Children's home run by Positive Pathways Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children's home: SC410535 1 SC410535 Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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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 three children who have social and/or emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2025. She is suitably qualified and experienced. She has had a period of planned leave since December 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

An interim manager has covered the home during this period and led the inspection. He has submitted his application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. Both children were present during the inspection and spoke with the inspectors.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

In August 2022, Ofsted imposed a condition on the home’s registration, which meant that the provider had to give Ofsted three months’ notice of their intention to welcome children into the home. The provider subsequently notified Ofsted on 17 July 2025 of Inspection report children's home: SC410535 2 their intention to admit children. In September 2025, Ofsted completed a monitoring visit and the three-month condition was lifted. Inspection report children's home: SC410535 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/04/2022 Full Inadequate 02/03/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC410535 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a beautiful, high-quality home that is well presented, homely and welcoming. The views of the children were considered in choosing decor for the home. Furthermore, children are able to personalise their own bedrooms, and in doing so, are. able to express their individuality. This supports children in developing a sense of belonging to the home, which, in turn, helps children to feel at home and settle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like living in the home. One child told the inspector, ‘The best thing about the home is my bedroom and the kind people who look after me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive and stable relationships with the staff, who know them well. As a result of these positive relationships, children are open with the staff and seek support when they are worried and upset. Staff treat children with respect and talk to them with positive regard and offer encouragement and appropriate emotional warmth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s individual needs are considered well when they move into the home. Decisions around the children who move into the home are considered alongside their risks and vulnerabilities. This thorough planning enables the children’s transition to be smooth and successful. Children have a personalised introduction to the home. This involves home visits, picking their bedrooms and meeting the staff team. These opportunities help eve- ryone to become familiar with the staff and the home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand that each child’s communication need is different. Staff talk to and engage with the children so that the children’s wishes and feelings are understood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The health needs of children are promoted. All health appointments are up to date and children, should they need to, are able to access specialist services where required. The staff have a good understanding of meeting health needs. Children are supported in discussing their emotional, social and psychological well-being. Staff draw on the knowledge and expertise of external professionals and the organisation’s therapist. This means that children are cared for by the staff in the home, who are supported by thera- peutic input where required. This is reflected in the progress that children are making with regards to their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff understand the importance of education. One child in the home has excellent school attendance and is making substantial progress. When children are not in formal education, the manager and staff work proactively with education profes- sionals. This has led to part-time education timetables for children, home tutoring and measures to find suitable placements that reflect their learning needs. As a result, one child has a structured transition plan in place to return to formal education. Staff also provide home-based education in the interim to enhance children’s learning. Inspection report children's home: SC410535 5 Children are supported to develop independence skills at a pace that suits their needs and abilities. Children develop skills, such as being attend to personal hygiene, complete laundry tasks and prepare basic meals. These opportunities enable children to take on appropriate levels of responsibility to develop life skills for the future.

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

Staff are aware of how to respond to safeguarding concerns. The manager and staff re- spond promptly to concerns, such as allegations that are made by children. The manager ensures that appropriate discussions take place with relevant agencies. As a result, con- cerns are addressed quickly and this helps to protect children from further harm.

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

Overall, children living at this home are safe. Children’s risks are identified well in their plans, and these provide staff with clear guidance for caring for children. Staff do know children well, their risks and the actions they need to take to mitigate risks and keep children safe.

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

The manager has ensured that Ofsted is notified about serious incidents in the home. This helps the regulator to understand what is happening at the home and how managers respond when serious incidents happen.

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

Staff educate children about keeping safe. They teach children about emotional regula- tion and how to make calm choices and how to stay safe in relationships. These discus- sions capture the children’s views and understanding.

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

There are now safe systems in place for the storage, administration and disposal of med- ication. There are clear protocols in place for staff to follow.

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

The suitability of the home’s location has been reviewed since the last inspection. This now clearly identifies potential hazards and outlines effective measures of control. In addition, relevant people have now been consulted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers have created an open and inclusive culture that places children at the centre of practice. They value and promote good teamwork well. As a result, children build positive relationships with the staff, whose skilled and caring practice increases the bonds between them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff feel that they are supported in their role by their managers. The manager pro- vides routine practice direction and guidance to the staff through regular team meetings and reflective supervision sessions. This in turn helps the staff to develop in their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work enthusiastically to continue to develop the home environment and staff team. This enables children to achieve their best outcomes and have good experiences living at the home. Inspection report children's home: SC410535 6 The manager and staff work well with professionals and people who are important to children. The manager effectively challenges services to ensure that children are getting the right support at the right time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal monitoring systems for the home are now well established. This comprehensive oversight makes sure that all aspects of care and the running of the home are main- tained to a good standard. This better assists the manager to identify concerns and make prompt changes to maintain and improve good standards of care for children. Where concerns have been highlighted, staff have been provided with upskilling work- shops to enhance their practice and understanding, these include topics such as the im- portance of safe medication administration, reporting and recording and trauma and bar- riers to education.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have received mandatory training, in line with the homes Statement of Purpose. However, the staff have not been afforded the opportunity to complete specialist training to meet some of the children’s individual needs. Consequently, the staff are not aware of the up-to-date approach that they should consider when they provide care for children who have sensory processing difficulties. The manager did take action to source this training for the team during the inspection. Inspection report children's home: SC410535 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, 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that all staff receive training specific to children's individualised needs. 05 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5)) 05 April 2026 Inspection report children's home: SC410535 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 children's home: SC410535 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Positive Pathways Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Park Business Centre, Hastingwood Industrial Park, Wood Lane, Erdington, Birmingham, West Midlands B24 9QR

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Inspector

Marianne Grandfield, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC410535 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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