Children's Home run by Second Nature Care Group Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 1 Registered provider: Second Nature Care Group Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children's home

The home registered with Ofsted in December 2024 and the manager registered in December 2025.

p.1

Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home and both were spoken to by the inspector.

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 requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/04/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 3

p.2

Summary of findings

Staff provide a stable and supportive environment for the children who live at this home. Children receive good-quality care from a committed team of staff who know them well and understand their individual needs and vulnerabilities. Children make positive progress from their starting points across a range of developmental areas and benefit from close and trusting relationships with staff.

p.3

Summary of findings

Management practice has negatively impacted on the quality of the care provided to children. Delays by managers in reporting incidents to the regulator have resulted in missed opportunities for appropriate regulatory oversight.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff speak positively about the children in their care and have aspirations for them. Relationship building is central to the ethos of the home. Staff develop good relationships with children and get to know their strengths, vulnerabilities, likes and dislikes. Staff celebrate children's achievements. This has resulted in children feeling settled in the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move into the home, this is managed well. Visits are arranged prior to them moving in to support children to have a thorough introduction. Staff ensure that they receive information about the child before they move into the home to enable them to effectively support their needs, such as their interests, likes and dislikes. When one child moved into the home in an emergency, staff gathered as much information as possible to ensure a smooth transition and welcomed the child to their home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children say that they enjoying living at the home and have good relationships with all the staff. Staff support children to follow their interests, such as rapping and mechanics, arranging experiences for them to enjoy.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive feedback was received from professionals and family members about the progress that both children are making. Particular focus is given to the quality of relationships with the staff. One family member spoke about how pleased they are with how quickly their child has settled into the home and built trusting relationships with staff.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain regular contact with the people who are important to them. Both children benefit from these relationships, which helps them to feel supported.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children have made progress in their education from their starting points. One child's education provision is directly related to their interest in car mechanics, which supports them with their aspirations for a future career. Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 4 Independence-building work is a particular strength of the home and is tailored to the individual needs of the children. Independence goals are clearly planned and well supported when needed. Children make good progress and spoke positively about developing their skills in areas such as cooking and using public transport. Staff records of the independence work undertaken reflect the progress that children are making and the targets that have been set.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children have previously moved on from the home, they have not been given much notice of the move. As a result, there have been challenges in supporting children to move on in a planned and positive way within the timescales available. Despite this, staff arranged visits from the new home's staff and arranged goodbye activities. Staff also took the children to their new homes and helped them to settle in.

p.4

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

Both children say that they feel safe and happy in the home and enjoy living there.

p.4

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

There are detailed care, health and progress plans in place for staff to follow to meet children's needs. These are regularly reviewed and updated. Staff communicate effectively with the wider network of professionals to ensure that children stay safe.

p.4

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

Incidents of physical intervention are well managed, with clear management oversight. Learning is identified following incidents and action is taken to improve practice where necessary. In relation to previous children living at the home, the police were called on 2 occasions to support staff in managing behaviours that presented significant challenges. Lessons were learned from this and staff practice has improved.

p.4

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

Risks have reduced for the children currently living at the home. Staff use de-escalation techniques effectively. Staff use relationship-based sessions to get to know children well. This helps children to feel valued and listened to.

p.4

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

There has been one missing-from-home incident since the last inspection, which was appropriately managed by staff. Staff know what to do when incidents occur. Staff keep up to date with training on a range of safeguarding topics and have completed specific training relating to the individual risks and vulnerabilities for the children in their care.

p.4

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

Staff have established clear routines and boundaries with children and have regular, meaningful conversations with them about keeping themselves safe.

p.4

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

Children's plans and risk assessments are followed by staff and are regularly reviewed and updated. This ensures that staff provide care that is responsive to children's developing needs as well as monitoring any changes and reduction in risk.

p.4

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

The home provides a safe and welcoming environment for the children living there. The home is well maintained and decorated to a good standard, with pictures and photographs that are meaningful to children displayed in the communal areas. Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 5 Safe recruitment practices are in place. This ensures that only suitable individuals are employed to care for children. This promotes children's safety and welfare and contributes to a secure living environment.

p.4

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

There are shortfalls in leadership and management that have had an impact on children's experiences and progress. Managers did not effectively challenge placing authorities when they had identified that additional staffing was required to ensure children's safety. This demonstrates that children do not consistently receive the support required to meet their needs and keep them safe.

p.5

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

The previous registered manager left the home in October 2025. The current manager, who had previously been the deputy manager, registered with Ofsted in December 2025. The home has a permanent staff team; however, there have been many staff changes since the last inspection, including the manager and registered individual.

p.5

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

Managers have regular oversight of incidents, which identifies any shortfalls in practice. However, there is a lack of robust follow-up work to show where action has been taken, with whom and when. Evaluations do not go far enough, which results in opportunities for learning being missed.

p.5

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

Managers do not prioritise lessons learned from incidents to help develop staff practice. For example, when staff called the police to help manage behaviour on 2 occasions, this was not discussed in the team meeting for all staff to reflect on, and was only raised in individual supervisions for the staff involved. This reduces the effectiveness of team meetings to improve practice.

p.5

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

Notifications to the regulator have not been completed following all relevant safeguarding incidents or have been delayed. The review of quality of care report completed by the manager was submitted to the regulator late.

p.5

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

Staff have a good understanding of the home's procedures and expectations, such as when children are missing from home. Staff speak highly about the supportive management team and strong and supportive team culture at the home.

p.5

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

The induction for new staff is thorough. Training is tracked regularly and all staff are up to date on core training courses. Therapeutic support is offered at each team meeting from an in-house psychologist. This means that children's individual emotional support needs, such as bereavement, are considered regularly.

p.5

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

The manager has developed new systems to improve management oversight and development work across the home. However, this is not yet fully embedded. Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 6

p.5

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.

p.6

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—

p.6

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;

p.6

Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that managers retain effective oversight and ensure that the staff team learn from any shortfalls in practice. 20 August 2026

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

p.6

Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

p.6

Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

p.6

Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; 6 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 7 a child protection enquiry involving a child—

p.6

Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry);

p.7

Requirement Due date

or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

p.7

Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

p.7

Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

p.7

Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

p.7

Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

p.7

Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it.

p.7

Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed.

p.7

Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(b) (4)(a) (5)) 6 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 8

p.7

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: 2807758 9

p.8

Children's home details

Registered provider: Second Nature Care Group Limited

p.9

Children's home details

Registered provider address: Black Bull House, 353-355 Station Road, Bamber Bridge, PRESTON PR5 6EE

p.9

Inspectors

Hannah Longdon, Social Care Inspector Anna Belshaw, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2807758 10 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.9

Inspectors

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.10

Inspectors

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

p.10

Inspectors

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

p.10