Children's Home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033326 1 SC033326 Registered provider: Kirklees Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with both children.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since 16 September 2025. There is an interim manager in charge of the day-to-day running of the home, and they have applied to register with Ofsted.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 20 January 2026

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC033326 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/01/2026 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/08/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/10/2023 Full Inadequate 03/07/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC033326 3

p.2

Summary of findings

Children are making good progress and have positive relationships with staff. Staff know children well and provide care that meets their needs.

p.3

Summary of findings

Children are kept safe in the home and in the community. Staff are aware of any risks children face and work effectively to manage these. As a result, there are currently very few safeguarding concerns for children.

p.3

Summary of findings

The home remains without a registered manager. However, the interim manager has been a consistent presence and has effective oversight of children’s care. There are strong working relationships with parents and external professionals. Staff training and appraisals require further attention, as there are some gaps in these areas.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experienced instability and several moves before moving to the home. Since moving in, staff have provided them with much-needed security and a stable base. This has allowed children to make progress across many areas of their lives.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have positive relationships with children, based on trust and a strong understanding of their needs. Children respond well to this approach and go to staff for support if needed. These trusting relationships enable children to receive care that is individualised to their needs.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work effectively with teachers to support children’s education. Children regularly attend school, enjoy their learning, and have recently completed key stage exams. The strong support provided in this area ensures that children can enjoy and achieve in their education and are being helped to prepare for their transition to secondary school.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children during challenging periods in their lives. They show commitment and work with children to understand their journeys to date. This helps children to better understand their situation and feel less anxious about it.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are generally supported to maintain their health. Staff ensure that most of the children’s healthcare needs are met. However, there have been delays in accessing dental checks for children. This could mean that children experience dental issues that might otherwise be prevented.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is generally well maintained. However, a child’s bedroom and some communal areas are sparse and lack personalisation. This could lead to children feeling less valued and, over time, may affect their emotional wellbeing. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033326 4

p.3

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

The home is a safe environment, and children report feeling safe with staff. There have been no serious incidents, allegations or complaints. Children do not go missing from home and are not at risk of exploitation or other significant external risks. Any risks that children do face are well understood by staff.

p.4

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

Staff help children to stay safe online. They address unsafe social media and online activity. While this has presented some challenges, it has ultimately increased children’s safety and contributed to improving their emotional wellbeing.

p.4

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

Staff work closely with allocated mental health professionals to support children’s emotional wellbeing. These professionals visit the home and provide consultations to staff on issues such as attachment, compassionate care and promoting self-esteem. This helps to ensure that children receive emotionally attuned care that meets their therapeutic needs.

p.4

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

Staff have occasionally needed to search children’s rooms. Children were made aware of this, and the searches were necessary to keep them safe. However, some of these records lack detail and do not clearly outline the rationale for the searches.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The interim manager has been a consistent presence since the last inspection. He continues to hold 2 roles within the local authority but has adapted his responsibilities to allow him to dedicate more time to the home. This ensures a greater level of management oversight.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that there is sufficient staffing in the home. There is a mix of experience in the staff team, all of whom bring different knowledge and skills to their roles. Staff say that they are well supported by leaders and managers. This enables staff to provide a good quality of care for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work well with children’s families to support family time. They have recently advocated for changes to children’s family time plans. This has made it easier for children to see their parents and has improved the overall quality of time that they spend with people who are important to them.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some staff members do not have up-to-date training in areas such as safeguarding, first aid and medication awareness. This means that staff may lack the essential knowledge and skills required to provide safe and effective care for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with regular supervision sessions, which include opportunities for reflective discussions about the care they provide for children. However, not all staff have had annual appraisals of their practice. This means that the manager may not be able to maintain effective oversight of staff practice in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033326 5

p.4

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard requires the registered person to ensure—

p.5

Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10 (1) (2)(c)) 31 July 2026

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.5

Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

p.5

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(c)) 31 July 2026

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home provides children with a nurturing environment that is welcoming. Staff should support children to personalise their bedrooms and communal areas in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  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. Staff should record room search information in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about children must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

p.5

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: SC033326 6

p.5

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic 3, Market Street, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD1 2EY

p.6

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anna Westeman-Gledhill

p.6

Inspector

Jon Collins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC033326 7 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.

p.6

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7