Children's Home run by Agape4All Limited in Enfield

Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 1 Registered provider: Agape4All 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

This privately run children's home provides care for up to 3 children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The home registered with Ofsted in October 2025. The registered manager left the role in December 2025 but has not submitted the required notification to Ofsted. An interim manager is currently in post until a suitable permanent manager is recruited.

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Information about this children's home

There were 3 children living at the home at the time of this inspection. The inspector spoke with 2 children.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 2

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Summary of findings

Poor leadership and management underpin the shortfalls identified in this home. Leaders' ineffective oversight of staff training and supervision weakens their ability to consistently assure the quality-of-care that children receive.

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Summary of findings

The responsible individual has not established or sustained a positive organisational culture that promotes staff confidence, professional challenge or reflective discussion.

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Summary of findings

Leadership instability has further limited leaders' ability to understand how well the home is operating or to sustain improvement. Consequently, positive practice is not consistently strengthened or embedded across the home.

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Summary of findings

Despite these weaknesses, staff remain committed to children and work hard to build positive, trusting relationships with them. Children benefit from nurturing and attentive care from staff, feel listened to and receive reassurance and encouragement to engage in education, activities and daily routines.

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improvement to be good

Children are cared for by nurturing and committed staff who focus on meeting their individual needs. Despite weaknesses in leadership, staff work well together to provide children with a sense of stability and belonging. Relationships between staff and children are mostly warm and positive, which help to create a homely and supportive environment.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the importance of listening to children and advocating on their behalf. Children are encouraged to share their views, wishes and feelings, and staff take these into account in their day ‑ to ‑ day care. This helps children to feel valued and respected.

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improvement to be good

Children make some progress from their individual starting points. Staff support children to attend education and develop routines that promote stability. When children experience difficulties, staff provide reassurance and encouragement. This helps children to build confidence and resilience over time.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to access activities and experiences that support their social development and emotional wellbeing. One parent said that their child is well looked after, has activities to take part in and experiences stability in the home.

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improvement to be good

Although children make some progress from their individual starting points, this progress is largely dependent on the commitment and persistence of individual staff, rather than being secured through effective leadership and governance. Current leadership Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 3 arrangements have not established a coherent or consistent leadership approach capable of underpinning and strengthening practice across the home over time.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond appropriately when children experience difficulties. They work calmly to reduce risk and provide reassurance when children are distressed. Staff seek to understand children's needs and experiences, which supports children to feel secure and safe.

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improvement to be good

Children receive care from attentive staff, which helps them to feel safe. Staff understand children's individual risks and take action to manage these. As a result, children feel protected.

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improvement to be good

Staff work with other professionals to safeguard children and share relevant information when needed. This helps to ensure that children receive coordinated support. Positive relationships between staff and children mean that children are more likely to seek help and guidance when they need it.

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improvement to be good

Staff generally take appropriate action when children are away from the home, including maintaining contact and working to support their safe return. However, on one occasion, the responsible individual had not ensured that staff had timely access to the resources they needed, including funds to arrange transport. As a result, a child was unable to return home promptly. This highlights a weakness in leadership oversight of safeguarding arrangements.

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improvement to be good

Despite the positive work of individual staff, safeguarding arrangements are weakened by shortcomings in leadership and management. Leaders have not ensured that staff consistently receive appropriate training or sufficiently robust supervision to support safe and effective practice, which means that some staff feel unsupported in their roles.

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improvement to be good

Under the leadership of the responsible individual, the culture in the home has not consistently supported staff confidence, openness or shared understanding of expectations. Several staff describe feeling unsettled by comments made by the responsible individual, which has contributed to uncertainty within the staff team. As a result, opportunities for professional challenge, open communication and reflective discussion about safeguarding children are limited. Although these weaknesses have not placed children at immediate risk of harm, they reduce the overall effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and increase the risk that emerging concerns may not be identified or addressed promptly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management of the home are ineffective and do not provide sufficient assurance that staff are supported, skilled and able to meet children's needs consistently. Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 4 The responsible individual, who is also a director of the organisation, has not provided clear or reliable leadership. There is a lack of effective oversight of staff training, and conflicting information was shared about staff training arrangements. This lack of clarity limits leaders' understanding of staff competence and weakens assurance that staff have the knowledge and skills needed to keep children safe and well supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Oversight of staff practice is weak. Supervision does not take place regularly or consistently in line with the provider's statement of purpose. The quality and recording of supervision vary depending on who carries it out. This limits reflective discussion, professional support and challenge, and reduces leaders' ability to understand how staff experiences and practice affect children's care and safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff who are expected to complete sleep ‑ in duties sometimes need to remain awake for sustained periods to support the safety and wellbeing of children. This reflects staff commitment to children. However, when this happens, the responsible individual has not set clear expectations about rest or revised the working arrangements. These shortcomings place additional pressure on staff and increase the risk of workforce instability, which affects the consistency and quality of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not being led or managed in line with its statement of purpose, which sets out the culture that the home intends to promote, the care it aims to provide for children, and how staff practice should develop to support this. This key document has not been kept under review or shared with the regulator following changes in key staff, including leadership arrangements. As a result, there is a lack of clarity and consistency about how the home's values are translated into day ‑ to ‑ day practice, further limiting leaders' ability to provide children with stable, well ‑ planned care that reflects the home's intended purpose. Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 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 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;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders must ensure that staff are able to return children home at the earliest opportunity, are provided with the facilities and systems needed to support this and review the culture created by the responsible individual, which may be limiting staff's confidence to raise concerns effectively. 15 May 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 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home's statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 15 May 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 6 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;

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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) (2)(a)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children's home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b)) 15 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children's home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character. (Regulation 26 (1) (5)(a) (7)(b)) 15 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c)) 15 May 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 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: 2838361 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 8 Gloucester House, Stratfield Road, Borehamwood WD6 1NX

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Inspector

Thobekile Bandama, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2838361 9 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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