Children's Home, Residential special school run by Amberleigh Care Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 1 SC448209

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Registered provider: Amberleigh Care 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 operated by a private company and provides specialist therapeutic care for up to 14 boys.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2020 and is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

The provider also has a school on the same site, which provides education for children.

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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: SC448209 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/07/2025 Full Good 04/06/2024 Full Good 24/10/2023 Full Good 09/11/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 3

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Summary of findings

The manager and staff support children well. All children attend education, and staff advocate effectively to help them achieve the best possible outcomes. Staff promote children’s health needs consistently and ensure they receive appropriate support. Children say they enjoy living in the home and feel safe. The home’s in-house therapeutic team provides effective guidance to staff. Staff use this guidance to embed the therapeutic model into their day-to-day practice. This ensures a consistent, structured and child-centred approach that promotes children’s safety, stability and emotional wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, 7 children have moved into the home, and 6 children have moved out of the home. At the time of the inspection, 12 children are living in the home. All the children were present and spoke with the inspectors.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from thoughtful and well-planned introductions. The manager carefully assesses each child’s needs and potential risks to ensure children’s needs can be met. Staff visit children and provide information about the home, the staff team and the other children living there. This child-centred approach helps to prepare children for change, reduce anxieties and promote a sense of security and inclusion.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff organise children’s moves out of the home. The manager advocates well for children, working closely with external professionals to secure homes that are better suited to each child’s emerging needs. These actions demonstrate a clear commitment to addressing complex needs effectively and minimising potential harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are involved in their day-to-day care. They are encouraged to make choices and express their views. Staff and in-house clinicians work closely with children to help them understand their individual risks and how to manage and minimise them safely. Children are supported to develop their understanding of safe decision-making and are encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their own wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend the provider’s in-house school, where staff actively support them to engage in their education. All children access education, and staff work in partnership with education professionals to ensure that children receive consistent support. Staff encourage children to attend, participate and make progress in line with their abilities and personal learning plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from access to a wide variety of new opportunities and fun activities. Their interests are nurtured and they are encouraged to try new things. For example, children enjoy attending concerts and festivals, as well as participating in sporting Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 4 activities, such as rugby and golf. One child said, ‘I love sports games; we have lots of fun.’ Each child has a personalised book full of photos of activities and memorable times.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spend time with their families and other people who are important to them. Staff support children to contribute to decisions about these arrangements and actively seek their views. This helps children remain connected to those who are significant in their lives.

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

Children form strong, trusting relationships with staff. Children feel safe in the home and have confidence in the staff who care for them.

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

Staff respond promptly when children go missing from the home. They follow missing from-home protocols, actively search for the children, and work closely with the local police. On return, children are welcomed warmly and with care. Staff provide emotional support and a safe space, helping them feel valued and reassured. They engage children in nurturing, non-judgemental conversations about the risks and dangers of going missing, focusing on helping them understand how to stay safe.

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

When children hurt themselves, staff respond with care and nurture. They seek medical advice when required and provide appropriate first aid. Through supportive conversations, staff help children to understand their thoughts and emotions. Where necessary, children are referred to specialist health professionals, and strategies are implemented to reduce the likelihood of further incidents.

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

Staff educate children about risks and how to stay safe through discussions and the use of educational online resources. For example, staff support children to navigate their online world safely by helping them understand the impact and consequences of using racist language. This helps children to understand risk, make safer choices and feel confident in reporting concerns.

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

Restraint is used as a last resort. When restraint is needed, staff speak with children to discuss the incident and provide support. However, staff are not consistently spoken to within the required regulatory timescales. Although these delays have not had a detrimental impact on children, they do not meet expected standards, and hinder timely reflection, and learning from the incidents.

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

Overall, staff manage complaints and allegations appropriately. However, professionals are not consistently informed of incidents within required timescales, including delays in notifications to Ofsted. This lack of timely communication undermines multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and prevents external partners from having the information they need to assess risk and respond effectively to safeguard children.

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

On one occasion staff did not demonstrate the skills to risk assess dynamically. As a result, the child accessed an unknown space without supervision and engaged in unsafe Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 5 behaviour that could have led to significant harm. There has been a full learning review following this incident to prevent this from happening again.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified; he is supported by two deputy managers. All the managers are child centred in their approach to providing care for children and want to deliver the best care and outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers support staff through practice-related supervisions. Reflective conversations about the children’s wellbeing and safeguarding are central to these discussions. The manager understands the importance of staff welfare. This helps to ensure that staff are well prepared and supported to give children the care they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff complete mandatory training. However, staff have not completed bespoke training to meet children’s individual needs. Although this has not had a detrimental impact, this has the potential to increase the risk of unsafe practice and does not ensure that children’s needs are consistently understood, assessed or met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers’ systems for monitoring and review do not consistently support effective oversight. For example, several gaps in record-keeping were identified. Following incidents, discussions with staff and professionals are not consistently documented, resulting in missed opportunities to improve practice and identify shortfalls effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working with external agencies and parents is good. A common thread in the feedback from them is that children are happy and have made good progress since coming to live in the home. One social worker said, ‘Staff are really involved with [Name of child], and there clearly is a lot of care.’ A parent also stated that staff have a positive impact on their child’s progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 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;

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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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that staff strengthen their ability to dynamically assess risk and ensure that children are consistently supervised and prevented from engaging in unsafe behaviours. 30 June 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—

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1) (2)(c)(h)) 30 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 7 This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that all staff have the necessary training to meet all children’s individual needs, and the managers’ monitoring systems are effective and robust.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff are spoken to following any physical intervention and within the required regulatory time frames. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: SC448209 8

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Amberleigh Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Amberleigh Care Ltd, Golfa Hall, Golfa, Welshpool, Powys SY21 9AF

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Inspectors

Jas Nahar, Social Care Inspector Siân Heffey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC448209 9 regulates 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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