Children's home run by Rock Lennox Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 1 Registered provider: Rock Lennox Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately owned and provides care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of inspection, two children had left the home. One child was being cared for at the time of the inspection, and they contributed to the inspection.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 10 September 2024

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/09/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 29/05/2024 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have developed warm and trusting relationships with children. There is an ethos of mutual respect in the home and staff are consistent and available to the children. Staff know the children well and speak about them with warmth and pride.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a culture of helping children to progress while they are living at the home. Children are prepared to live independently because the staff undertake meaningful work with them. They set the children achievable goals to work towards and this gives children confidence in their abilities.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have attended education in some form, and they are making progress. The stability of school is a real strength. For one child, they travel a considerable distance to attend education. Staff and professionals supported the child, who said they would rather travel than change schools. Staff support children to see the importance of learning. Staff communicate regularly with education staff. This helps children to make progress in their education.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff offer lots of support to the child currently living at the home to maintain relationships with people who are important to them. The child is supported to maintain friendships, which promotes meaningful relationships.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children can make their views known about how they want their bedrooms to look. Children arrange their rooms according to their wishes and staff are respectful of this. However, the home’s decor looks tired in places. For the environment to feel more homely, some areas require updating.

p.3

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

The child living at the home reported that they feel safe, and that staff keep them safe. The child can identify staff they trust and feel they can talk to. The child is developing good bonds with staff, and this is helping them to feel safe, which is fundamental to making progress.

p.3

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

Children have made good progress from their starting points, when moving to the home. They are happy and settled. Staff provide nurturing and consistent care. They have trusting and positive relationships with staff and they benefit from predictable routines and boundaries, and this helps them to feel secure.

p.3

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

Children have rarely gone missing from home. Children have individualised risk assessments in relation to going missing. Staff are aware of the procedures should a child go missing. This ensures that children are safeguarded if they go missing from care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 4 Children have many opportunities to share their views, and they are confident that staff listen to them. Key-working sessions are used effectively to help children explore their feelings following incidents. However, there are occasions when staff have used stigmatising language in children’s written records. This does not reflect a nurturing or trauma-informed approach and may negatively affect children should they access their files in the future. In some instances, the recording of discussions is overly critical of children, which does not support their understanding of their emotions or help them to

p.3

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

develop positive self-regulation skills.

p.4

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

Physical interventions are used only as a last resort to keep children safe. Children are supported to understand the reasons why they have been held. There is detailed recording of incidents and how staff tried to de-escalate situations before resorting to physical intervention. However, records lack sufficient management scrutiny. On one occasion, staff did not respond appropriately when the child presented as physically distressed. The manager did not identify that a learning review was required to assess how practice can be adapted.

p.4

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

Leaders and managers are visible and approachable. Staff say that they are very well supported in their roles and day-to-day care practice. They are held in high regard by the child, staff and external professionals.

p.4

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

Partnership working with external professionals is a strength. Professionals spoken to reported that the levels of communication between them, the manager and the staff were good. This effective partnership working is helping to ensure that children’s plans progress, and children continue to make progress.

p.4

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

Children have not always been supported to be safe. Staff on 2 occasions recognised risk, however, did not take immediate action to reduce this. The manager has failed to have conversations with staff to ensure that they know what action to take if they have any concerns about a child.

p.4

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

The manager and staff do not always support children to feel comfortable with their identity. Staff show curiosity, however, have yet to develop creative ways to speak to the child. This does not help the child to feel safe to explore because staff have not received the support to have a sensitive and non-judgmental approach.

p.4

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

There are weaknesses in the manager’s monitoring arrangements. Key documents lack sufficient managerial scrutiny and evaluative oversight. As a result, opportunities to learn from events and improve practice are missed, which limits the home’s ability to strengthen outcomes for children. The manager recognises that staff require further Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 5 support to enhance their report-writing skills; however, this development work has not yet been fully embedded in practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 6

p.4

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

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)(ii) (2)(a)(ii)(b))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to staff having the confidence to have difficult conversations with children. Further, that staff respond to incidents when a child is at risk of harm and ensuring that records of incidents are clear, detailed and demonstrate management oversight, reflection and learning. 8 April 2026

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children, and is a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all their staff have been adequately trained in the principles of restraint and any restraint techniques appropriate to the needs of the children the home is set up to care for as defined in the home’s Statement of Purpose (Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.57) Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 7  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping, and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising

p.6

Recommendations

way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.4)

p.7

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 standard. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rock Lennox Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 58 St. Peters Road, Leicester LE2 1DD

p.8

Inspectors

Corline Parker, Social Care Inspector Jenna Allen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2745080 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.8

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspectors

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9