Children's home run by Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company

Inspection report for children's home: 1273485 1 Registered provider: Birmingham Children's Trust Community Interest Company

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

Birmingham Children's Trust operates this home. The home has been registered since October 2025 as a children's home. Prior to this, the home was operating as a short-breaks service. The home provides care for up to 3 children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about this children's home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2023.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living in the home. All children were present during the inspection and were spoken to by the inspector.

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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: 1273485 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/03/2025 Full Good 09/10/2023 Full Good 17/08/2022 Full Good 07/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 1273485 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is a home in which children thrive. Staff work hard to ensure that the home is welcoming, warm and nurturing for children. The children's bedrooms and the living areas of the home resonate with a sense of individuality and special interests. Toys, photographs, certificates and posters clearly reflect the individual hobbies, interests and achievements of each child. The décor, maintenance and organisation of the home clearly suggest that those who live there are important, valued and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff want the best for the children who live here. Relationships between staff and children are warm, affectionate and loving. Their positive relationships are clear to see. Children like spending time with staff and enjoy living here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children's individual needs are considered well when they move into the home. Decisions around the children who move into the home are considered alongside their risks and vulnerabilities. This thorough planning enables the children's transitions to be smooth and successful. Children have a personalised introduction to the home. This involves home visits, choosing their bedrooms, meeting the staff team and children, and overnight stays. These opportunities help children to become familiar with the staff and the home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff organise activities that enrich children's lives. The staff support children to enjoy an abundance of new experiences and enjoyable activities. Care is carefully planned by staff, and risk assessments are carried out. This means that there are no unnecessary barriers to children enjoying these experiences. Children are very well prepared for new experiences through use of pictures and social stories to support their understanding. Staff understand the importance of disabled children experiencing consistent and predictable routines and this is fully embedded throughout the children's care experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive communication is a priority and is always in the child's preferred method. The dedication from staff to get this right is immense. Staff know the children very well and are attuned to their individual communication needs. Children communicate using language, social stories and pictures. This allows the children to make their wishes and feelings known. The child's mechanism to have a voice is always with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop independence skills at a pace that suits their needs and abilities. Children develop skills such as being able to tie their own shoelaces, travel independently and prepare basic meals. These opportunities enable children to take on appropriate levels of responsibility to develop life skills for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to maintain regular contact with their families and people who are important to them when this is safe and appropriate. They provide practical and emotional support to maintain and develop these relationships. This means that children Inspection report for children's home: 1273485 4 are not isolated from those who are important to them. One parent said, 'I could not ask for a better place for my child to live. They have been so caring and supportive to both me and my child. They invited me over on Christmas day, which made my entire year; it was the best Christmas I ever had.'

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

A positive safeguarding culture is embedded in the home. The manager has excellent oversight of safeguarding. Staff understand their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe. The knowledge and understanding that staff have about children, their vulnerabilities and potential risks help them to keep them incredibly safe. Any risk is well managed and mitigated.

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

Leadership, management and staff cohesion is a clear strength and ensures the safety and welfare of children. Strategic reviews of all incidents in the home provide constant evaluation of staff practice and highlight children's changing needs. Staff supervision and focused team meetings are effective management tools that are used to identify areas for development and support effective staff practice. These processes ensure that staff provide good-quality care to children as set out in the home's statement of purpose.

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

Staff know the children extremely well. They pick up on social cues if children are struggling and need support. Staff have a high level of intuition, are responsive to children and understand them. This means that children quickly get the support they need before their behaviour escalates. Restraint is rare and has only been used on one occasion.

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

Staff understand children's needs and risks well. This ensures that the potential risks to children are understood and reduced. The children's individual risk assessments and care plans are thorough. They provide staff with clear, concise information about how children need to be supported. Staff know and understand the underlying causes of challenging behaviours that children may exhibit. As a result, staff employ well- considered strategies to manage behaviour, which are continuously kept under review.

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

Staff educate children around risk. Children take part in direct work sessions and engage in meetings where safeguarding scenarios are discussed to address identified risks and raise their awareness of topics of concern. This direct work includes fire safety, online safety and road safety. This positive work enhances children's knowledge of risk and allows them to take the lead in their learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an extremely dedicated and conscientious manager. She is passionate about the service and advocating for children's views. She keeps children at the heart of all she does. The manager shows great ambition for the home and where it aims to be. This ethos is shared by the staff and children, resulting in good-quality care. Inspection report for children's home: 1273485 5 Highly effective leadership promotes a strong ethos and culture of high aspiration and positivity. Staff are extremely committed to their work and speak with immense pride and affection about children's achievements. Staff speak positively about working at the home. The manager is well regarded and is nurturing towards the team. This means that staff work in an environment where they feel well supported. One staff member said, 'It is a privilege to be part of this team. The manager has done a brilliant job navigating the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

team and leading by example. I am immensely proud of what she has achieved in such a short space of time.'

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, which addresses children's care and any practice or performance concerns. Team meeting discussions are reflective and provide a comprehensive overview of the progress made by children. This allows all staff an opportunity to discuss children's progress, generate ideas and have a consistent approach to the care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with a wide range of training and development opportunities that inform their practice and help them to understand children's individual and diverse needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Manager’s' monitoring systems are embedded into practice, which ensure that they have good oversight of the home and take action to address issues as they arise.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals provide unanimously positive feedback about the team and how they ensure that their children are well cared for. The manager and team have developed secure partner relationships. They work extremely hard to develop and sustain commendable relationships with external professional agencies. Inspection report for children's home: 1273485 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: 1273485 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Birmingham Children's Trust Community Interest Company

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 1 Avenue Road, Aston, Birmingham B6 4DU

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Inspector

Marianne Grandfield, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1273485 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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