Children's Home run by Elmdale Care Ltd in Nottingham

Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 1 Registered provider: Elmdale Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is run by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to 3 children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 2025.

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Information about this children's home

There was one child living at the home at the time of inspection. The child was spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 2

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Summary of findings

Since registration, 2 children have moved into the home. One child has moved out, and one child is residing in the home.

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Summary of findings

Staff and managers care about children and want the best for them. Staff work with services to meet children's needs. However, staff are inconsistent in how they care for children. The home environment is not always well maintained.

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Summary of findings

Staff do not respond consistently to challenging situations. Staff do not adapt their behaviours to children's needs, which can increase children's anxiety.

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improvement to be good

The home is clean, and repairs following damage are quickly addressed. However, the registered manager does not ensure that the home maintains a homely or personalised environment. The garden requires routine maintenance, shared spaces lack personalisation and the dining room has a mix of furniture, including office chairs. This impacts children's sense of homeliness and belonging.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently communicate with children about their needs or the outcome of events. One child did not know the outcome of a physical intervention investigation regarding staff. This impacted their sense of being recognised and respected. One child did not know the plans about their education or whether they were still registered at their school.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently maintain records should children wish to read them or access them later in life. For example, one child's name was spelled wrongly multiple times. This impacts the children's sense of being valued.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote and maintain relationships with people who are important to the children. This helps children sustain family and social connections and supports their sense of identity. One child has been given a mobile phone for the first time, which has increased their contact with people who are important to them.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have advocated for children, so they receive therapeutic mental health support. This promotes children's mental health and ensures multi-agency responses to children's changing needs.

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improvement to be good

Children are encouraged to participate in activities that reflect their individual interests and preferences. This provides opportunities for enjoyment, a sense of achievement and positive social interaction. One child was supported to engage in adrenaline-based Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 3 activities, such as quad biking. One child was supported to plant flowers and care for trees in the garden. Gardening is important for this child.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always respond effectively to children's behaviours they find difficult to manage. Physical interventions are used when proportionate and necessary but not always applied successfully. This has led to escalations where children as well as staff were injured, and the police were required to support staff. Children and staff are spoken to after incidents. However, additional training is inconsistently recognised as being required following serious incidents that would enhance staff's skills and knowledge.

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improvement to be good

Risk management plans give clear guidance, but staff do not always adhere to them. One child's sensory needs are not responded to sensitively. Staff have not adapted certain smells in the home, loud banging doors and the type of clothing they wear. This has resulted in a child’s relationship with staff becoming fractured. One child was able to access the staff office, setting off fire alarms and extinguishers because staff had not followed the risk management plans.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not been proactive in reflecting on the impact of all children when new children move into the home. This limits opportunities to identify alternative strategies or future learning. One child had not settled into the home before another child with differing needs moved in. Insufficient analysis and reflection of children's placement led to one child being moved to another home. When children are moved into and out of the home, they are supported practically and emotionally. Children are spoken to, visit the home and spend time with staff.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from home, staff take appropriate action in line with children's missing-from-home protocols. Staff carry out searches to try and locate children and notify police when required. Staff speak with children to explore their reasons for going missing and identify how they can be better supported to reduce the likelihood of further missing-from-home incidents.

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

Management oversight is not consistently effective. Learning from significant incidents was acknowledged as required by the staff team at the next team meeting but not followed up by the registered manager. Key training for staff to meet children's additional needs is not completed and targets for completion not set.

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

Supervision and team meetings are held regularly, but do not consistently demonstrate professional curiosity and reflection, limiting their value in monitoring and improving care. The registered manager and responsible individual also do not routinely track completion of actions and how these positively impact children. Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 4 There is a high reliance on the use of agency staff, which impacts children's sense of stability and consistency.

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

The registered manager is empathic and talks caringly about children. The responsible individual cares about children's welfare and takes an active role in their daily lives. The responsible individual undertakes activities and direct work with the children, which promotes their sense of being cared for and their wishes and feelings provided directly to leaders. As a result, one child was supported by the responsible individual to make a complaint to their local authority about their care plan. Staff described feeling supported by the manager and responsible individual.

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

Managers and leaders demonstrate a strong understanding of the importance of safer recruitment practices, ensuring that only suitable individuals, who are appropriately vetted and qualified, are employed to work with children in the home.

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

Leaders and managers work effectively with other agencies to promote children's needs. The registered manager has persisted in communicating with services to provide children with educational provision. The registered manager communicates regularly with social workers to share information and express concern.

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

Overall, there are some improvements that need to be made in the 3 main areas of judgement for the home, and leadership and management impacts on each area. The manager and responsible individual were welcoming of the feedback on inspection and reflective to learning and expressed their intention to make improvements. Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 5

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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.

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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

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;

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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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that there is a system in place to ensure that records of incidents are clear, detailed and demonstrate management oversight, reflection and learning and that risk management plans are consistent and clearly communicated to staff. 25 September 2026

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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 requires the registered person to ensure— 25 September 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 6 that staff—

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that all risk assessments and home care plans identify known and potential risks for each child and that staff are skilled and confident in challenging and dealing with inappropriate and risky behaviour. The registered person should ensure that adjustments are made to staff behaviours and actions to meet children's sensory needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children's home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs. (Regulation 31 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff working on a temporary basis fully understand the children's needs, personalities and risk management plans. 25 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the effectiveness and any consequences of a restraint measure are considered and reviewed and implemented. 25 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The children's views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who— 25 September 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 7 take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children's care and welfare and their lives.

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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

help each child to understand how the child's views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that children are kept informed about their care, outcomes and reasons for decisions.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

strive to gain each child's respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should support children to understand each other's needs and build positive relationships. The registered person should support staff to creatively work with children to build their trust and develop positive relationships. 25 September 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 8 be homely, domestic environments. The registered person should personalise shared space, keep the garden well maintained and use home furniture. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)  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. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child, ensuring that information is correct and up to date. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.6)

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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: 2863355 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Elmdale Care Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 190 Coleman Road, Leicester LE5 4LE

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Inspectors

Caroline Hose, Social Care Inspector Nile Blanchard, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2863355 10 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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Inspectors

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