Children's home run by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2775749 1 Registered provider: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

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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 operated and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to two children who may have social and emotional difficulties, and who may have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: 2775749 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/07/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2775749 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aspirational for children and are determined to help children to achieve. The staff enjoy spending time with the children. This helps children to build trusted relationships with staff. Equally, this helps the staff to know how each child can be supported to achieve their goals and ambitions. As a result of the dedication and commitment of the staff, children experience stability and make good progress in all areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with opportunities to participate in activities that are aligned with their individual interests. This allows children to have an enjoyable time while living in the home, develop new skills and build positive memories. The staff ensure that children’s achievements are celebrated and documented through memory boxes and journey files. This helps children to understand their time in the home and celebrates the progress that they have made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to express their wishes and feelings in various ways. Children’s views have impact in relation to meal planning, activities and how their bedrooms are decorated and furnished. In addition, staff ensure that children’s views are shared in important decision-making forums, such as looked-after child reviews and education meetings. This has helped both children to have influence in terms of their futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff assist children to make progress with their learning and education. If a child is struggling to take part in formal education, the staff work closely with the child’s education provider to find ways in which the child’s education needs can be met. For one child, the staff supported school staff to visit the home to talk with the child and staff to explore ways that the child can be better supported in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health due to the staff making sure that children have access to universal and specialist health services. Staff support children to attend all health appointments and make sure that children receive medical treatment in a timely way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help to prepare children for their futures by assisting children to develop appropriate independent living skills in line with their age and ability. This has helped one child to learn how to manage their finances effectively and prepare healthy meals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take pride in the home and provide children with a beautifully decorated, furnished, clean and tidy home. The home looks and feels like a family home for children and enhances children’s sense of belonging and ownership of the home due to pictures of the children displayed in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2775749 4

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

Children have trusted adults that they can talk to about any worries that they may have and are comfortable in their surroundings. They feel safe and confident that staff will listen to them. Professionals said they felt assured about the staff’s ability to keep children safe because the staff know the children well.

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

Staff understand the children’s risks and vulnerabilities and know how to manage these. Children’s plans are individualised, and vulnerabilities are easy to understand. Plans are regularly reviewed and updated following any incidents. This helps staff to know how to keep children safe when changes in the children’s behaviour take place. The care delivered by staff and the quality of the children’s plans have resulted in a reduction in the times that children have gone missing from the home and the number of times staff have had to hold a child for their own safety.

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

Staff help children to make safer choices and support children to understand and manage their feelings and behaviours safely through formal and informal conversations. This has helped one child to develop a better insight into their feelings and behaviours and has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of times that the child has struggled to cope when they have felt upset and angry.

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

Staff understand and follow the children’s specific missing-from-home plans when children go missing. This includes staff looking for children when they do not return home. When children return home, the staff have discussions with children to try to identify why they went missing. The staff then use this information to prevent further instances.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has experienced a period of transition since the last inspection, with changes to the management of the home. However, the new registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced, knows the children well and talks about the progress the children have made with pride. The registered manager has a clear vision for the home and is very proud of the staff team and the way that they care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are committed to providing a home environment where children flourish. Staff enjoy working in the home and have confidence in the manager and deputy manager. Staff feel supported in their role through regular supervision and appropriate training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy manager have good oversight of the home. They understand the impact that the quality of care from staff has on the progress and safety of children. This oversight helps to promote learning among the staff team and to find solutions to any shortfalls identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers use feedback from external monitoring to improve practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2775749 5 However, more could be done by leaders and managers to develop systems to gain feedback from children, staff, family members and professionals to help them to identify strengths and areas for improvement. This will help managers to implement clear development plans that continually improve the experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Case records vary in quality, are not consistently completed and dated, and it is not always clear who the author of the case record is. This shortfall does not help children to understand who has helped them and how they have been helped. It also weakens transparency and accountability. Inspection report for children’s home: 2775749 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that any case records, including records of supervision, are completed in full, are dated, and recorded in a manner that makes it clear who the author of the record is. 31 October 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children, and this review is informed by direct testimonies from children, staff, family members and professionals. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2775749 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Riverside House, Main Street, Rotherham S60 1AE

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Inspector

Shirin Khan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2775749 8 regulates 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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