Children's home run by Nelbro Group Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 1 Registered provider: Nelbro Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in September 2024 and is privately owned. It provides care for up to 4 children who experience social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living in the home, and 2 children were spoken with.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2024 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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‘Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection, and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 18 February 2025

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2025 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make outstanding progress from their starting points. They benefit from the home’s nurturing culture, which is embedded throughout. Staff develop positive relationships with the children, and external professionals observe warmth and care in their interactions. Staff also actively promote positive relationships between the children, which directly reduces bullying incidents. One social worker said, ‘The children have made remarkable progress since moving into the home, and I commend the entire team for their excellent work. During my visits, the children present as happy and engaged.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are effective in meeting children’s health needs. They ensure that all appointments are attended and work in close partnership with medical professionals to progress children’s health plans. When one child refused medication, staff addressed this through meaningful key-work sessions, which helped the child to understand the health consequences of declining their medication. This approach has contributed towards measurable improvements in children’s physical health, including reduced hospital admissions and improved sleep patterns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make sustained progress in education. Staff work effectively with social workers and education providers to secure appropriate opportunities for learning. Children in full- time education have very good attendance and are thriving at school. When children are in between school placements, staff support them to do educational work in the home and engage with tuition. Older children also take driving lessons to support their development into independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are proactive in seeking activities that children enjoy, including those they haven’t tried before, to broaden their interests. They provide many opportunities for children to have fun, such as swimming, boxing, kung fu and dance. This benefits children’s physical development and helps to build their social confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s relationships with their families are valued and well supported. Staff are flexible in managing arrangements for family time and, where safe and appropriate, have advocated for family members to be involved in some of the children’s key events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff ensure that children have meaningful and memorable experiences. For example, all staff and children participated in a sponsored walk and a cake bake sale to raise funds for a charity connected to the children. On another occasion, one staff member liaised with a local business in their own time to ensure that one of the children could have the hairstyle they wanted, as well as vouchers for all the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home environment is exceptionally welcoming. It is very spacious, warm, and comfortable and maintained to a high standard. It feels like a family home, with many framed photos of the children on display, alongside framed certificates of their Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 4 achievements and their artwork. It conveys a sense of pride in the children who live there.

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

Safeguarding practice in the home is outstanding. Staff provide children with high-quality care alongside consistent behavioural boundaries. This helps children to develop emotionally and behaviourally, and as a result, the number of incidents in the home continues to decrease. One child’s teacher said, ‘A key strength of the home is its strong child-focused culture, which is clearly shared by all staff members. This links back to those strong relationships. I would comment on the boundaries they set. [Name of child] knows clearly what the consequences of misbehaving or not meeting expectations are, not that this applies to them anymore!’

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

When incidents do occur, they are managed very effectively. Detailed reports provide a clear picture of events, and comprehensive manager oversight is in place. Actions to be taken for relevant follow-up support are recorded. Children are fully debriefed, and manager reflections ensure that there is ongoing learning from incidents.

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

Staff do extensive work to enhance children’s safety. This includes frequent key-work sessions, which are based upon children’s current needs, and using additional learning resources such as YouTube videos. Areas covered include positive behaviour, appropriate language, and emotional regulation. The home’s child psychiatrist supports this with therapeutic work to help develop children’s self-esteem. She recommends therapeutic tools that staff use to complement the ongoing work to support children’s wellbeing in the home.

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

Safe recruitment practice is robust. Files are well organised and demonstrate that all the necessary checks are undertaken. A two-stage interview process provides a thorough review of applicants’ suitability for their roles. Any gaps in employment are clearly verified, references from the last ten years’ employment are sought, and all applicants sign a declaration of whether they have worked overseas so that international police checks can be completed when required.

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

Staff complete bedroom searches when there are safeguarding concerns. However, records do not include the reason for the search, the child’s consent, or the manager’s oversight. This reduces the opportunity for the registered manager to have an overview of this area of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has inspiring leadership. The registered manager is very experienced and brings great energy and passion to her role. She is well supported by the responsible individual, and together they have a thorough knowledge and good oversight of the home. This is underpinned by the effective monitoring systems in place, which enable the leaders to have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 5 development. Leaders are ambitious in their approach and consistently drive practice developments so that children achieve good outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staffing in the home is very stable. Everyone is employed directly by the home and agency workers are not used. This provides the children with consistency and stability, which is reflected in their high-quality relationships with staff. Leaders place an emphasis on staff development and opportunities for progression. This means that staff feel valued and often continue working in the home in the longer term, retaining the home’s child- focused ethos.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Communication with parents and external agencies is excellent. Staff provide regular and informative updates on children’s progress and wellbeing and prompt notifications of any incidents. One social worker said, ‘Communication with staff and management is very good. They are responsive to calls and emails, and the weekly placement reports they provide are extremely helpful, offering detailed updates on the children’s activities and parental contact.’ As a result, there is effective partnership working which enhances the children’s overall care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff advocate for children to have the best outcomes when they experience shortfalls in other services. For example, when a school initially decided a child shouldn’t attend an important event due to their health needs, the registered manager ensured that the child was not excluded and arranged for them to safely participate. On another occasion, staff were persistent in addressing a school’s response to a bullying incident. Their approach directly contributed to the child feeling much safer in school.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has a clear policy on whistleblowing. However, not all staff demonstrate good knowledge of this policy and the procedures to follow if an allegation against staff is made. Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s internal whistleblowing procedures. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 53, paragraph 10.9)  The registered person should ensure that all bedroom searches are appropriately recorded, including the reasons for the search, efforts to seek the child’s consent and management oversight of a decision to carry out a search. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.20)

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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: 2806964 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Nebro, Unit D, 31-33 High Street, Carshalton SM5 3AX

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Inspector

Jo Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2806964 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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