Children's home run by Paddock House Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 1 Registered provider: Paddock House Limited 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 cares for up to six children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There were six children living at the home at the time of the inspection. The inspector spoke with four of the children during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post is vacant. There is an acting manager in post, who has yet to apply to register with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be 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 a full inspection on 3 June 2025, the home was judged inadequate. Failures in safeguarding and the leadership and management of the home directly affected the safety and well-being of the children. In response, Ofsted issued compliance notices under regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and regulation 13, the leadership and management standard. A further five requirements and three recommendations were also raised in addition to the two compliance notices. Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 2 A monitoring visit was completed on 31 July 2025 to assess the actions taken by the provider to meet the steps in the compliance notices. Inspectors found that all steps had been met. The requirements and recommendations were not assessed at the monitoring visit and were restated. Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/06/2025 Full Inadequate 17/07/2024 Full Good 07/06/2023 Full Good 07/12/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusting relationships with staff who understand their needs. They experience a warm and nurturing care that helps them to feel safe. Children have identified the positive impact the new manager has had at the home. One child said, ‘It’s got so much better lately, there aren’t favourites anymore and we do more activities, it’s a lot more settled.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children access different hobbies and interests. In addition, staff arrange for children to enjoy time away from the home during school holidays. This helps children to have a broad range of pleasurable experiences that help to build their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are sensitive to all the children’s needs when plans are made for a new child to move into the home. Children are given the opportunity to visit the home before they move in, to meet the staff and the other children and to get to understand what life will be like living at the home. This helps children to have positive beginnings and to settle into life at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children share their wishes and feelings at regular house meetings. Staff encourage children to participate so that they get to have a say on how the home is run. Children say they can identify staff they trust to speak to about their worries. Children know their views are heard, and this helps them to feel valued in knowing staff will listen.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have their health needs met and are making progress. Staff support children to make healthy lifestyle choices, and appropriately identify any additional health needs. They ensure that children access the right services that can help them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is an important part of life at this home, and children have access to education that meets their individual needs. Staff work with education professionals to help children overcome their barriers to attendance. When children have reduced timetables, their education programme is supported with informal learning at home. Most children are making progress and understand the importance of education and training.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to develop independence skills and to prepare for adult life beyond the home. When children move on from the home, staff maintain communication with them and continue to take an interest in their progress. This helps children maintain trusting relationships with adults who have helped them through their transition to independence. Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 5

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

Staff respond effectively when children are in crisis. Behaviour support plans guide staff on how to help children during these times. In addition, children are supported to repair relationships following serious incidents. Staff discuss concerns that they may have for the children, in terms of helping them recognise unsafe situations and in how staff will respond to keep them safe.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home have decreased. When children do go missing, staff follow their plans to help children return safely. Children receive a warm welcome on their return. Staff have reflective conversations with children to explore the reasons they may go missing. This helps staff to remain responsive to the causes of these incidents.

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

Staff use their relationships with children, together with rewards, to promote positive choices. Staff rarely give children consequences to address unwanted behaviour. When they do, staff discuss the behaviour and offer consequences that are restorative in nature. This is helping children to understand the impact their behaviour has on themselves and others.

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

Staff understand children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. Children’s risk assessments are clearly written and are regularly reviewed. However, some risk assessments do not contain information on all known risks. This prevents staff from having thorough guidance on what actions to take to protect children from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requirements to be good

The home has had a new acting manager since June 2025. However, the home has been without a registered manager since September 2024. Managers have been appointed but none have been registered during this time. This does not offer children or staff permanence and has had a limiting impact on the leadership and management judgement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requirements to be good

The manager understands the strengths of the team and the areas that she would like to focus on developing. She has made sufficient improvements to address all requirements and recommendations from the last inspection. The manager has a visible presence in the home and conducts unannounced visits to further develop her understanding about staff’s practice when she is not there. This is accelerating the team’s development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requirements to be good

Staff speak highly of the new manager with regard to the positive impact she has on team morale and staff practice in the home. Routines and boundaries are now established and consistent. One staff member said of the manager, ‘She’s making a real effort to get to know the children and staff, she’s been very supportive, like a breath of fresh air.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 6 Staff receive regular practice-related supervision sessions that focus on the children’s well-being and allow staff to reflect on their practice. In addition, regular team meetings provide an open forum for staff to explore and discuss the children’s needs collectively. These sessions give staff opportunities to discuss and agree a consistent approach to the care of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requirements to be good

The manager has implemented a new electronic recording system that has simplified the way information is stored and accessed. Staff said they are eager to embrace this change as it means they can spend more time with the children. The manager has also developed more thorough monitoring and quality assurance tools. While not yet fully embedded, these have helped to improve her oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requirements to be good

Most professionals speak positively about the progress children make while living at the home and the improvements the manager has made. However, some feedback has identified gaps in communication between staff and relevant professionals. These gaps have led to a lack of clarity around one child’s plan, limiting the effectiveness of multi- agency working. Additionally, while there is an escalation policy, this is not consistently applied when there is a lack of response from other professionals. Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 7

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)) 4 December 2025

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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

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; and 4 December 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 8 seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(c)(d))

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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: 1252120 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Paddock House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: B3 Kingfisher House, Team Valley, Gateshead NE11 0JQ

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Inspector

Mark Cryer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 10 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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