Children's home run by Sunnier Skies Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 1 Registered provider: Sunnier Skies Care Services 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

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to 3 children with emotional and social difficulties or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is yet to apply to be registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children have moved into the home, and 2 children have left the home.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living at the home. The inspector observed all 3 children.

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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

Date of last inspection: 10 December 2024

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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: 2710124 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/12/2024 Full Good 23/05/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers make sure that children’s moves into the home are well planned. Staff visit children and their carers before the move. These visits allow staff to share information about the home, and the care that children will receive. If staff cannot visit, children receive written information and a video tour instead. Before any child moves in, managers ensure that staff have the right skills and knowledge to meet their needs alongside children already living in the home. Staff closely monitor how children settle and help them build relationships with peers and adults. This helps staff identify and resolve any issues quickly. When possible, staff support children to have positive experiences when they leave the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have created a home environment that reflects children’s personalities and interests. Photos of children and staff are displayed throughout the home. Toys and books are readily available. However, the home requires better maintenance. Children’s bedrooms are bare and need action from staff to ensure that they are a nurturing space. Staff use a therapeutic approach in daily practice. Staff understand children’s behaviour and what it communicates. This helps them support children to manage their feelings and emotions safely. Staff recognised from children’s behaviour that nighttime routines needed to change. They reviewed and updated the routines. This has helped children to settle more easily at night.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to access education, and all children are making progress. Staff act quickly when they have concerns about bullying. They work closely with school professionals to make sure that children have a positive school experience. Staff support children to access health services and follow advice from professionals. This has improved children’s oral health and children can now enjoy food without pain. Managers ensure that when children have specialist health needs, staff receive the training and knowledge they need to meet those needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to take part in positive activities. These activities help children achieve and build self ‑ esteem. Children enjoy roller skating, playing football and joining local community groups. Staff regularly update an activity resource, which helps children explore new activities. Staff have created a ‘wish tree’. Children can make wishes and staff work to make them come true. Children have wished for bikes and holidays. Staff either fulfil these wishes or help children take steps to achieve them themselves. This approach strengthens trust between staff and children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children spend time with the people who matter to them. They provide families with weekly updates that reflect each family’s needs. One family member said, ‘What they do best is listening to them and putting them first. I can’t put into words how brilliant they are with both of us.’ Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 4

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

Staff respond proactively when children go missing from the home. They report children missing, search for them and offer care and support when they return. Managers work with other professionals to understand why children go missing. This collaborative approach has helped reduce the likelihood of children going missing again.

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

Staff listen to children when they make allegations. Managers notify the relevant safeguarding agencies. On one occasion, managers delayed this notification. The responsible individual identified the delay, investigated it and put measures in place to stop it happening again. Staff do not always inform managers promptly when allegations are made. This leads to delays in putting safeguards in place. On one occasion, staff, rather than managers, were left to communicate safeguards. These failings undermined safeguarding procedures.

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

Staff understand children’s needs and put plans in place to keep them safe, including behaviour ‑ support plans. Staff update and review these plans regularly. The plans guide staff and help prevent behaviours from escalating. Staff hold children when necessary to protect them and others. After a hold, staff speak with children to check their well ‑ being and offer reflection. However, children are not always given the opportunity to speak with a staff member who was not involved in the hold. Managers speak with staff after they hold a child. These discussions help staff consider whether the intervention could have been avoided and whether there are lessons to learn. However, staff are not always spoken to within expected timescales.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour through rewards. They give children jars of pompoms and when children show positive behaviour, staff add pompoms to their jars. Children receive treats and rewards when they collect a set number of pompoms. Staff also use consequences to deter unwanted behaviour. The responsible individual identified that some consequences were not restorative or proportionate. Managers delivered a development session to help staff use consequences that promotes learning. This change in approach has had a positive impact on children’s behaviour. As a result, behaviour ‑ related incidents have reduced. However, staff do not record the use of consequences as expected.

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

Staff recognise the importance of routine, structure and clear expectations for children. They also understand when to be flexible and allow children appropriate autonomy. This balanced approach creates a safe environment for children and strengthens their emotional resilience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have recruited staff safely. New staff receive a thorough induction and complete a probation period. The registered manager has left, and the responsible individual has appointed a replacement. The new manager is not yet registered with Ofsted. The manager has a different leadership approach which has improved staff morale. Staff said they enjoy working with each other and with the children. Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 5 Managers provide staff with regular training and development sessions. This builds staff knowledge and strengthens their skills to meet children’s specific needs. Managers facilitate regular team meetings which staff must attend. Team meetings are also used as an opportunity to learn and improve practise. Managers promote a culture of learning, which is improving the care children receive. Managers provide staff with regular reflective supervision. These sessions focus on staff wellbeing, professional development,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

children’s needs and safeguarding. Staff said they find supervision helpful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have developed positive working relationships with professionals and children’s families. A school professional said managers and staff are ‘clear and consistent, work collaboratively and are good at communication’. These strong relationships ensure that children receive well ‑ coordinated support. Managers advocate for children. For example, they questioned a care plan that restricted television and sweet treats. Their advocacy ensured that the child’s voice was heard and led to a more flexible approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers maintain good oversight of the care provided to children. Their oversight is reflective and identifies where improvements are needed. However, the systems used to store children’s care records are disorganised and fragmented. Consequently, information is not always available when needed. This also limits managers’ oversight because key records are not held together. Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 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

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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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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 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) (a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)) 30 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. 30 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 7 The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii)(viii) (b)(i)(ii)(c)) Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 8 In particular, ensure that when required children have opportunity to speak to a person who was not involved in the implementation of the measure or witness to it.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure all children’s case records are kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Records should be stored in such a way that they can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it. This includes both electronic and paper records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, April 2015’ page 61, 62 paragraph 14.2 and 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff provide an environment that is welcoming and supportive. This includes ensuring that the home is well maintained and children’s bedrooms are developmentally appropriate, providing a safe, comfortable and nurturing space that meets each child’s individual needs (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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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: 2710124 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sunnier Skies Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Pera Business Park, Nottingham Road, Melton Mowbray LE13 0PB

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Inspector

Laura Copus, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2710124 10 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 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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