Children's Home run by Juventas Services in Norfolk

Inspection report children's home: 2708784 1 Registered provider: Juventas Services

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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 provider. It offers care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. Two children were living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The manager left the home in March 2026. A new manager is yet to be appointed.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: 9 December 2025

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2708784 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/12/2025 Full Inadequate 18/02/2025 Full Good 12/12/2023 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2708784 3

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Summary of findings

Since the last inspection, improvements have been made. Although there are some areas of strength, there are further improvements necessary to ensure children receive good care. Staff have made improvements to keep children safer, and as a result incidents have reduced. Children have started to engage in education, and relationships between children and staff are improving. However, several shortfalls remain that limit children's overall experiences. Leaders and managers have plans in place to address the shortfalls.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the two children continue to live at the home and were seen and spoken to as part of this inspection. Children's experiences have improved since the last inspection however, further improvements are still required.

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improvement to be good

At the last inspection, children were rarely engaging in education. One child is more frequently working with a tutor for up to 4 hours a week. It is not clear what other opportunities staff are providing to offer the child other learning and development opportunities. One child used to attend a mainstream school fulltime however, their attendance is now sporadic. Professionals highlighted that there is no clear routine in place from staff to support this child's attendance at school.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not consistently rewarding children or helping them to develop their self esteem through their achievements. Children are not routinely praised, and staff do not regularly record their achievements to acknowledge progress over time. This does not help children to build a sense of positive regard for themselves.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not effectively planning children's free time. Weekly activities and the school holidays are not clearly planned or documented by staff. Although children had some activities during the Easter holidays, other weeks had little beyond seeing their families. This is not helping children to spend time with staff or frequently engage in positive activities in their community. In addition, the lack of recording means that children's progress and activities over time are lost.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to explore healthy eating choices. One child has joined a gym and has regularly attended gym classes with staff. This is helping the child to build positive self esteem and make healthy lifestyle choices. However, incentives for one child to attend school have been rewards of a fast-food breakfast each day. This is not helping the child to make healthy food or lifestyle choices.

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improvement to be good

The home is not yet well maintained. Despite some homely decor and pictures of children some areas require maintenance and are not clean or in good condition. This does not help children to feel the space in and around their home is valued. There are Inspection report children's home: 2708784 4 several areas outside the home that require maintenance and making safe again following some damage to fences. The garden is overgrown and there are miscellaneous broken or unused items awaiting disposal.

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improvement to be good

Staff are appropriately supporting both children to spend time with their families. Both children now spend frequent time with their families, helping them to maintain important relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not have clear boundaries and routines for children. Children's day-to-day routines are not consistent. The children are spending large amounts of time in bed, or in their bedroom and not consistently engaging with social or other structured activities such as education.

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improvement to be good

At the last inspection, staff were not effectively managing children's behaviour. Staff are not yet confident to challenge some behaviour or provide boundaries for children. Staff are reluctant to use the front door as this disturbs a child at night, however this approach also remains in place during the day. This supports the child to spend more time in bed during the day.

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improvement to be good

Children have not needed to be held since the last inspection. However, it is not clear if all staff have completed the relevant training or refreshed this. This training also considers ways in which staff can explore positive behaviour with children. It is therefore not clear if all staff have the relevant training and skills required to support children in the home's behavioural approach.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, incidents with children have reduced. Children have less frequently been missing from home or taken risks in their community. Staff are more clearly recording the steps they are taking to support children to keep safe. Staff make clear recordings about how they search for children if they do go missing from home and include when they are communicating with the police and local authority to help ensure children are safeguarded. Staff speak with children's parents to help coordinate their responses if children are away from the home. This is helping staff to return children home sooner and keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

A parent said they are now happier with their child's experiences at the home and said staff have worked hard to improve their relationships with their child. This is helping children to build more positive relationships with staff again.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Inspection report children's home: 2708784 5 Since the last full inspection, the manager left in March 2026. As an interim measure the new responsible individual is acting as manager. Senior leaders are exploring recruitment options for a new manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the responsible individual has shared monitoring tools for leaders to better track children's progress and achievements. These tools are now being used by the deputy manager to better understand children. However, this is recent and the effectiveness of this monitoring is still to be seen. Some tracking tools are not yet effective in helping leaders and managers. For instance, the training record for staff remains unclear, with gaps for several staff. Another document is being developed to track staff training but is incomplete. This does not help leaders and managers to understand staff's skills and development needs at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Communication with professionals and family has been inconsistent. Some provided negative feedback about communication from staff at the home which did not help external professionals or family members to understand children's experiences. In recent weeks this has improved, but this is not yet consistent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Most staff have or are working towards a relevant qualification within the required time frame. One member of staff is now outside of the requisite time frame. Leaders have not monitored this effectively to enable a timely response. A risk assessment is now in place to mitigate this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have received regular supervision sessions since the last inspection. A staff member said they have felt well supported by the responsible individual and senior leaders at times of change. Team meetings are now taking place fortnightly, and the responsible individual is communicating consistently to staff about areas of improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

It has been a time of challenge at the home following an inadequate judgement in December 2025. Despite this challenge the staff team has remained stable. This has allowed for continuity of staff with children to maintain relationships. Inspection report children's home: 2708784 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 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

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child

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Requirement Due date

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)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(h)) 31 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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 June 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2708784 7 meet each child's behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children's home's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children's needs and supports them 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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii)) 31 May 2026

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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

support each child's learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; 31 May 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2708784 8 understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child's education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child's education and training and to maximise the child's achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child's education or training provider and the child's placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child's relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(x))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home's staff recognise and celebrate the achievements of their children. In particular, staff should clearly record the positive praise and rewards offered to the child and show how this contributes to the child's achievements and progress. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 31, paragraph 6.7)  The registered person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities inside and outside of the home (where appropriate) and are encouraged to participate in those activities. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 31, paragraph 6.5)  The registered person should have a key role in seeking to develop the home's effective working relationships with each child's placing authority and with other relevant persons which may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies,

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Recommendations

organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community. In particular, ensure there is effective communication with family and professionals to ensure children's needs are met. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 52, paragraph 10.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand key areas of health and well-being Inspection report children's home: 2708784 9 such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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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: 2708784 10

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Haines Watts Chartered Accountants Ltd, Yare House, 62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich NR1 1RY

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Inspector

Rebecca Hannell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2708784 11 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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