Children's Home run by Gloucestershire County Council in Gloucestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 1 Registered provider: Gloucestershire County Council

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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 home is operated by the local authority and provides care and support for up to 8 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. Three children were living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

This was the home’s first inspection since its registration on 8 September 2025. The manager was also registered with Ofsted on 8 September 2025.

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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made progress at the home, even though this has not always been straightforward. Staff have helped 2 children to have a more settled routine, and they are now eating and sleeping better. One child has clear aspirations for the future and is being supported to work towards these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with the in ‑ house therapist, who offers practical guidance on strategies to support children’s emotional wellbeing. This helps staff feel confident and consistent in their approach and ensures that children receive informed care that supports their overall health and happiness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spoke positively about staff, saying they feel listened to and that particular staff understand them well. They enjoy activities such as cooking, crafts and spending time with family. All children said they feel safe living in the home, and one child described this as the first time since being in care that they have felt ‘cared for’. Another child said that arguments and some peer behaviours can sometimes make them feel unsettled. Staff are encouraging children to take part in activities that help build their relationships with each other. Children also said that gaining access to Wi ‑ Fi can be slow when they have requested this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are listened to, and staff take these into account in day ‑ to ‑ day decisions. This helps children feel heard and involved in what happens in their home. Birthdays are celebrated with personalised touches, which helps children feel valued and cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Families and professionals spoke positively about the home. They described communication as strong and staff as patient, supportive and committed. They felt staff understand the children well, work effectively with external agencies and prioritise safety. Professionals highlighted strong multi ‑ agency working, consistent attendance at meetings and a stable environment that supports children’s welfare and maintains family connections. Families said they feel welcome in the home and are invited for meals, which helps them stay involved in their children’s lives.

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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 individual needs. One child needed additional support with budgeting and cooking, and staff have offered steady, practical guidance to help build the child’s confidence. The manager shows good flexibility by adjusting expectations when needed, ensuring progress happens at a level the child can manage and sustain.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are currently not in full ‑ time education. Although staff offer some structure to the day, this is not planned and does not provide purposeful educational activity to sustain progress or establish consistent routines. Staff have supported one child to improve their attendance after a lengthy period out of school. Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 3 Generally, children’s health needs are well met, and staff support them to attend routine and specialist appointments. However, during this inspection, vapes were seen in a child’s room, and staff had not removed them until this was addressed during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm, clean and welcoming. Children’s belongings and artwork help it feel like their space, and bedrooms are personalised. However, the layout upstairs, including the use of fobs to move between areas, means some parts of the home feel more institutional. The manager began to address this during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children cannot adjust the temperature of the showers in their en-suite bathrooms, which limits their comfort and independence. The manager has raised this appropriately, although the organisation has confirmed that changes are not planned at this stage. This means the environment does not yet fully support children’s independence in this area.

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

Children continue to experience high levels of vulnerability, particularly around going missing from the home, substance misuse and peer influences. Leaders, the manager and staff work closely with the multi ‑ agency network to coordinate plans and keep strategies aligned, which is helping them to respond more promptly and maintain a clear focus on children’s safety. Learning from incidents is beginning to be embedded through training, reflective supervision sessions and targeted discussions with the team.

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

Plans for children are detailed and contain the right information, which helps staff understand risks and support children consistently. Missing-from-home protocols, trigger plans and safety plans are up to date and informed by the multi ‑ agency team around the child. However, the quality of some written records is inconsistent, making information harder to follow and reducing clarity for effective oversight. The manager is aware of this and is addressing it with the team.

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

Staff talk to children about keeping safe through purposeful, well ‑ structured sessions. These focus on areas such as substance misuse, self ‑ esteem, peer relationships and developing independence, and they remain in place until children have met the agreed targets. However, there are significant gaps in work to educate children about online safety. Current sessions do not yet offer sustained or targeted support in this area, and oversight has not ensured that online safety work is prioritised.

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

Children are believed when they raise concerns. The manager responded well to a recent allegation made by a child, taking the account seriously. Managers acted quickly by removing the staff member from working in the home and seeking advice, showing that safeguarding concerns are dealt with promptly and appropriately. Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 4 Restraint has only been used on one occasion in the home. Staff rely on their relationships with children to de ‑ escalate situations, although some staff said they do not feel fully confident about using physical intervention if it were required, which means responses may not always be as consistent as they could be.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a clear and realistic understanding of the home’s strengths and the areas that still need attention. They speak openly about what is working well and where practice needs to improve, and they are already taking steps to address the weaker areas. Their insight into the team, the risks and the demands of the work helps them prioritise what matters most for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training for staff is well tailored to children’s needs, and staff described their induction as thorough. They value the therapeutic input available to them, which helps them feel confident in supporting children. Leaders and managers escalate concerns appropriately when children need additional support from external agencies, showing a clear commitment to multi ‑ agency working and ensuring that children’s needs are addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment procedures are followed. All required checks are completed before staff start working in the home, and managers take appropriate steps to ensure that suitable people are employed to work with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoke positively about the culture and the relationships they build with children, and most said they feel supported by managers. However, their experience is not consistent. Some staff said that communication can be unclear when the team is busy, which can lead to things feeling disorganised and people working in different ways. Managers are aware of this and are taking steps to improve consistency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision session records are not yet consistently detailed or of good quality. Records tend to capture the conversation rather than the reasons behind decisions, any learning for staff or analysis of challenges. Children’s experiences and safeguarding are not reliably explored or recorded, which limits leaders’ ability to monitor practice, track risk and support staff development over time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring and auditing systems are in place, but they are not yet working as consistently as leaders intend. Oversight is happening, but much of this still falls to the manager, which places pressure on their capacity. Leaders are aware of this and have a plan for deputy managers to take on more of this work so that oversight is shared. Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 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, 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.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should support staff to help children not to vape and understand how vaping impacts on their health. 30 April 2026

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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

that staff— 30 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 6 help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the child is supported to recognise and understand online risks and how to keep themselves safe online.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that when children are not in full-time education, staff work closely with the placing authority so that children are supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. When children are not in full-time education, they should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. 30 April 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that supervision session records and team meeting minutes are strengthened to include reflective commentary and greater detail about children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.5)  The registered person should ensure that all staff have practical refreshers on physical intervention techniques, and scenario-based learning should be provided to build staff confidence and ensure safe, consistent practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 7

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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: 2839800 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Gloucestershire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shire Hall, Westgate Street, Gloucester GL1 2TG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Isabel da Costa Santos

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Inspector

Karen Hallam, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2839800 9 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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