Children's home run by Headway Housing CH1 Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 1 Registered provider: Headway Housing CH1 Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider. It 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, 2 children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with both children.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2024.

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 good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 19 November 2024

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/11/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in different areas of their lives. They are positive about the care staff provide them and their experiences of living in the home. The staff know the children well and provide individualised care according to their needs. The children respond well to this approach and are having positive experiences.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with children’s families. They keep them appropriately updated and ensure that family time plans are kept to. Family members consistently say that they are pleased with the care and support that their children are receiving.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Thorough planning takes place in advance of children moving to the home. Staff work with children, their family members and other key people to make detailed plans. These plans are progressed at a pace that is good for the child. This ensures that children feel listened to and helps reduce their anxieties at a time of change in their lives.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with each other. Staff provide clear and consistent boundaries and work with children to encourage mutual respect. This leads to a sense of solidarity and togetherness for children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend school and make academic progress. When children are unable to attend school, staff support them with home learning, helping them to produce good-quality work across a range of subjects. They also work with education professionals and attend meetings to support the child’s reintegration into school.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help provide stability for children who have often had much instability in their past. This stability helps children make progress. For example, children are helped to improve their emotional wellbeing, resulting in improvements to their mental health.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build consistently positive relationships with children. However, records are not always completed using child-friendly language. This could mean that children feel less valued and could impact their self-esteem.

p.3

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

Children say that they feel safe. The secure relationships they have with staff help reduce risks. Staff understand risks that children face and complete regular work with them to help them to stay safe. Staff ensure that each child has an up-to-date risk assessment and support plan, and these include clear strategies to support children.

p.3

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

Staff work with children’s mental health teams and access specialist training to ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills they need. There are effective harm reduction strategies in place for children who self-harm. This has resulted in a significant reduction in these incidents and helped children feel more emotionally settled. Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 4 Staff manage children’s behaviours well and implement clear, consistent boundaries. They reinforce these through direct work with children and positive role modelling. Staff approaches mean that they are successful in helping children calm at times of distress and preventing any incidents becoming more serious.

p.3

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

Significant incidents do not happen often. However, when incidents do happen, there have been delays in notifying police or other relevant bodies. This means that children may remain vulnerable to risks because key safeguarding actions have not been taken promptly.

p.4

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

Room searches have been necessary at times to keep children safe. However, some room searches have been completed without children present and without clear rationale for this. This approach may make the child feel that they have no control over their personal space.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a suitably skilled and experienced manager who knows the home’s strengths and areas for development. Managers drive progress for children and have high expectations of staff. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the support they receive from managers.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers build strong connections with key professionals such as social workers, police and mental health staff. They use these professional networks to create cohesive support plans for children. This leads to a holistic multi-agency approach to caring for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers gather children’s views in a variety of ways. These include daily discussions, focused sessions and weekly children’s meetings. Children are also provided formal advocacy support when needed. The manager provides feedback to children daily, helping them know that their views are taken seriously.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly. They are well attended and follow a clear agenda, offering staff a space for reflective discussions. Staff having a forum to share their experiences and knowledge helps to ensure that the children receive good-quality care.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers offer challenge to other professionals when needed. They advocate vociferously on behalf of children to ensure that their views are heard and that they have plans in place that meet their needs. This has a resulted in positive outcomes for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision sessions are regular and provide opportunity for reflective discussions. This provides them support to improve their practice and ensures that their learning needs are met. However, managers have not ensured that staff have annual appraisals. This means that opportunities to review staff practice and identify further support for them are not being taken. Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 5

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.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 27 March 2026

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.5

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 17 April 2026

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that documents relating to children are recorded in a non-stigmatising way. 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)  The registered person should ensure that searches of children’s rooms are completed with the child’s knowledge and permission, unless immediate searching is necessary as there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or wellbeing. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20) Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 6

p.5

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: 2772593 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Headway Housing CH1 Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Trust House c/o Isaacs, 5 New Augustus Street, Bradford BD1 5LL

p.7

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Mosley

p.7

Inspector

Jon Collins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2772593 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

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.8

Inspector

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.8

Inspector

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

p.8

Inspector

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

p.8