Children's Home run by Gracebridge Care in Birmingham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 1 Registered provider: Gracebridge Care

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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 privately owned and provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children are living at the home at the time of the inspection. All children shared their views with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2025 and is suitably experienced. She is currently working towards the relevant childcare qualification.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/07/2025 Full Good 08/07/2024 Full Good 31/08/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/09/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making good progress as a result of the high level of care and support they receive. They benefit from clear routines that support them to attend school and engage in activities they enjoy. This creates a calm and purposeful atmosphere within the home.

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Summary of findings

Strong, trusting relationships have been built between the children and the manager and staff. This promotes a clear sense of belonging and stability. The manager and staff know how to keep children safe. They speak with genuine warmth and care about the children. This helps the children feel increasingly safe and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy living in the home. They say they feel cared for and they would not change anything. One child said, ‘Staff understand me. This is the best home I have been in.’ The manager and staff team have developed trusting relationships with the children. This has helped them to gain a sense of belonging and stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home, and no children have moved out. Children’s moves are well planned. Children can visit the home beforehand, and daily routines are also explained to them. Thoughtful touches like welcome baskets are also provided. This helps to reduce uncertainty for children in a time of change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have fun and benefit from a wide range of activities and experiences, such as trips to theme parks and zoos. A recent holiday abroad has sparked a new interest in travel for the children, which is being supported by the staff team. Experiences have created lifelong childhood memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend school and are making academic progress. Staff encourage children to achieve, and they help them to overcome any barriers to their learning. One child is receiving additional tuition at home, which is supporting their individualised learning needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are healthy. Partnership working with specialist services is strong. This ensures that children’s individual complex health needs are met. One child has a fear of visiting the dentist. Arrangements were made for a dentist to visit the home to help the child to overcome their fear. This child-sensitive approach makes children feel their health and wellbeing are a priority.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like their home, which is warm and welcoming, featuring personalised touches and children’s photographs on display. However, some signage detracts from the overall homely feel. In addition, staff do not always get the balance right between encouraging children’s independence and maintaining clean bedrooms. The issues with the cleanliness Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 4 of bedrooms were addressed during the inspection. Furthermore, bedroom door alarms are not reviewed so as to ensure that they continue to be appropriate.

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

Children say they feel safe in the home and can speak to staff if they are worried or upset. As part of care planning, the manager makes sure staff have the skills and knowledge to meet children’s needs. For example, training to support children who harm themselves in times of crisis is provided. This is a good safety net for the children.

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

Staff know how to keep children safe and are supported in doing so by clear and detailed plans. When children go missing, the responses are well coordinated with other safeguarding agencies to support a safe return home. Staff listen to the children to understand the reasons why they leave the home. As a result, incidents of children going missing from care have reduced and children are safer.

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

Staff work with children to help them understand how to be safe. These conversations are informed by research. Children are increasingly safe, and they are better able to communicate and manage their feelings.

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

Children know how to raise concerns. The manager responds seriously to allegations. Information is shared with the appropriate professionals to avoid delay and protect children from harm. Staff informed a child about the outcome of an allegation, but this was not recorded, and therefore, it is not known whether the child knew the outcome before the staff member returned to work. This may have led to the child feeling uncomfortable, leading to reluctance to make future allegations.

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

Physical intervention has been used on three occasions and staff are generally skilled in de-escalating situations. Following one incident, the manager identified that a staff member did not follow the child’s plan, which led to the child being held. This enabled learning to improve staff practice.

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

Safeguarding incidents are rare and generally well managed. However, on one occasion, the staff’s response to a child who hurt themselves was not sufficient. Although plans were followed, staff were not creative in their approach to preventing a second incident from occurring in quick succession.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a confident and organised leader. Children like the manager and speak about her with genuine fondness. The manager is an active presence in the home. She has high aspirations for the children and is committed to supporting their progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is supported by a dedicated deputy manager and staff team. Staff say their training is good and report that regular supervision provides opportunities for reflection. The staff feel valued and well supported by their manager and enjoy working at the Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 5 home. One staff member said, ‘I love it here; I really love the young people.’ Children are cared for by a team of staff who are knowledgeable and committed to helping children progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable, with no vacancies and good retention since the last inspection. There was a temporary period of high agency use to meet the specific needs of the home for a period of time. The presence of a consistent core team meant there was no negative impact on the children during this time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management oversight is mostly effective, with monitoring systems identifying and driving continuous improvement. However, the home’s independent visitor does not consistently speak with the children. This shortfall has not been identified by the management team. This impacts on children’s ability to share their wishes, feelings and views with someone who is independent of the home. Leaders gave assurance that they will address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff maintain positive relationships with children’s family members. Feedback from professionals and family members is positive, and particular strengths are noted as communication and children’s progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 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 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- that staff-

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff are able to support children effectively in times of crisis. 22 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the independent visitor regularly speaks to children during their visits. 22 May 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing environment that meets the needs of the children. The home should maintain cleaner bedrooms and maintain a homely rather than institutional environment, specifically in relation to fire safety signs and regularly reviewing the need for bedroom door alarms. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that when children make allegations, they are informed of the outcome before the member of staff concerned returns to work. This is to help with any reconciliation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 4.3) Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 8

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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: 2644474 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arden Lodge, 946 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham B27 6QG

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Inspectors

Emma Hutton, Social Care Inspector Louise Naylor, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2644474 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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