Children's Home run by First 4 Children Ltd in Stoke-on-Trent

Inspection report children's home: 2809280 1 Registered provider: First 4 Children Ltd

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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 owned by a small private provider. It was registered in July 2025 to provide care for up to 3 children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The registered manager has been in post since the home opened and they have recently completed the required management qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection there were 3 children living in the home. All were present during the inspection, and all spoken with.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2809280 2

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improvement to be good

Since opening, 3 children have moved into the home in a planned way. However, assessments of prospective children are not always thorough enough and sometimes failed to consider staffing, staff training and whether children's needs are compatible. Although children have remained in the home, there are tensions between peers which are negatively affecting some children’s experiences.

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improvement to be good

Children do not always feel listened to. Although children have positive relationships with staff, some children’s feelings have been overlooked when incidents occur in the home. Children know how to verbally raise concerns, but they are not always supported to make formal complaints, and their concerns are not always responded to appropriately.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not doing enough to help children to manage their emotions. Follow-up discussions after incidents are brief and each incident is treated in isolation. There has not been enough curiosity about the wider impact of the incidents and how they are affecting children. This means that 2 children are unhappy with their current living situation.

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improvement to be good

Children attend school and are making good progress. There was good advocacy for one child who was not attending school, which has assisted them to find a new school that they are now attending and where they have been able to make friends. While the child was not in school, they were supported with educational activities and tutoring. Although there are still difficulties with 2 children's education, there is clear progress from their starting points.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are consistently met. All children are up to date with routine appointments and specialist support is requested when needed. One child has made good progress by attending health appointments when they previously refused.

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improvement to be good

Children are treated as individuals and staff understand each child’s personality and interests. Children take part in activities that they enjoy, make friendships, and develop their own interests. For example, during the inspection, one child had planned a relaxing beauty day while other children went out to visit a museum.

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improvement to be good

Children are not consistently protected from harm because managers are not always responsive when concerns arise. For example, peer relationships in the home can be fraught. One child's behaviour is negatively affecting the experiences of children. This has not been explored enough, and insufficient action has been taken to support all the Inspection report children's home: 2809280 3 children. One child has suffered bruises when hit by a peer, but there has been complacency in responding to this.

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improvement to be good

Staff are trained in behaviour management; however, one child has had a high number of restraints. On some occasions, more de-escalation strategies could have been used before the child was held, and not all staff who have used the measures have had a debrief afterwards. Leaders and managers had already identified that improvement was needed in this area and are taking steps to manage behaviour in a more proactive way. Restraint has reduced in recent weeks since the staff team completed more training.

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improvement to be good

Clear plans are in place for children who go missing and staff understand what action to take. Since moving into the home one child's missing episodes have significantly reduced when there was previously a high level of missing incidents. On one occasion, a child went missing from school and became involved in risky behaviour and staff helped them to understand the risks of going missing.

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improvement to be good

Allegations are not always managed well. On one occasion, there was a delay in suspending a member of staff who was under investigation and the person continued to work with the children without any risk management plan in place. Fortunately, no incidents occurred during that time.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the risks that the internet poses and support children to manage the use of technology safely. Parental controls are in place and regular phone checks are completed so that any unsafe activity can be recognised and acted upon.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is safe and welcoming. There has been significant work completed on the environment since the arrival of the new responsible individual, who has brought the home up to a good standard. Children's involvement in personalising their bedrooms is evident.

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

The home is managed by an experienced, qualified manager who has been in post since the home opened. He is well thought of by the staff team. A new responsible individual has also recently joined the home and has quickly identified areas of weakness and has taken action to address them. This has helped the home to improve in a short space of time, however more time is needed to embed the positive changes that are required.

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

There are weaknesses in recording and monitoring systems. Important information is not always recorded on the child’s file in a timely way, and responses from other professionals are not always recorded. Consequently, there is no clear audit trail and decision making is not always clearly evidenced. In addition, electronic systems are not used consistently meaning that documents are stored in various places so are difficult to access. Several documents could not be found during the inspection and on one occasion, missing documents had not been chased or escalated because the manager was not aware they were missing. This evidences that monitoring is not always effective. Inspection report children's home: 2809280 4 Managers have shown complacency by failing to notify the relevant authorities quickly enough when significant incidents take place. This means that on 2 occasions the Local Authority Designated Officer was not notified of concerns quickly enough and on 1

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

occasion there was a significant delay of 6 weeks before a notification was sent to Ofsted. This limits the effectiveness of external oversight of safeguarding matters.

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

Managers have failed to consider how it feels for children living in the home. While on the whole children have positive experiences, there are concerns about the impact that one child’s behaviour is having on the other children. Managers have not taken this seriously enough.

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

The home has sufficient staff to care for the children and there is a consistent staff team. No agency staff have been used which has ensured that children are cared for by staff who know them well. Staff morale is good and staff discussed feeling supported and enjoying their work. Professional’s feedback about the staff team was positive; suggesting that staff know the children well and that they are supportive and patient. Inspection report children's home: 2809280 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, 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

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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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)(i)(iii)(iv)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children's behaviour is managed effectively to avoid a negative effect on other children living in the home. They must ensure that staff have the skills to de-escalate situations effectively so that physical intervention is only ever used as a last resort. Managers must consider how all children in the home are affected and act promptly to ensure that children remain safe and do not suffer harm. 29 April 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2809280 6 In addition, the registered person must ensure that all allegations are notified to the relevant authorities without delay. They must also ensure that effective risk management is in place when concerns are raised about staff practice.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that any concerns from children are followed up promptly so that children feel listened to. Learning from concerns should be used to improve the experiences of children living in the home. In addition, they must ensure that the effectiveness of behaviour management techniques is monitored so that staff can be supported to develop their practice. Furthermore, they must ensure that recording systems are used consistently so that all information is complete and accessible and can be used to effectively monitor practice in the home. 29 April 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2809280 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in the child's relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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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: 2809280 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: First 4 Children Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Office 7, Old Whieldon Road Business Centre, Old Whieldon Road, Stoke-On-Trent ST4 4HW

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Inspector

Vicky Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2809280 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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