Children's home run by Nelbro Group Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 1 Registered provider: Nelbro Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider and provides care for up to six children who may have social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, six children were living in the home and spoken to by inspectors.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2025.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/08/2024 Full Outstanding 20/03/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children who live in this home are happy and making excellent progress in all aspects of their lives. One professional said, ‘[Name of child] is smashing it here. The progress [name of child] has made is amazing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Each child is valued and nurtured by dedicated staff who are highly attuned to the children’s individual needs. Staff show genuine warmth and affection in their daily interactions with the children, and this helps them to feel safe and secure. Staff go above and beyond to develop and maintain strong, secure and trusting relationships with children. The children have grown in confidence and been supported to better express their feelings and emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff take the time to understand children’s needs. They sensitively make plans to address any areas of vulnerability in order to promote children’s emotional well-being. Children are offered high-quality clinical help from an externally commissioned professional to support their social and emotional needs. One professional commented that the child is ‘much more positive about [their] relationships and ability to deal with adversity or conflict’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s physical health has improved. Where children have suffered from cumulative neglect, steps have been taken to address their needs, and staff ensure that the children have healthy routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff understand the value of education and are aspirational for each child to reach their full potential. There has been substantial improvement in the attendance and achievement of all the children since they have been living in the home. Children enjoy their learning opportunities and are encouraged by supportive staff to follow further education opportunities, for example in health and beauty, art and health and social care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s cultural needs are met exceptionally well by skilled staff who place high value on celebrating diversity and challenging discrimination. Children’s individual cultural needs are met to a high standard by knowledgeable and confident staff. Children also benefit from thoughtfully planned events and celebrations that take into account wider cultural topics and sensitive subjects such as racism. Staff ensure that children’s views are heard and responded to in a number of ways, and each child has access to independent advocacy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support the children to have respectful and caring relationships with one another. Staff do this by promoting each child’s individuality, as well as ensuring that the children are involved in shared activities and in celebrating each other’s successes. The children are supported to have a range of interests and hobbies, and staff invest in developing the children’s skills and confidence, which helps the development of positive self-esteem. Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 4 Staff understand the importance for children of having meaningful relationships with their families and loved ones. Family time is supported by staff, and they go to great lengths and distances to ensure that relationships are maintained. When difficult decisions need to be made about family time, leaders and managers advocate for the children’s best interests. One child’s move into the home was carefully planned to include

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

additional support for the family so that the child and their loved ones were able to build trusting relationships with staff before the move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Leaders and managers carefully considered the space within the home and have created shared spaces for the children to enjoy, such as a sensory room and indoor gym. Three of the children have their pets living with them in their bedrooms. This provides the children with the comfort of having a pet to nurture and the responsibility of keeping it well looked after and clean.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s achievements, celebrations and memories are beautifully captured in photos, which are displayed throughout the home. Personalised and creative memory journeys are kept up to date so that children are able to look back and cherish their time in the home.

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

Children are kept safe by a capable and knowledgeable staff team whose members are proactive and diligent in their response to risk. Staff understand and recognise risk and the impact of past harm to which children may have been exposed. Staff know exactly how to manage and support these needs effectively to help the children to feel safe and protected from harm. Children do not go missing from the home.

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

When there are serious safeguarding concerns, timely and robust action is taken to reduce risk and protect children from harm. Leaders and managers ensure appropriate multi-agency involvement and work with professionals to create plans which address wider contextual concerns. Meaningful conversations take place with the children to ensure that risks and the reasons for any subsequent action being taken are fully understood.

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

Children’s secure relationships with staff mean they are able to express feelings, emotions and behaviours safely. Small changes in behaviours or emotional cues are quickly picked up on by well-attuned staff, and due to the early recognition of these subtle changes, there are very few incidents of concern. Skilled staff use a variety of techniques to support children’s distress. Any incidents where children become distressed or are at risk of becoming distressed are managed compassionately by nurturing staff who ensure that the relationships they have with children are quickly repaired.

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

Children are always kept at the centre of planning. They are supported to understand when decisions are made with which they may not agree but which are made to keep Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 5 them safe. Plans to keep children safe are proportionate to address all known vulnerabilities, are under constant review and provide clear evidence of how risks are being minimised effectively.

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

Staff take a positive and balanced approach to supporting children to take age- appropriate risks and develop their independence. Staff replicate the safety net of an extended family, which supports the children to feel safe when making decisions on their own or attempting new tasks. Children experience natural consequences to their behaviours, and this helps them to understand positive decision-making.

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

Staff take a proportionate approach to online and mobile phone safety. Monitoring of devices is carefully used as a way to monitor risk, and staff have open conversations with the children about any areas of concern.

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

Any allegations are robustly responded to, investigated and resolved. Children are kept at the centre of the process and informed of the outcome. Oversight of medication is robust, and there have been no errors. Safe recruitment processes are followed for all new staff.

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

On occasion, restraint has been used as a last resort. When restraint is used, it is minimal and proportionate to help children calm and to prevent harm to themselves or others. Records of incidents are detailed, including debriefs with the children and staff and clear management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by a dedicated manager who knows the children exceptionally well. The manager is aspirational for the children and role models outstanding practice to the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The exceptional care provided to the children is consistently delivered by a stable and committed staff team that knows them well. Staff retention is high, and no bank or agency staff are used. Staff place a high value on the support given by the approachable and experienced leaders and managers. Staff talked about ‘being part of a big family in this house’, and ‘how incredibly rewarding it is to be part of a team that is so dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of the children we care for’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Arrangements for supervision, support and challenge are robust, and staff benefit from a broad range of training opportunities, some of which are personalised for the children they care for. Staff benefit from regular team meetings and reflective practice sessions, which are child focused and led by clinical specialists. Leaders and managers have started to incorporate research and evidence-based practice into their reflections with staff and case recordings for children. This is supporting a more holistic understanding of children’s emotions and their behaviours. Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 6 Staff understand the importance of professional networks around the child and work hard to ensure that they maintain positive relationships with all those involved. When there are gaps or shortfalls in planning or decision-making, leaders and managers are strong advocates for the children and were described by one professional as ‘fierce in

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

their challenge’ for the right outcome for the child. Professional feedback is exceptionally positive, with comments such as, ‘Their communication is excellent,’ and ‘They are amazing; there is nothing I would change.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Systems used to record the child’s journey are kept up to date and provide meaningful plans for staff to follow. Staff take time to speak to children about a range of sensitive subjects, on both a planned and ad hoc basis. These conversations are thoroughly recorded and include follow up and links to other resources where appropriate. There is robust management oversight that includes follow-up actions and some learning. However, some of the language used in records is not child focused and detracts from the strong practice of keeping children involved and in mind in all aspects of the care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

No requirements have been raised at this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ and support children to view and contribute to their record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. In particular, the language used to describe behaviours should be strengths based and child focused. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations’, including the quality standards, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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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: 2744556 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Nelbro, Unit D, 31-33 High Street, Carshalton, SM5 3AX

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Inspector

Stacey Pellow, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2744556 9 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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Inspector

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