Children's Home run by WiNurture Childcare Limited in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report children's home: 2700591 1 Registered provider: Winurture Childcare Limited

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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 and managed by a private company. It offers care for up to 4 children who have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2026.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 4 children were living in the home and contributed to the inspection.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding Inspection report children's home: 2700591 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/07/2024 Full Outstanding 06/03/2024 Full Outstanding 17/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2700591 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a warm, nurturing and welcoming environment that reflects a family atmosphere. Children who live in the home are happy, settled and content in their home surroundings. Staff support children to develop trusting, nurturing relationships with adults. Staff understand children’s past experiences and recognise how they influence their behaviours and needs. Staff respond to children with compassion and consistency, promoting their emotional safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with a wide range of opportunities to engage in activities both in and outside of the home. Staff promote children’s integration within the local community including volunteering for local charities. Staff help children to develop their own interests and experience important ‘firsts’, supporting their social development and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to develop positive and sustainable links with children’s families, often breaking down barriers for families who have previously experienced this. Staff support and promote family time that is meaningful for both children and their family members. Parents and relatives say that they feel welcomed and comfortable when they visit the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to positively re-engage with education after they have experienced long periods of time away from learning. Staff work closely with education providers and professionals to ensure that children receive encouragement and guidance to make positive progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure children have access to specialist services to support their individual needs, including therapeutic support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers consider the suitability of children coming to live at the home by completing thorough assessment, ensuring that the child’s needs and risks are carefully considered. Leaders and managers strongly advocate for children when they are struggling to live within the home environment safely. For these children, staff have supported them to have well-planned, positive endings to living at the home. Staff maintain positive relationships with children after they move out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to navigate challenges in their peer relationships. Staff adopt a restorative approach, encouraging children to resolve conflicts positively and learn from their experiences.

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

Staff respond to children’s behaviours in line with children’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities. Risk assessments and support plans are not consistently updated in line Inspection report children's home: 2700591 4 with one another and in response to incidents. This leads to ambiguity in staff’s understanding of children’s safety plans, with staff reporting their uncertainty in responding to children’s specific risks.

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

When children go missing from home, staff follow children’s individual missing protocols and support a co-ordinated approach with partner agencies. However, staff lack curiosity when speaking to children in response to concerns relating to exploitation risks.

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

Staff encourage positive risk-taking where appropriate. Staff balance children’s developing independence with their assessed risks, supporting them to make safe choices and understand how to keep themselves safe. Staff monitor and respond to online risks appropriately, helping children to stay safe when using online devices independently.

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

Door alarms are in use in the home on children’s bedroom doors and the external doors. There are currently no review mechanisms in place for monitoring if they are still required or what the rationale for continuing their use is.

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

Leaders and managers respond appropriately to allegations in line with statutory guidance, ensuring the safety of both children and staff.

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

Staff use physical intervention appropriately and proportionately to ensure children and adults safety. Management oversight of such incidents does not evaluate the effectiveness and any consequences to the measure used. Additionally, whilst staff speak to children after the incident, they are not spoken to about the measure used.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive positive support from the manager and note the improvements to supervision quality since she has been in role. The manager promotes aspirational care to children and leads by example. The manager has also reflected on identified areas for improvement and is in the process of creating plans on how to address these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have developed positive working relationships with safeguarding partners and wider community services. This work has empowered children to integrate within their local community and for the local community to embrace the children who live in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Where children’s plans require additional input or action from partner agencies, leaders and managers escalate concerns appropriately. They challenge and advocate for children effectively to ensure that children receive the support and services they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider’s statement of purpose does not reflect all information required by regulation, additionally, the use of door alarms on children’s bedrooms is not accurately reflected within the statement of purpose. Inspection report children's home: 2700591 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure risk assessments and support plans are updated to reflect changes to children's risks and following incidents.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure staff take opportunities to use curiosity when speaking to children in response to incidents and safeguarding concerns.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure the statement of purpose reflects all information as set out in Schedule 1. 27 May 2026

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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

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; 25 March 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2700591 6 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)(vii)(c))

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Recommendation

 Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child's access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child's welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child's needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. In particular, ensure there is a system in place to assess and review the appropriateness of bedroom door alarms. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: 2700591 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Winurture Childcare Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 40 Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5BA

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Inspectors

Chloe Harvey, Social care inspector Siobhan Holmes, Social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 2700591 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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