Children's home run by Cherish Children’s Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 1 Registered provider: Cherish Children’s Care

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private children’s home registered for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 4 September 2024. She is suitably experienced and qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home. The inspectors spoke to one of the children.

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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

Date of last inspection: 25 February 2025

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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: 2793176 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff share positive relationships. Children say they feel well cared for by the staff team. They have staff they can talk to about their views, wishes and feelings. Professionals and children’s families equally provide positive feedback about the quality of support provided to children and the impact that this has had on their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans are updated regularly so that staff and children can reflect and track the progress children make. Staff implement clear routines and structures for children. This is something that the staff team continues to promote daily. Children’s attendance and engagement in education have improved. One child who was out of education for a lengthy period, now attends most days and is working towards a full timetable. Another child went to London to receive an award.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work alongside autism specialist professionals and mental health services to ensure that children have the support they require. Children have access to a therapeutic practitioner who attends the home weekly and team meetings to discuss children’s needs. One child is currently refusing to attend their routine health appointments. Staff have talked to the child about the importance of going to these appointments, there has been no exploration into the child’s barriers to attending the appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to engage in recreational activities and clubs, such as cross fit, gym sessions and appending time with their friends. One child spends large amounts of time in their room. Staff plan various activities for the child, but their engagement is sporadic. Staff have not yet explored new ideas and options with the child to identify recreational activities in which they will engage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Family time is facilitated in line with children’s wishes and any safety restrictions. Staff support children to see their family, no matter the distance. For one child, this has meant spending time in Sicily. Staff communicate with family and keep them up to date on children’s progress. Families are happy with the support and care provided to their children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are sought in different ways. This includes using children’s meetings and feedback forms. Children’s requests are listened to and responded to. Children can resist engaging in key-work sessions at times. However, staff are persistent and use opportune moments to effectively discuss important issues with children and provide them with the guidance they require at that point in time.

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

Children say that staff support them to feel safe in their home. Children care about their relationships with staff. Children are invested in tier relationships with staff and will take steps to repair their relationships following any incidents involving negative behaviour. Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 4 Children have made no complaints or allegations about staff. They know how to raise concerns if needed and they feel comfortable doing so.

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

Staff understand their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding children and recognising the signs of risk in children’s behaviour. Staff are initiative-taking in their safeguarding practice and act promptly to try to keep children safe. Risk assessments and safety plans are kept up to date and provide clear and concise guidance for staff to follow to support children.

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

When there has been an increase in risk which has included incidents of children going missing from home and the associated risks with this, such as exploitation and county lines, the manager has taken a multi-agency and proactive approach to collaborating with other professionals, such as missing-from-home co-ordinators, British transport police, the county lines team and the placing authority, to identify safeguards for children. Regular meetings take place to review safety plans and to agree strategies to mitigate risks.

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

Children’s relationships with each other have been very unsettled and have involved some physical altercations. Staff have appropriately responded to these incidents. They challenge any bullying behaviour and talk through incidents with children. However, follow-up work has not yet been conducted with children to address the impact of bullying and to support children to talk about how they are feeling. The manager recognises this needs to be a priority, irrespective of the children’s reluctance to engage in this work. The manager is also working with children’s placing authorities to agree a future plan which meets both children’s needs.

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

Police involvement to manage children’s behaviour is rare. It is used only when staff have exhausted de-escalation strategies and they require additional support. Staff understand how to keep children safe on the rare occasions that they have returned home under the influence of substances.

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

Children’s views about the location of the home and the local area have not been captured in the annual review of the location of the home risk assessment. This is important as children spend time in the community unsupervised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well. She understands their individual complex needs and risk behaviour, and because of this, she has positive relationships with the children. One social worker said, ‘The manager strives for the best outcomes for children.’ This was evident during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager drives improvement in staff’s understanding of children’s needs. She uses a transparent approach so that staff feel comfortable raising any concerns. She oversees all incidents and records to ensure that staff are supporting children effectively. She challenges and adapts the staff team’s approach to ensure that they are meeting children’s needs to the best of their ability. She equally challenges professionals in Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 5 relation to care planning decisions when she feels they do not benefit the outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported well by the senior leadership team, and because of this, they work positively and consistently together. Despite some changes to the staff team, the members of the core team have remained stable and consistent for children. New staff have settled in well. The manager monitors staff practice and development, providing staff with suitable support throughout their induction and probationary periods.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular supervision to reflect on their relationships with children and their own well-being. The manager uses team meetings to share important information with staff, including updates to children’s plans and how she expects staff to support children and to keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is focused on upskilling her staff team. She monitors their training plans to ensure that they have the necessary skills to meet children’s specific needs. She has requested specialist autism training for staff following a child’s recent diagnosis and is also conducting her own practical training with staff to improve their reporting and recording skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s review of the quality of care report provides an evaluation of the management of the home and changes made to improve outcomes for children. It does include feedback from children, staff and professionals in order to provide evidence of the impact on children’s experiences of the care provided. However, the independent visitor does not always speak to children during their visits. This is a missed opportunity to obtain children’s views about their experiences in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 6

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Statutory requirement

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

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(i)) 11 December 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff encourage children to take a proactive role in looking after their day-to-day health and well-being. Specifically, when children refuse to attend health appointments repeatedly, staff explore the barriers to this with the child to try and engage them in regular routine health appointments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The register person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities both inside and outside of the home (where appropriate) and are encouraged to participate in those activities. Specifically, this should be promoted to ensure that children do not spend excessive amounts of time in their bedroom. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 31, paragraph 6.5)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and

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Recommendations

make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45.) Specifically, they should ensure that the independent visitor obtains regular feedback from children and, when possible, children’s family Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 7 during their visit to the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that, under regulation 46, they review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. Specifically, the report should include feedback from children about their views of the area in which the home is situated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: 2793176 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cherish Children’s Care

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 8, Skyways Commercial Campus, Amy Johnson Way, Blackpool FY4 3RS

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Inspectors

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Julia Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2793176 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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