Children's Home run by Alpha Care Service in Essex

Inspection report for children's home: 2870074 1 Registered provider: Alpha Care Service

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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 registered with Ofsted in February 2026 and is operated by a private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

It provides care for up to 3 children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2026.

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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2870074 2

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Summary of findings

Staff are well trained, which supports their understanding of children’s needs. Children have individualised plans that help staff to support them. Children are making progress with their education. Leaders and managers are knowledgeable and want to continue to improve the quality of care provided. The children’s views are not always sought after incidents, and this is an area for improvement. Overall, the children receive a good level of care and support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living at the home. The inspector spoke with all 3 children during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use an individualised approach with children and know them well. This helps the staff to build positive relationships. Staff are committed to supporting children and are dedicated to their roles.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is bright, spacious and has a large garden. It is nicely decorated. Children’s bedrooms are a good size and are decorated to their tastes. The children have a study and games room that is well designed to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to achieve and learn. All 3 children are enrolled in education. For one child, there has been a significant improvement in their school attendance since they moved to the home. Staff and managers have provided additional support for another child who is completing their exams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff provide regular key-work and targeted learning sessions that cover relevant topics. They use positive incentives to encourage children to take part in these sessions. These helpful sessions provide children with space to share any concerns and work to find solutions. For one child, key-work sessions have supported them to understand the risks of going missing from home, and this has had a positive impact on reducing these risks. Key-work sessions have supported children in a range of helpful areas, such as healthy relationships, online safety and safe boundaries.

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

Children’s vulnerabilities are identified and understood by staff. This helps staff to support children. One child has a plan in place to support their online safety and mobile usage. Staff use this plan well to support the child. This has helped to keep the child safe. Inspection report for children's home: 2870074 3 There is a clear plan for when children go missing from the home. On a few occasions, one child has gone missing after being out in the community. Staff have followed the missing-from-home procedure. Follow-up conversations take place, and children are given good guidance and care.

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

Positive behaviour is encouraged through incentive charts, which children embrace. Children are able to build up their independent time in the community, which shows their positive progress. Staff use consequences at times to help children to think about negative behaviour. However, consequences have not always been reviewed by the manager, and children’s views are also not sought. This does not help children to understand why consequences are imposed.

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

Staff use de-escalation techniques when needed. When physical interventions have taken place, these are proportionate and used to support the children’s safety. However, children have not always been spoken to in a timely manner after physical interventions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well managed. The manager is professional, knowledgeable and reflective. Leaders and managers have identified areas of strength and weakness at the home and have plans in place to make changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a good learning culture at the home. Staff have received a variety of training suited to children’s individual needs. Staff said that they have access to additional training and support when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions, allowing them space to express any concerns, look at their training and development and discuss the children and their needs. This helps to support consistent staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Several members of staff have provided positive feedback about working at the home, saying that they work in a ‘great environment’, that they feel supported and listened to and that they have a sense of belonging in the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are implementing a new online system for record-keeping, and there have been some challenges with the paperwork for some staff. Leaders and managers have addressed this in team meetings. However, there are inconsistent daily records that are not always clear and detailed. Inspection report for children's home: 2870074 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, staff should include more detail in the daily records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’,

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Recommendations

page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control and discipline are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and to ensure that the principles set out in paragraph 9.35 of the Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations are respected.(‘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: 2870074 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit D, 17 Plumbers Row, London E1 1EQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Willis

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Inspector

Abby Lynch, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2870074 6 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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