Children's home run by Bridgebrite Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 1 Registered provider: Bridgebrite Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private company. It provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there was one child living at the home. The child spoke to the inspector about their experience of living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2024.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/03/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home and one child has moved in. Children who live at the home experience stable and consistent care from staff who take the time to get to know them well. Staff are committed to the children they care for and work through challenges with them to provide consistent support, even when children push them away. This provides children with extended periods of stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are good transition plans in place for children moving in and out of the home. The manager carefully considers the needs of children moving in, assessing their needs alongside the skills and experience of the staff team. The manager ensures that they speak to the child’s professional network and meets with children before they move in. Activities and introductory meetings are arranged to help children get to know staff in advance. This helps children feel valued and welcomed, while building familiarity with the home and staff before moving in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

However, not all children have statutory care plans that contain relevant information and are signed by relevant professionals on admission. This means that the manager and staff do not always have the necessary authority or clarity to act on behalf of the placing authority in delivering the child’s day-to-day care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move on from this home, they experience planned and supported moves. The manager and staff work with children and social workers to identify suitable alternative placements and to facilitate visits for the child before they move. The manager shows flexibility when plans change, helping to support smooth transitions and providing children with a sense of stability from trusted adults during a time of significant change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff actively promote children’s education. When challenges arise, the manager collaborates with the virtual school headteacher and social workers to support each child’s individual educational needs. This includes securing home tutoring, accessing alternative work experience provisions and enrolling children in alternative educational courses that reflect their interests. Staff also provide alternative education at home to supplement part-time timetables and enhance children’s learning. In addition, staff support children’s education by arranging transport to and from school and remaining on site when children require additional support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to participate in activities that reflect their personal interests. They enjoy activities such as horse riding, animal care, going to the gym and hair and beauty treatments. These experiences help children to form friendships, become involved in local groups and develop a stronger sense of belonging in their local community. Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 4 Staff support children’s relationships with the people who are important to them. They make every effort to build positive relationships with families and to support meaningful contact. In the short time one child has lived at the home, staff have rebuilt family time for them after a prolonged period of separation, helping them maintain strong family relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make scrapbooks with children, capturing their memories and achievements during their time at the home. Children enjoy looking through their scrapbooks and updating them, which helps them to reflect on their day-to-day achievements and promotes a sense of accomplishment, value and appreciation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm, welcoming and well maintained. The child’s bedroom is well furnished and homely. The child also enjoyed being involved in decorating the home for the festive season, helping them feel included and connected to the household.

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

Children are supported to develop positive, caring and trusting relationships with staff. This provides children with a strong sense of safety and security.

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

Although there have been some changes in the staff team over the last year, staff practice has remained consistent. Communication between staff is clear, resulting in consistent boundaries in the home. This helps children to feel secure.

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

Leaders and managers do not always follow safer recruitment practices. References are not consistently in place before staff start working in the home. This means that managers cannot always be assured of a staff member’s integrity and good character before they start working with children.

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

Staff have consistently demonstrated resilience in their care and support, ensuring children’s safety and helping them to understand challenging and complex issues.

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

Staff use a therapeutic approach to their care, which is reflected in their detailed documentation of conversations and their understanding of each child’s individual needs. The child identifies staff as trusted adults they can approach with their concerns. The child says that they feel listened to and trusted and staff are supporting them with attending school and progressing with their targeted plans.

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

Children are provided with direct therapeutic support from an experienced psychotherapist. When children do not want to engage in this, work is done by the staff team to ensure that the care provided supports the children’s therapeutic needs.

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

Allegations regarding staff conduct and practice are taken seriously and are fully investigated. The manager liaises with relevant professionals to ensure that investigations are thorough. Appropriate action is taken to address practice issues and prevent reoccurrence. Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 5 No complaints have been made by children about their care. However, they know how to make a complaint. Complaints made by others are taken seriously and the manager thoroughly investigates concerns raised. Referrals are made to appropriate professionals to ensure that there is independent oversight. The manager provides complainants with full details of the outcome of complaints.

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

Significant incidents are well managed. Staff have a good understanding of each child’s individual risks and the strategies in place to support them. These risks are documented in risk and behaviour support plans which guide staff in preventing and reducing risks during crisis situations. The manager provides a detailed overview of incidents to ensure that staff responses are aligned with agreed strategies. Staff also complete follow-up work after each incident, helping children to identify risks to themselves and explore alternative ways to manage those risks.

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

Staff respond effectively to missing-from-home episodes. They follow the protocols in place and make every effort to locate children and encourage their return. Staff search known areas and check with family and friends, helping children feel that staff care and worry about them. Staff maintain open communication with safeguarding professionals, including the police and missing coordinators, to ensure that children’s vulnerabilities are shared and all available resources are used to find them. When children return, they are welcomed and staff ensure that they are safe and well. The manager also works proactively with safeguarding professionals to develop strategies to reduce the number of incidents.

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

Incidents of self-harm are managed effectively. Staff provide first aid and know when to escalate concerns and seek additional medical support. Staff reflect on incidents with children, sensitively discussing feelings and alternative coping mechanisms.

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

Staff exhaust all de-escalation techniques before implementing physical intervention. Physical interventions are used as a last resort to prevent harm to children and others. Reflection work is carried out with children following physical interventions to ensure that they understand why the intervention was used and to explore feelings and alternative coping strategies moving forward.

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

Consequences are not always reflective of the behaviours displayed or restorative in nature. The evaluation of consequences does not always consider the effectiveness of the measures implemented. This does not ensure that consequences are effective or help children to reflect and take accountability for their actions.

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

The staff and manager ensure that children’s healthcare needs are met by registering them with relevant healthcare professionals and encouraging them to attend routine appointments and check-ups. When children refuse treatment, staff hold supportive discussions with them about the importance of maintaining their health and the potential long-term effects on their wellbeing. Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced and motivational manager and deputy manager who are committed to improving outcomes for children. Staff say that they feel fully supported in their roles, which enables them to work as a team and support one another to help and support the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy have effective monitoring systems in place to ensure oversight of practice at the home. All documents include managerial oversight and audits are completed routinely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held monthly and are well attended. They are used to discuss current issues for the children, reflect on practice and ensure that all staff are aware of and working in line with children’s risk and behaviour support plans. The deputy manager introduces research-informed practice on current trends which may impact children. Recognition of good practice is given through ‘shout-outs’ and employee of the month awards. This helps improve team morale, especially during challenging times.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Induction programmes are in place for new starters, ensuring that staff understand the important information they need to fulfil their role. There are detailed guides displayed at the home to support staff in the recording and reporting process. This ensures that staff are well prepared to support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision from the manager and deputy manager. Supervisions are supportive, reflective and detailed, with clear actions set and a focus on outcomes for children. However, supervisions are not always available on the home’s recording system for staff to review. Staff feel fully supported to develop in their roles and they enjoy working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have built positive relationships with all professionals involved in the care of the children. Professionals report that the manager and staff are child focused, communicative and know the children well. Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 7

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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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that they follow safer recruitment practices, including requesting and verifying references from previous employers before staff start work. 21 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

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, leaders and managers must ensure that statutory care plans are in place for all children living in the home which contain relevant information and are signed and dated by relevant professionals on date of admission. 21 January 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 8 community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that records of supervision are kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). The registered person should also document the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions, to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and the staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’,

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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: 2798146 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Crows Nest Business Park, Office 1, Ashton Road, Wigan, Lancashire WN5 7XX

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Inspector

Renée Sims, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2798146 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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