Children's Home run by Rising Star Homes Limited in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 1 Registered provider: Rising Star Homes 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 home is owned by a private provider. The home provides care for 2 children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were 2 children living in the home. Both children were spoken to.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2024. The deputy manager and responsible individual supported the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 29 September 2025

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/09/2025 Full Good 12/06/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 3

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Summary of findings

Children say they do not feel safe in the home. Leaders and staff do not work in line with the home’s ethos and statement of purpose, which has led to children being at risk of significant harm. Staff are not adequately trained to care for children and are not professionally curious when children are at risk. Managers have poor oversight and do not record crucial information in risk management plans. Leaders have not adequately assessed or mitigated vulnerabilities when moving children into the home. Children have been at risk of immediate harm and appropriate actions by staff were not taken.

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Summary of findings

Ofsted has issued compliance notices under regulation 12 and 13 and has restricted the accommodation due to these failings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not provide a comfortable or nurturing home environment and children say they do not feel safe. Staff do not support children to keep their bedrooms to an appropriate standard, and one child said, ‘Staff do not care about me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A note written by the child, detailing their struggle with emotional wellbeing, was not explored directly with them. Staff lack professional curiosity when children experience emotional decline, and this leads to ineffective support being put in place for children. Risk management plans have not been updated with significant information, leaving a lack of oversight for staff to adequately manage the child’s emotional wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s meetings are increasing in frequency and the detail capturing their views is improving. Children are encouraged to plan their activities and meals for the week. However, children’s attendance has been low, and meetings have been used to discuss matters relating to children’s education attendance and their struggles with independence rather than gaining their views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have failed to respond to children’s behaviour to keep them safe. There has been an overreliance on police to manage children’s behaviour, which has led to children being arrested. Staff do not attend the police station as appropriate adults and, when children are released, staff do not ensure that they have the correct information from the police on any conditions in place or further appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are encouraged to participate in a range of activities and experiences away from the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 4

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

Meetings held with the local authority after children move into the home to gather information necessary to their care are not recorded. This compromises staff’s ability to understand risks, respond consistently and implement effective safeguarding strategies. The registered manager attended a meeting to ‘map out’ known associates of a child. However, these were not recorded and shared with the team, which means that staff do not know who may pose a risk to the child.

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

Risk management plans are not in line with local authority plans. Children’s plans lack clear oversight of their current vulnerabilities and do not detail significant safeguarding details. On one occasion, an anonymous email was sent to the responsible individual with details of a child’s movements. This was not documented or included in any written plans. This fails to support staff to remain aware of escalating and emerging vulnerabilities for the child.

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

Children were placed at immediate risk when a fire was identified. Physical restraint to ensure the children’s safety was not used due to poor staffing arrangements. Internal documents state the children were left inside the property while the fire continued. On another occasion, an unknown older child had been in the home for a substantiated time without staff awareness. When the child was known to be in the building, there was a significant delay in the relevant authorities being contacted and staff did not complete a room check until the authorities arrived. This placed the children at risk of harm.

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

Key-work sessions are not proactive. Difficult conversations regarding exploitation are held with the children and written to the child in a non-blaming manner. However, consistency in reflection with children on incidents and day-to-day activities is varied. During one conversation, a staff member encouraged a child with high exploitation risks that an unknown male would be a ‘good match’ for the child.

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

Children are not informed of bedroom searches. When items of concern are found, these are not recorded, and conversations with the child do not regularly take place. One child said in relation to when their bedroom is searched, ‘Staff don’t tell me. This annoys me.’ Staff are not professionally curious with children and lack insight into safeguarding.

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

Substances found in room searches are stored in the cellar. These can be stored up to a week without a clear understanding of where they are kept, or when they will be disposed of. There is no documentation of what substances are being held on the property or in the disposal log.

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

Staff have failed to ensure that children have accessed appropriate support and services to keep them safe from substance misuse. When bedroom searches are completed and substances are found, these are removed. However, support for substance use is not implemented. Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management monitoring and oversight of the quality of care that children receive is ineffective. There has been a lack of consistent management oversight, which has left children at continued risk of harm. There is no culture of curiosity, learning and development for staff and challenge of poor practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to adequately consider and assess the dynamics and impact of children’s similar vulnerabilities when children move into the home, and do not robustly assess risks. Children at high risk of exploitation have been placed together without a thorough plan on how these risks will be mitigated. Children’s social workers have not been given correct information when children are considered to move into the home. This has led to professionals not understanding the risks and how to support the children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that the location of the home has been adequately assessed. The risk management plan completed by the registered manager is limited in detail and includes the children having personalised behavioural support plans to manage risks. However, plans these have not been implemented.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The independent person has failed to gain feedback from the children’s networks. Despite this being a previous requirement, there is inconsistent consultation and triangulation with professionals and family members, which has not been addressed or escalated by senior leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff receive regular supervision. This has limited effective support, challenge and oversight of practice. Consequently, staff have not been able to build consistent, meaningful relationships with children, thus affecting children’s ability to develop trust and feel emotionally secure in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have no effective oversight for staff training and development. A large proportion of staff do not hold the relevant qualification. The home’s ethos is to deliver care in line with a therapeutic approach. However, not all staff have completed this training as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Staff do not have adequate skills and training to manage behaviours, which has led to an increase in police intervention for the children, leading to children being criminalised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Team meetings are varied. While staff benefit from external therapeutic input and reflection on children’s needs, actions from these meetings are not completed. This limits the learning and insight for staff. Team meetings are not held consistently and records of these are of poor quality. Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 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—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and 30 July 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 7 that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to meet children’s needs, and that staff receive learning to support children with substance misuse.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that risk management plans contain all relevant information, and that staffing ratios reflect children’s needs.

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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

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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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; 30 July 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 8 demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to deliver the home’s ethos and statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff have obtained the relevant Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare in the required timescales.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that there is effective monitoring and oversight of the quality-of-care children receive and take action when needed, including when children move into the home.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that supervision is completed in line with the statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the review of premises reflects any risks in the community that may affect the staff’s ability to care for children safely. The review should include any strategies to minimise risks.

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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

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 30 July 2026

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 9

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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: 2752707 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rising Star Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 134 Lillington Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 6LN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Hazvinei Manyonga

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Inspectors

Louisa West, Social Care Inspector Dan Griffin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2752707 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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