Children's home run by One Step Care Limited Assurance visit report: 2552036 4

Inspection report for children’s home: 2552036 1 Registered provider: One Step Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties, or have learning disabilities, alcohol and drug issues, or mental health difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living at the home and 2 were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2024.

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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 outstanding

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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: 2552036 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2025 Full Good 17/08/2023 Full Good 12/10/2022 Full Good 07/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2552036 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have warm and trusting relationships with staff and live in a home that reflects a family atmosphere. The home environment is well-maintained, with personalised bedrooms and good quality furnishings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully considers all new children who may come to live in the home to ensure that staff can meet their needs. Children visit the home, including for sleepovers, to prepare for their move. This helps children to get to know the staff and the other children so that early relationships can develop.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress with their education. Staff are committed to children’s learning and are creative in encouraging children to participate in it. Staff tailor additional learning activities to each individual child’s needs, in line with their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to be healthy. The manager confidently advocates for children to access specialist services, to support their emotional wellbeing, and effectively challenges professionals when necessary. The manager has been tenacious in securing the funding to support one child to access to the support that they need in their first language.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s cultural needs are effectively met. Staff ensure that children consistently have documents translated into their first language and have continuous access to translator apps. Staff help children to attend church and participate in activities that reflect their culture. This helps children feel accepted and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s engagement with the local community and charities is inspiring. Children have actively supported a local kitchen to feed people in need and raised money in a variety of ways such as sponsored activities and recycling unwanted clothes. This contributes to children developing a stronger sense of local connection, which improves their sense of belonging and empathy for others.

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

Staff know the children well and have a good understanding of their needs and individual risks that they face. Staff empower children to contribute to their care plan and show a genuine interest in children’s views and opinions. This ensures that practice decisions are child focused and contribute to the children being safeguarded effectively.

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

Staff are confident in their response to incidents of children being missing from home and are relentless in their efforts to locate children. Staff work with children to help them to understand the risks they face during such incidents and why staff take action to keep them safe. This approach has significantly reduced incidents for one child, helping them to become safer. Inspection report for children’s home: 2552036 4 Staff are vigilant in recognising indicators of exploitation. They closely monitor children’s online activity and liaise effectively with the police and partner agencies to keep children safe. When risks in the community for one child escalated to an unmanageable level, staff advocated on behalf of the child to move in a planned way, to a home that was able to keep them safe.

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

Children are helped to learn about themselves and their world. Staff support them to discuss sensitive subjects and to develop their understanding of things that can harm them. This helps to safely open children’s access to the world around them.

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

Staff support children to manage their behaviour and explore strong feelings, using a strengths-based approach. They provide consistent rules and boundaries and encourage children to reflect on their behaviour and take accountability for their actions. This helps staff manage any incidents effectively and there has not been the need for staff to physically restrain children, to help keep them or others safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is highly skilled, experienced and enthusiastic about ensuring that children receive high quality care. She leads by example and role models ambitious standards and expectations for staff practice. Supported by an equally motivated deputy manager, she has successfully embedded a culture of respect, positivity, and aspirational practice in the home .

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Thorough and efficient monitoring and review systems help managers to identify the home’s strengths and areas for development. The manager provides consistently detailed and child focused oversight, that demonstrates she has an excellent grasp on the quality of children’s care, on a day-to-day basis .

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager follows an appropriate safer recruitment process and supports new staff with a thorough induction programme. She prioritises training and tracks staff progress in completing mandatory and specific training which is identified to meet children’s emerging needs. High quality training aligns with the culture of high expectations for children and helps to ensure that the quality of care remains consistently high.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager takes prompt action when practice issues arise. Thorough investigations are carried out and key people kept informed of their findings. The manager is steadfast in her dedication to ensuring that staff practice continues to enrich children’s lives. This includes making changes to the structure of the staff team if practice falls below the high standard set.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive high-quality support and supervision sessions. Staff are helped to reflect on their practice and contribute to their own personal development plan. Team meetings are interactive, child focused and purposeful, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to improving practice. High levels of support mean that staff feel valued in their role. Inspection report for children’s home: 2552036 5 Staff have excellent working relationships with partner agencies. The manager ensures that staff are regularly involved in key meetings for children. This ensures that all those involved in children’s care work effectively to make sure children continue to make progress. One social worker said that the child they work with is making ‘amazing progress’ and is now engaged in home life. Inspection report for children’s home: 2552036 6

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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: 2552036 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: One Step Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Town Hall Business & Conference Centre, High Street East, Wallsend NE28 7AT

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Jennifer McGranaghan

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Inspectors

Lisa Gordon, Social Care Inspector (lead) Amey Henry, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2552036 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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