Children's home run by The Smith Foundation

Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 1 Registered provider: The Smith Foundation

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned by a registered charity and provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager's post is vacant. An interim manager is in post and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living at the home. The inspector spoke with all the children.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2025 Full Outstanding 20/02/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff continue to provide continuity of care for 2 children since the home opened and have welcomed another child into the home since the last inspection. Children are helped to engage in activities and encouraged to try new experiences. Their health and learning needs are well supported by staff, who know the children well. However, shortfalls in the help and protection of children and the effectiveness of leadership and management of the home are identified as areas for improvement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has received a well-planned move into the home. The manager gathered information about the child to ensure that the staff have the skills to meet the needs of all children in their care. Planned introductions to the home took place, with the child meeting staff and peers before they moved in. This helped the child to start to develop relationships at an early stage. The child's views were listened to about the timing of their move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop trusting relationships with staff, and this is a strength of the home. Positive interactions between staff and children were observed during the inspection. The children are comfortable in their home, with staff and the manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can enjoy new experiences on a regular basis. One child has enjoyed their first holiday abroad. Memories for children are captured in monthly reports and memory books for them to access now and later in life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children attending health appointments. All children are registered with a dentist, doctor and an optician. Staff work well with children who may otherwise struggle to attend appointments. For one child, staff prepared them well for a dental appointment to give them the best opportunity to engage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have access to a trained therapist, and all staff receive training to understand the trauma that some children may have experienced. Staff receive regular consultations with the therapist to help them reflect and explore children's changing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good school attendance and are engaged in their learning. Staff work well with education professionals and attend meetings about children's education. Staff work well with children to help them understand any barriers to attending school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children stay connected with their family and loved ones. Staff communicate well with families to keep them updated and are proactive in making arrangements for family time. Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 4

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improvement to be good

Children's plans are not sufficiently detailed to ensure that staff have strategies to support the children in their care. When children are awake at night, there is no guidance for how staff should respond to ensure that they are safe. One child's plan was not updated after their access to their phone changed. Although staff understood the reasoning for this change, there was no information about how this change would be reviewed.

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improvement to be good

Not all serious incidents are notified to Ofsted. During one incident where a child injured staff, the child was later heard to be to screaming and damaging property in their bedroom at night. Despite this, the child's safety was not checked by staff. The manager did make further enquiries with staff during the inspection, but this was several weeks after the incident. There is a lack of professional curiosity by managers about staff practice to help develop lessons to be learned from incidents to reduce the risk of children being harmed.

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improvement to be good

When children are held as a last resort to keep them and others safe, not all records provide enough information to understand how a child has been held or for how long. One record did not accurately record when school staff attended the home and held the child during an ongoing physical intervention. In addition, not all staff involved in an incident are spoken with by the manager to be assured of the practice in the home.

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improvement to be good

Records of consequences to help a child learn from their actions are not well recorded. Therefore, when a consequence is put in place, there are no systems to ensure that the manager can review the effectiveness of it. This prevents the manager from being assured that the measure is appropriate for the child or provide an opportunity to evaluate what has helped the child.

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improvement to be good

There have been 2 allegations raised by children against staff since the last inspection. On both occasions, the allegations were well managed. The local authority designated officer and the children's social worker are informed of the allegations and decision- making is clearly recorded. Similarly, complaints by children are responded to well by the interim manager. On one occasion, the child was provided with a letter to help them understand how the manager had responded to their complaint and the reasons for their decision.

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improvement to be good

There have been no occasions when children have gone missing from the home. Staff understand what to do if this happens. One child has left the home when they have been upset but staff have stayed close to the child throughout to be assured of their safety. This is a positive example of staff responding to keep a child safe in the community.

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improvement to be good

The safe recruitment of staff to work in the home is embedded. Those employed at the home have appropriate checks in place to ensure that they are safe to work with children. Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 5

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

Leaders and managers do not have effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care for children. Audit systems have not highlighted the need for children's plans and records to be reviewed to ensure that staff are always responding appropriately to children to promote their safety and wellbeing.

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

Managers are aware of the strengths of the home but have not identified weaknesses or areas for improvement. Leaders and managers lack professional curiosity to understand how children are cared for on a day-to-day basis and therefore have not identified where improvements can be made. This includes their oversight of serious incidents involving children and staff.

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

The home has been without a registered manager since July 2025. The interim manager is knowledgeable about the children and has established relationships with children and staff.

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

Staff receive regular supervision sessions. These are further strengthened by reflective supervision sessions provided by a trained therapist. In addition, there are regular team meetings that take place for staff to discuss developments within the home. The minutes of the meetings do not provide a full note to demonstrate if there has been reflection about incidents in the home or learning that can be taken forward.

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

Not all staff achieve a qualification to work with children in a residential setting in timescales as set out in regulation. Two staff have passed the relevant date to achieve this. Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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

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)(i)(v)(vi)(b)) 3 April 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

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

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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; 3 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 7 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child's behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 3 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— 3 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 8 there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children's home.

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (2)(a) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)) 3 April 2026

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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: 2736722 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: The William Henry Smith School, Boothroyd Lane, Brighouse HD6 3JW

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Inspector

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2736722 10 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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