Children's Home run by Abbey Green Therapeutic Children’s Services Ltd in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 1 Registered provider: Abbey Green Therapeutic Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private company. The home provides care for up to 2 children who have experienced trauma and may subsequently experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was living at the home at the time of the inspection. The inspector spoke with the child as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager became registered with Ofsted in September 2024 and was present for the duration of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2025 Full Good 19/03/2024 Full Outstanding 15/03/2023 Full Good 06/10/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is warm and inviting, with the child’s love of the colour pink and their favourite animated characters themed throughout the house. This helped the child to see that their wishes and feelings are highly valued by staff and leaders. The staff and managers recently rewarded the child’s achievements by obtaining animal companions for the child to care for. This also supports their emotional regulation and feelings of containment, resulting in a stronger sense of their belonging in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

When a child moves into the home, staff and managers take great care to ensure they know the child well. This results in the child feeling welcomed and confident in the care they will receive. Staff regularly spend time with the child and explore their feelings and emotions. This helps to develop strong bonds between the child and staff. Regular discussions between the child and staff are creatively captured and displayed so the child knows their views are valued. Advocacy is also actively sought for the child, with a genuine wish to work towards their requests and to explore them with the child to aid their understanding when their requests may not be immediately possible. This further enhances the child’s sense of feeling listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Extensive preparation is also undertaken when a child moves out of the home. For example, one child made exceptional progress through the creative use of individualised aspirational quotes. These provided good motivation for the child. Staff and managers took great care to ensure that the child had a structure in place that met their needs for the future, increasing their resilience. Staff and leaders showed a high level of knowledge about the child’s need for additional time to process change and advocated for this through thorough planning with partner agencies. This resulted in a positive move from the home, celebrating the child’s achievements and relationships. Consideration of the impact on both staff’s and the child’s wellbeing remained the priority.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff ensure the child knows they are always kept in mind through the staff writing them letters when they are away from the home. The child’s preferences are well understood by staff. Activities are tailored to meet the child’s needs to show them they are valued, such as cooking favourite foods to show nurture and care and to create a bond with staff. Consistent care has built respect, engagement and understanding of boundaries, making the child feel safe, with strong relationships formed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are aspirational for the child’s education. They are responsive to the needs of the child, resulting in the child feeling supported to engage in education with the support of staff. Managers and staff are strong advocates for the child to ensure that education is provided in a manner that shows understanding of the child’s learning style. Consequently, the child fully engages with education, and this helps to develop their confidence. Staff and leaders celebrate the child’s achievements using a positive praise book, and they have an excellent understanding of the child’s strengths. Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 4

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

Medication is safely stored. The manager has obtained additional advice from health professionals to support the child with understanding their mental health medications and the impact of taking them. Additional time and support have been provided to allow the child to explore their medications, balancing the manager’s desire to provide increased autonomy while supporting the child to feel respected and to build trust in what professionals feel is in their best interests.

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

Staff respond calmly and confidently if the child causes harm to themselves. Additional training has been provided to enhance staff’s knowledge and skills in response to some forms of self-harm. As a result, the child has been kept safe. Understanding how the child may show they are struggling to manage their feelings is closely monitored by staff, with a high level of detail. Staff spend time with the child to explore their feelings, and further insight is gained through time spent with a psychotherapist, who regularly visits the home. Staff also spend time reflecting and learning from time spent with the child, and there is a great depth of analysis, which shows staff’s and leaders’ drive to continue to provide attuned care.

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

If the child goes missing from the home, all attempts are made by staff to find them quickly. Information about the child is kept under constant review so that staff and external agencies have all the required information to locate the child and bring them home safely. Staff constantly reinforce the message to the child that they understand them and want them to be safe. The staff provide the child with high levels of care, nurture and support. There is consistent communication between the child and staff during times the child is away from the home, and staff provide reassurance to the child.

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

The safety of the child and staff is ensured through rigorous planning in respect of specific risks associated with the child. The staff employ creative methods, such as reading stories and engaging the child in further learning to embed what is understood by the child about their specific risks. The child has spent time with staff finding methods to explore their emotions, resulting in a reduction in risk, with the child and others now safer.

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

Where a child has needed to be physically held, this has been done with confidence and care to ensure their safety. Staff deepen their understanding of the child through detailed recording and reflection following incidents. Time is spent with the child following times of distress, ensuring they are nurtured and showing them they are cared for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff say that they ‘enjoy working at the home’. They say they feel ‘well supported and valued by the manager’. The manager is universally praised by professionals for her advocacy for the child. Her consistent presence in the home results in strong leadership Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 5 of a stable, confident team whose members are unified in their approaches to caring for the child. External professionals and parents are positive about the impact the manager’s and staff’s relationships have had on the child, with significant progress made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff training is comprehensive, and learning is organised and well focused to provide the child with very good and safe care. The staff feel confident in providing care for the child because they are well trained, supported and organised. Additional training is sought by the manager to ensure that child-specific needs are met to a high level. Staff development has also focused on understanding grief and loss, and the staff have been supported to reflect on their current practice using theoretical approaches to guide their care practice. This has provided a greater depth of understanding for staff to enable them to have insight into the child’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff and leadership team meet regularly and spend time together, with an open culture of reflection and learning. Staff feel able to contribute and listened to, leading to them feeling a valued member of the team who is invested in the home. Reflections on how to move forward in areas of learning unify them in their care of the child, ensuring consistent and predictable attuned care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager spends time with staff regularly, both planned and targeted. Following incidents, learning is reflected upon individually and as a team, with confidence being instilled by the manager through their leadership. Staff wellbeing is actively planned for, with additional time and focus to support self-care, resulting in a stable team whose members are resilient in their care of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has effective systems to monitor the quality of care provided and pays attention to detail, ensuring reflection on areas of good care practice and areas for development. All documentation is thorough and corresponds to provide a depth of knowledge, providing insight into the child’s experiences and current care needs. There is analysis and learning from all incidents through oversight and reflection, ensuring that developing and progressive care is provided to the child. However, the manager has not ensured that Ofsted has received the quality of care review in a timely manner, and on one occasion the report did not meet the regulation. The manager had identified this oversight. Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 6

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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 review of quality of care standard is that the registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered manager intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home. 25 September Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 7 The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the review is provided to Ofsted in a timely manner and that the review complies with the regulation.

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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: 2612347 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Abbey Green Therapeutic Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 3 Mercia Court, Bingham, Nottingham NG13 8QX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Bethany Sutherland

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Inspector

Rebecca Barker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2612347 9 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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