Children's home run by New Day Children’s Services Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 1 Registered provider: New Day Children’s Services Ltd

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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 owned by a private organisation. It provides care for up to two children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home, who moved into the home in July 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since the home’s registration on 12 June 2025 and was present during the inspection. The registered manager is dually registered and manages another home, which is next door.

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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 requires improvement to be 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 is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 2

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improvement to be good

The child likes living at the home and is happy there. They feel safe and like the staff who care for them, saying they are easy to talk to and spend time with. They particularly like the staff who are active and like doing physical activities with them. The child explained that they do get frustrated sometimes due to the restrictions placed on them, but they know this is not the home’s fault. These restrictions are due to the court orders, and they do understand why these are in place. However, not all staff are clear about the child’s legal status and the reason restrictions have been imposed.

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improvement to be good

The child has only been living at the home for a short period of time. The child’s move to the home was well managed. This involved staff learning about the child, including speaking to those who were caring for them. Staff also spent a great deal of time with the child at their previous home to get to know them. Detailed records were maintained of this work, but these were not shared with the child’s social worker to keep them updated and involved in this work.

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improvement to be good

Staff care about the child and want what is best for them. Despite the child only living at the home for a short time, they are making progress and staff understand their needs. Staff are very proud of how well the child has settled at the home. The staff have built and continue to build positive effective relationships with the child and their family. Staff have regular conversations with the child; however, they do not always capture the work they undertake with the child, impacting on how they understand the wider support offered. Records of the child’s care are inconsistent in quality, and some contain vague and institutional language. Some information is contradictory, which impacts on the consistency of care.

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improvement to be good

Currently, the child is not in education. The manager has secured a placement at an alternative education provision, and they are currently finalising the number of hours being offered.

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improvement to be good

The child is safe at the home. The child said they would feel comfortable talking to the staff if they had any concerns or worries. Staff support the child’s safety because they are clear on the vulnerabilities of the child as well as their safeguarding role and responsibilities to the child. Safeguarding incidents are appropriately reported. However, the manager does not follow up concerns with external professionals in a timely manner to know the outcome of referrals made. In addition, there are weaknesses with investigations as directed by the local authority designated officer. The manager does not consistently ensure that internal investigations are completed Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 3 in a timely manner and does not ensure the records of the investigation are collated into a cohesive and clear record.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour is well managed. Staff focus on developing the child’s understanding of their behaviour and the impact this has on themselves and others. Records of incidents tell the story of the event and actions taken and evidence the work undertaken with the child after an event. Staff use logical consequences, such as the child being involved in repairing broken items, rather than a punitive approach.

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improvement to be good

Restraint has only been used once and was proportionate. Following the restraint, staff engaged the child in a meaningful conversation about the incident. However, the manager did not ensure that staff recorded the duration of the restraint, and it is not clear who monitored the child’s well-being following the incident.

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improvement to be good

The risk assessment regarding the child moving into the home is very detailed in the description of risk but it does not clearly state how staff will mitigate these risks. There is repetition between this and the child’s individual risk assessment, but neither provide clarity for action staff should take.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment follows safer recruitment practice, which helps to protect children.

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good

The manager has a sufficient overview of most of the home’s strengths and areas for development. The manager recognised the need to develop the staff, the majority of whom lack experience of residential childcare. A home audit and development plan has been produced by the deputy manager; however, it is not clear what role the manager has in its creation and implementation.

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good

Leaders and managers advocate well for the child in their care. This includes striving to gain more education for the child and addressing concerns with other professionals as required. However, the manager does not consistently add information from meetings they attend about the child to the child’s records in a timely manner. This means that this information is not readily available to other team members, which could lead to inconsistent practice.

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good

There is a full staff team in place; however, this is a new and inexperienced group. This means staff are still learning, developing and bonding as a team. All staff are currently still on probation as this is a new home.

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good

Staff are positive and say they enjoy working at the home. Staff said they feel the training they have received is of a good quality and is helping them develop their practice. They stated the leaders and managers are very supportive and encourage them to put forward their views and ideas to develop themselves and the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 4 Staff supervision helps the staff reflect on their work and develop their practice. When needed, leaders and managers complete risk assessments for staff to support their work and well-being.

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good

The manager uses a training matrix to help them track staff training. This shows a significant amount of training completed before the child moved into the home. This included specific training on the child’s needs and legal status. Due to staff inexperience, much of the training remains to be embedded in practice.

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good

The manager does not consistently use the reports from visits by the independent person to improve practice. They do not ensure that previous actions are met by the following visit, and some actions have been restated over several visits.

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good

Feedback from professionals is mixed. However, the manager is improving communication, which has led to more positive recent feedback. Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 5

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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(s) 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; 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; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure they follow up with external professionals in a timely manner regarding the outcome of Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub referrals. In addition, the registered person must ensure that when the local authority designated officer has requested an internal investigation, this is completed in a timely manner and the 31 December Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 6 records of the investigation activity are collated into a cohesive record.

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Requirement Due date

In relation to the management of risk, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments clearly state how these risks will be mitigated. This includes the initial risk assessment for a child moving into the home and the child’s individual risk assessment.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff have a good understanding of a child’s legal status, any other legal order they are subject to and the reasons for this. 31 December

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the duration of each restraint hold is clearly recorded. In addition, the monitoring or any behaviour record should clearly state who carried out this monitoring. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure the home’s audits and development plans evidence their involvement in the completion of these documents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure that records of the work undertaken before a child moves into the home, including visits to them and discussions with the child’s placement, are shared with the child’s social worker. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure all records at the home are of a good quality,

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Recommendations

evidencing the work undertaken by staff and the support they are providing the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that actions made in the independent person’s report are completed in a timely manner to support the development of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5) Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 7

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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: 2839916 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Day Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 18 Danvers Way, Westbury BA13 3UE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Samantha Choules

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Mariana Mosquera Fernandez

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2839916 9 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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