Children's home run by The Beeches UK limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 1 Registered provider: The Beeches UK Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides care for up to 4 children with diagnosed learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 4 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2025 and is suitably qualified.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/03/2025 Full Good 28/11/2023 Full Good 25/10/2022 Full Good 29/10/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector spoke with all the children as part of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children have lived at the home for a significant period. Staff patience, persistence and nurture, along with a loving home environment, have given children a solid sense of stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s daily routines are planned well by staff. This gives children reasonable certainty and predictability about what lies ahead in their day. Furthermore, when unforeseen issues emerge in the home, staff are flexible and responsive to the children’s needs. In doing so, life at home is mainly calm, fulfilling and fun for children, while other important issues, such as attending school, are a consistent occurrence in the children’s lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build meaningful relationships with the children’s families over a length of time. One parent said, ‘We problem-solve together and work together as a team.’ Furthermore, there is a good understanding of the need to maintain links with children’s siblings and navigate barriers to achieve this aim. Promoting letter writing with siblings who have been adopted is an example of this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite children having meaningful and loving relationships with staff, the children’s written records do not consistently reflect this. Staff often write using initials and recording transcripts of conversations, and there is a reluctance to write personably to children. Consequently, the current writing style will be unhelpful to children if they choose to read their written records in the future. This is in stark contrast to the physical care that the children experience on a daily basis.

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

Managers have embedded mediation practices to ensure that children and staff experience structured support in the aftermath of any significant incident. One member of staff, who was new in their role at the time, said, ‘I was so thankful that this was led by someone senior. I would not have been able to do this on my own; it was so well managed and enabled me to recover.’ These practices have been crucial to help the child and staff maintain meaningful relationships in a supportive home environment.

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

Understandably, children are prone to become agitated and anxious, which is compounded by their respective needs and unique characteristics. Most of the time, staff confidently and effectively assist children in recovering, avoiding the need for physical intervention to ensure their safety. This is testimony to staff’s skilled approach when supporting children who are in a state of crisis. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 4 Children’s sleep hygiene is good. This is partly due to boundaries around children not having access to their devices during sleeping hours. Staff have taught children about the significant benefits of uninterrupted sleep. In doing so, children’s sleep is protected. This supports a healthier daily routine, particularly around children’s ability to function in school the following day.

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

There is good collaboration with other safeguarding professionals. However, the manager has a skewed understanding of the local authority designated officer’s (LADO) role. Although this has not affected any child’s welfare, it has resulted in an excessive amount of LADO notifications, which is unhelpful and misguided.

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

In one instance, the manager failed to heed significant information that a child’s local authority provided before a child moved into the home. Consequently, known risks were not sufficiently mitigated. Neither does the manager apply the agreed local protocol or statutory guidance associated with children who need to be reported as missing to the police. Although there was no effect on this child’s welfare, these practices need to be remedied promptly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is a lack of forward planning to better structure and coordinate certain aspects of the children’s care. Neither is the input of the psychotherapist clearly communicated or understood by all. As a result, the manager is challenged to review and communicate each child’s needs effectively as there is no coherent plan. In one instance, this has hindered a social worker from being able to confidently plan a child’s future care arrangements at a critical point in the child’s life.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Various typical events that occur in the home are misrepresented as incidents. As a result, events are unnecessarily escalated to social workers and other professionals through an incident report. Furthermore, the content of various incident reports indicates that staff do not always have the appropriate awareness or skills to support children with additional needs. Consequently, some incident reports misrepresent the quality of care that children experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Processes that are in place for auditing and monitoring the quality of children’s care are not consistently effective. Therefore, leaders and managers do not always identify or respond effectively when clear shortfalls need to be acknowledged and resolved. Moreover, filing systems, such as agency staff profiles, are chaotic and disorganised. Cumulatively, these issues undermine the clear commitment to make strides forward and use existing systems that are in place to achieve this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff feel valued and committed to their role. They are invested in their work, which is reflected through the ratio of qualified staff. However, the staff sleep arrangements are insufficient and undermine the support that staff say that they receive from leaders and managers. The current sleep arrangements do not support staff to enjoy a restful night’s sleep. This undermines staff’s capacity to resume a high level of care for the children the following day if they have slept at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 5 Although there are several issues that have impacted the judgement in this area, staff say that they enjoy their work. Importantly, staff say that the emotional and practical support that leaders and managers provide has been significant for their ongoing employment with the organisation. The manager embraces learning and constructive feedback. Cumulatively, these factors are likely to enable care that is progressive for

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

children, as well as the continued development of staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 6

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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;

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must act on information received through the referral process and apply statutory guidance and local protocols around children who are missing from care. 15 February 2026

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 15 February 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 7 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must provide staff with suitable sleep arrangements that better support them in performing their role to the best of their ability.

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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.

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(i)(ii)) 15 February 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose gives a clear overview of the role and scope of the psychotherapist in respect of the children’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should fully understand the role and remit of the local authority designated officer. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.2)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s written records are helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 8

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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: 2594875 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Beeches UK Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: S B C H House, 212 Ballards Lane, London N3 2LX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Robinson

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Inspector

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2594875 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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