This includes camping trips, a welfare day in a park, art sessions and free access to gyms. One home has its own well-equipped gym. Children also have access to additional funds to enable them to develop their hobbies and interests, such as receiving funds for cello lessons and purchasing a bike to travel to work. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 3 Children are comfortable in their homes. They say that they have everything that they need, and they are involved in personalising their rooms and the communal areas. Children are currently involved in a project that looks at ‘What makes a place a home’. This project enhances children’s skills and enables them to have a wider understanding of what they may need when they have their own accommodation.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders, managers and staff help children to feel safe and secure in their homes and in the community. One child said, ‘If I feel a bit concerned about coming from the station on my own, staff will come and meet me.’

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How well children are helped and protected

Children feel safe because of the staff’s actions. Staff monitor the children’s interactions to minimise risks of conflict in the home. The staff consistently offer children the opportunities to talk about risky situations and give helpful advice about how to manage these. One-to-one discussions about how to keep safe include guidance on how children can manage their emotions safely to prevent them and others being harmed.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and the manager keep abreast of the developments, emerging patterns and trends in safeguarding children. Staff receive training from specialists such as sessions on the law, restorative practice, child criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation. This enables staff to better support children in these complex areas.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff follow a clear procedure when children go missing from their home. The staff work closely with the police and social workers to safeguard children. This secures the children’s safe return and ensures that jointly agreed plans are followed to promote the safety of children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff know children very well. Staff use a trauma-based approach and empathy to understand the true meaning of children’s behaviours. Staff help children to find creative ways to deal with their traumas such as using mosaic artwork to portray their journey.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff reflect with children about any incidents that happen, so children can look for more constructive ways of dealing with difficult issues. Staff tell children that, ‘Their past does not define their future,’ and that ‘They can learn new behaviours.’

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How well children are helped and protected

Managers and staff follow clear procedures when there are any allegations against any staff members. They understand the role of the designated safeguarding lead in the organisation and in the local authority and notify both when needed. This ensures that allegations are investigated by the appropriate agencies quickly, so the safety of children is promoted.

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How well children are helped and protected

Safe recruitment practice ensures that staff are suitable to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 4 Leaders and managers create a culture where children are at the very centre of the service. Through the organisation, there is a thread of passion, commitment, perseverance, innovation and creativity that has a profound impact on children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders, managers and staff share the values of being caring, respectful, professional, flexible, honest and creative, which exudes through the fabric of the organisation and is displayed in the dedication shown to children. One professional said they ‘go over and beyond the call of duty’, ‘they never seem to tire’, ‘it’s a testament to their commitment’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Children’s voices feature strongly through the organisation. There is an active young people’s advisory panel that shares the children and young people’s views on the ideas and policies that the leaders and managers present. Children contribute to recruitment activities by sitting on interview panels or setting interview questions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The leaders and managers’ approach to the development of the workforce is excellent. A detailed induction, general and targeted training and succession planning, which stems from an implicit approach to ‘growing their own’ talent, have a positive effect on the stability and continuity afforded to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded. The service has facilities for children who require the use of a wheelchair, and it works inclusively with neurodivergent children. Leaders and managers also hold workshops with children to discuss respecting differences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are committed to children after they leave the service. With the child’s permission, the staff keep in contact with them, as part of the ‘Staying close programme’. The staff’s continued support enables children to move into their own accommodation, knowing that they can seek additional support to understand their tenancies, seek support with benefits and receive help setting up their utilities. Central to this, every child is welcome to return to visit the service at any time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers offer a unique welcome to children before they move into their home. Children receive a video produced ‘by young people for young people’. This is a positive opportunity for new children to hear the previous children’s experiences of living in this service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers create a learning and reflective practice culture that shows an openness to evaluate and review service delivery. They seek feedback from a wide range of individuals, including children, to continue to improve the services offered to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders, managers and staff work closely with professionals to support children to achieve their full potential. Feedback from professionals is overwhelmingly positive about the service. One professional said, ‘They are efficient, supportive and caring and they work collaboratively with all professionals, advocating for and ensuring the young people receive all the support available.’ Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 5

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 6

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship

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Inspectors

Phyllis Dyer, Social Care Inspector Seka Graovac, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Christopher’s Fellowship 7 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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