Children's Home run by Springcroft Homes Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 1 Registered provider: Springcroft Homes 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 and managed by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living in the home at the time of this inspection, and one child who had moved out. The inspector spoke with the child living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home has been registered with Ofsted since the home opened in May 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

This was the first inspection since registration.

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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: 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: 2815209 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a warm home that is well maintained, clean and tidy. The child living in the home has decorated their own bedroom in a style that they like and has plans to contribute to the decoration of other rooms in the home. The child said that they enjoy living in the home and feel able to talk to the adults who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with opportunities to try new activities, including horse riding, water skiing and archery. When children find an activity they enjoy, staff support them to continue to attend, and to build up their skills in this pursuit. The child living in the home has recently moved up a grade in horse riding despite only taking up the activity a month ago.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager advocates for children when they are not attending a formal education setting. Children have been provided with tutoring at home while suitable education placements are identified. Children have also participated in outdoor activities which contribute to their self-esteem and practical skills. Staff and managers provide children with positive incentives to promote their engagement in their home education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to work on their basic independence skills, such as cooking, baking, using public transport, and keeping their rooms tidy. Children are supported to take care of their health and well-being and are encouraged to stay active.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s needs, strengths and vulnerabilities. Staff support children to make progress and provide children with a safe space to discuss their thoughts and feelings. However, staff are not provided with clear plans for children’s care in the home. Additionally, some documents that could support staff to help children, such as education plans, are not kept in the home.

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

The child who lives in the home said that they feel safe and able to speak to staff about any worries they may have. Staff have developed nurturing, trusting relationships with children, which has helped them to make progress and reduce their risks while living in the home.

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

Staff speak to children about their vulnerabilities when concerns arise. However, there has been no proactive work with children to help them understand how to reduce their risks and keep themselves safe.

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

Staff know how to keep children safe. However, plans to support staff with strategies is not consistently robust. For example, when children go missing, staff respond quickly and effectively to keep children safe. However, plans do not reflect the actions that staff Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 3 should and do take when children go missing. Similarly, children’s risk assessments identify actions for staff to take to prevent incidents. These strategies have been effective, with very few incidents occurring in the home. However, the risk assessments do not provide staff with strategies on how to respond in the event of incidents occurring. This has not had any impact on children’s safety.

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

Children benefit from a therapeutic team that supports staff to develop a trauma- informed approach and offers individualised work with children. The therapeutic team delivers bespoke workshops for staff which help them to consider different topics, such as trauma and attachment, with the individual child in mind. This supports staff to better understand children’s needs.

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

Since living in the home, the children have not had to be held to keep them safe. Staff have completed necessary training in de-escalation and are able to support children effectively to calm when they become distressed.

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

Professionals say that staff and managers work well with the multidisciplinary team in the best interests of children. The manager communicates effectively with social workers and other professionals to ensure that children are kept safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has the experience and skills required to lead the home effectively. The registered manager has a good understanding of the children as individuals, and understands the strengths and areas of development for the team. Staff say that they feel valued and well supported by their manager and the team around them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable and consistent. When new staff are employed, managers ensure that they are safe to work with vulnerable children. Staff benefit from regular supervision and team meetings which incorporate bespoke workshops from the therapeutic team. Staff take relevant training courses to support their practice and are enrolled to complete their diplomas in residential childcare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager speaks to the staff team about the needs of children before they move in. However, no formal assessment is completed to consider the child’s needs, the abilities of the staff team to meet these needs, or the suitability of the location for the child. This has not impacted on the safety of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager maintains regular oversight of staff practice and recording. The manager provides regular feedback to staff, commending them on good work, and identifying areas of improvement. When required, the manager provides the support to staff to enable them to improve their recording of the care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has arranged for an independent person to visit the home each month to assess the quality of care provided in the home. However, the reports completed by the Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 4 independent person do not encompass all of the requirements in line with regulations. Furthermore, they have not been sent to the regulator. This has not enabled strong and sufficient external oversight. Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 5

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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 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; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. 13 January 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 6 (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that each child is provided with proactive key-work sessions that are planned based on children’s known risks and vulnerabilities.

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all risk assessments and plans for children contain clear steps for staff to follow should an incident arise. 13 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children are only moved into the home following a thorough review of the child’s needs and vulnerabilities, and how the home will meet these. This review should consider staff skills, training needs, 13 January 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 7 the location of the home, and the views of the staff team. When children are living in the home, they should have a clear care plan detailing how staff will meet their needs and support them to make progress.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b )(7)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the independent person who completes the visit has a clear understanding of The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations (2015). The independent person must review and comment on the suitability of children’s care plans, with their consent, and incident records in the home. They must clearly state their opinion about whether children are safeguarded effectively and their well-being promoted and must send their report to Ofsted within 28 days of the visit. 13 January 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 8 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

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s files are complete, and that all key documents are available. Children’s files must provide children with a full and clear understanding of their experiences of living in this home. 13 January 2026

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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: 2815209 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Springcroft Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 55 Hemsworth Road, Manchester M18 7SE

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Silethokuhle Zinyemba

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Inspector

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2815209 10 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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