Children's home run by St Elizabeth’s Centre

Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 1 Registered provider: St Elizabeth’s Centre

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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 home is run by a large charitable organisation. It provides care for up to 6 children with autism and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a separately registered independent school on the same site as the home. The inspector only inspected the social care provision.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2025.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were 2 children and 2 young adults living at the home at the time of this inspection. No children have moved in or out since the home opened. The home is registered alongside other homes on a large site with several specialist on-site services that support children’s health needs and education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children are making progress from their individual starting points. Children benefit from long-term placements and have developed positive relationships with staff. Children’s social workers and families said that children receive a good level of care and make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to have regular family time so they can maintain relationships with their family members and people who are important to them. Children are supported to make and maintain relationships with their peers, allowing them to further enhance their social interactions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in fun and recreational activities in line with their interests and hobbies, such as visiting museums, playing golf and going bowling.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff know the children well. They understand their preferred methods of communication and use individual visual aids to support children. However, one child additionally uses a method of sign language which the staff have not been formally trained in or using during conversations. This inhibits children’s individual needs being adequately met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s general health needs are well supported. Children with complex health needs are supported with on-site specialist input. This ensures a clear understanding of the child’s health requirements and can provide reassurance and support when needed. However, on one occasion, following a fall and expressing pain, a child did not receive medical attention from external medical professionals until 48 hours after the initial injury.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to report worries or concerns and have access to an independent advocate they can confide in should they need to. Children’s views are obtained and contribute to their individual plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is well decorated and welcoming. The children’s bedrooms are tailored to their individual needs and are clean, bright and homely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making some progress from their individual starting points and rated the home as 5-star. Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 3

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

There are very few incidents or safety concerns for the children. The staff have managed the children’s behaviour without the need to use physical interventions. Children do not go missing from the home.

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

Children live harmoniously together. They are kind to one another, and staff support them to respect each other’s space.

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

Children receive praise and rewards to help reinforce positive behaviour. This helps children to build secure relationships and feel supported by the staff.

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

Children are encouraged to enhance their independence skills in line with their ages and abilities. There are limited conversations to support and address children’s knowledge and understanding in relation to their individual areas of vulnerability. This omission hinders children’s development and safety in relation to areas of risk and concern.

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

Staff understand the children’s needs and risk assessments are clear and detailed. Case records reflect on children’s daily lives and experiences. At times, records lack detail and staff do not always document information in a concise and factual way.

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

Some staff spoken to are not fully confident in how to escalate whistleblowing concerns without going through the home’s managers. This questions staff’s confidence and ability to safeguard children.

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

The home is managed by a confident manager who knows the children well and has high aspirations for them. The manager is registered for 2 homes and is supported by a deputy manager. Leaders and managers have acknowledged the impact of managing both homes and have plans to change this. The current manager is looking forward to putting their full focus into one home.

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

Leaders and managers had begun to identify some of the shortfalls identified and had implemented plans to address these. However, these are not yet fully implemented or embedded.

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

The home is not properly staffed and resourced to meet the needs of the children. Supervision levels for children have not always been sufficient to meet the needs outlined in their care plans. Children are required to have one-to-one support, which is not always provided. One child with complex healthcare needs constant visual monitoring. Despite this, it is unclear who is supporting the child on occasions because staff are supporting other children. These concerns have been acknowledged by the management team in managerial oversight and staff supervision sessions. Staff have raised this as an ongoing concern. Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 4 Staff supervision sessions are not taking place in line with the home’s policy, and some staff have had a significant delay. When temporary staff are used regularly, supervision is not provided for them. This does not support staff’s learning and development or provide

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

them with an additional safe space to raise concerns or discuss worries.

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

External monitoring of the home is taking place regularly. However, the timing of the independent person’s visits does not always enable children to share their views. The lack of feedback from families, professionals and children hinders their ability to act on areas of concern or development.

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

Despite an extensive range of training offered, some staff are not trained in the administration of medication. Although this has not caused any impact to children due to using other staff on the wider site, this could lead to a delay in children receiving medication at designated times.

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

Leaders and managers have detailed knowledge and a good understanding of the children’s needs. Communication between managers, professionals and parents is good. Children benefit from the manager’s approach to close multi-agency working with specialist services on site.

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

There is a detailed and through induction process to support new staff. There are clear safer recruitment processes which are followed, ensuring that staff are fully checked before working with children. Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 5

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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, 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.

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

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)(ii)(v)(vi)(b)) 26 May 2026

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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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; 26 May 2026 Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 6 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(d))

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Recommendations

 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. In particular, ensure that all records are clear and detail the information in a concise and factual way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should make best use of information from independent monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. The independent person’s consultations with children, their families and professional network should be more frequent. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including agency staff, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs

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Recommendations

of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: 2842250 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: St Elizabeth’s Centre

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: South End, Much Hadham SG10 6EW

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Inspectors

Naomi Starbuck, Social Care Inspector Abby Lynch, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2842250 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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