Children's home run by Nottingham City Council in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 1 SC424280 Registered provider: Nottingham City Council

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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 owned by a local authority. It is registered to provide care for two children who may have emotional, social and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2026.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Their views were sought during the inspection.

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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: SC424280 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2025 Full Good 04/03/2024 Full Good 08/11/2022 Full Good 07/02/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a comfortable home that is well maintained and homely. Their rooms are personalised and children are helped to keep their rooms clean. Children are supported to have good routines and look after their personal hygiene. Staff develop positive relationships with children and regularly spend time with them. However, one child spends a lot of time in their room and eats alone. Staff are making steady progress to help the child to socialise more, but this is not without challenge. Staff are yet to find ways of helping the child to participate more in the daily life of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has moved on since the last inspection. They had lived at the home for several years. They were well supported into their new accommodation. A child has since moved in and has been warmly welcomed. They have started to build some trust with the staff team. The child already living at the home was able to meet the new child before they moved in. This helped them to feel more comfortable about someone new joining the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health, and they are well supported to attend health appointments. One child has recently overcome their fear of the dentist because of the sensitive approach offered by the assistant manager. Children are offered specialist services where appropriate. Where children decline direct support, the manager arranges consultations with relevant agencies to ensure the team cares for children from an informed position. This ensures that children’s needs can be met by people familiar to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children are attending school with support from the team. One child is achieving well academically and has established some friendships. The other child has recently started school following a long period away from formal education. Both children are enjoying learning again, which is a significant achievement in the short time they have lived at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience stability at the home and live there for long periods of time. Staff are committed to helping children to communicate their wishes and feelings. They write sensitively about the children’s daily lives. The contents of direct-work sessions are not always captured well in these records. Distinct documents, which reflect the support offered and children’s responses to that support, are not yet in place.

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

Children say they feel safe. They have adults they can go to if they need help. Children have asked for support in a range of situations and there are clear examples of where the staff have helped children resolve their difficulties. In some cases, this has protected them from significant harm. Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 4 The managers and staff have a good understanding of risks posed to and from children. They are alert to emerging risks and adapt safety plans accordingly. The managers and staff work effectively with other agencies to assess and monitor risks and vulnerabilities so that children are kept as safe as possible. A particular strength is managing risks posed to children from exploitation.

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

Staff are trained to prevent situations from escalating when children are becoming distressed or overwhelmed. As such, staff do not need to use physical interventions to manage children’s behaviour. This demonstrates their skills in supporting children in times of stress.

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

One child has been missing from home on several occasions. The staff have responded well by keeping in touch with the child, relevant agencies and the child’s family and friends to try and locate them. There have been some occasions where a child’s whereabouts were unknown. Safe and well checks could not be undertaken in a timely way. This is because staff work alone at nighttime and there were not enough people available to physically check the child’s location. Following inspection, managers recognise the importance of having a contingency plan in these situations so that staff can check children are safe as soon as possible.

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

Staff have not undertaken searches of children’s bedrooms when children are missing. This is a missed opportunity to look for evidence that may help to find the child or assess any risks that were previously unknown.

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

One child raised a worry about a member of staff. This was fully investigated and the concerns were not substantiated. Arrangements were in place to protect the child until the outcome of the investigation was concluded. The child was informed of the outcome.

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

Staff are recruited safely through the required vetting procedures so that children are cared for by suitable adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management arrangements have recently changed. Both the manager and assistant manager are new to their roles. They make a strong team, having complementary skills and qualities. The managers have good knowledge of the children and have plans to further enhance their lives, for example developing creative ways to increase children’s participation in activities and education. Managers show children they are proud of their achievements as any good parent would.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is diverse, which helps to make children from a range of backgrounds feel comfortable. The staff are experienced, confident and calm, which helps provide stability and consistency for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that staff are well trained and benefit from regular supervision. This provides the team with regular opportunities for reflection and development of new skills. Training is responsive to children’s emerging needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 5 The managers have not notified Ofsted of two serious incidents involving children. One of these involved a child being brought home by the police. Another incident related to an incident where a child was away from the home for an extended period under more unusual circumstances. This prevents the regulator having important information that could impact on their ability to fulfil their safeguarding role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work well with other agencies. They attend key meetings and care plans are reviewed regularly. The registered manager considers information carefully before accepting children into the home. He ensures that children are involved in the decisions made about their care. Professionals have confidence in the manager and staff and provided very good feedback about how children make progress while living at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 6

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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 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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that there are sufficient staff and resources available to look for children in a timely way when they are missing from home.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to searching children’s rooms when they are missing, to look for indicators that could help locate them. 12 March 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff, in building a positive relationship with each child, help the child develop skills to have positive relationships with others. ‘Others’ include individuals both inside and outside the home, such as other children in the home. This includes supporting children to spend time in shared areas of the home so they can relax and participate in the daily life of the home, for example eating with others. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 38, paragraph 8.6)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a way that will be helpful to the child. Direct work with children should be recorded in a way that reflects children’s contributions to important discussions, so their engagement is clearly documented. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that serious incidents are reported to Ofsted. Examples of incidents that are likely to be considered serious affecting the welfare of a child include: a child being the victim or perpetrator of a serious assault; a serious Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 7 illness or accident; a serious incident of self-harm; or serious concerns over a child’s missing-from-care behaviour, particularly where the child is considered to be at grave risk due to their age or vulnerability, or where they have been missing for a considerable period of time and their whereabouts are unknown. This is not an exhaustive list and homes must assess each case individually, taking into account any patterns of behaviour or unusual behaviour that may indicate an increased risk to the child. Homes should also consider the frequency of incidents and judge whether their cumulative effect makes notification appropriate, even if in isolation each event would

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Recommendations

not warrant this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 63, paragraph 14.11)

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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: SC424280 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nottingham City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 3NG

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Inspector

Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC424280 9 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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