Children's Home run by Nottingham City Council in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 1 SC034969

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Registered provider: Nottingham City Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a local authority. It is registered to provide care for up to 3 children who may have emotional or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2013. There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection. One child has moved out of the home within the inspection period, and one child has moved in.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/07/2025 Full Good 19/08/2024 Full Good 22/01/2024 Full Good 24/05/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 3

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Summary of findings

Children are not making the expected progress in education, and outcomes in this area remain limited. When children raise complaints, the registered manager responds appropriately using child-friendly letters. However, there are delays in complaints being fully investigated and concluded.

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Summary of findings

Although leaders demonstrate some oversight of practice, follow-up action is not always sufficiently robust when tasks are identified for staff. As a result, important information has not always been explored with children or shared with relevant professionals in a timely way.

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Summary of findings

Despite these shortfalls, children say that they feel safe, happy and listened to in the home, and that their views are taken seriously by staff.

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improvement to be good

Children are making limited progress in education and are not achieving outcomes that are in line with their individual potential. Leaders are working with education professionals and have taken some steps to support children’s attendance and engagement. However, a lack of consistent structure, routines and boundaries within the home limits the effectiveness of this work and hinders educational progress. Planning for children’s education is also inconsistent. While arrangements have been secured for two children to access education in the forthcoming academic year, one child remains without an identified educational placement and has accessed very little education over the past year.

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improvement to be good

Children have been supported to improve the quality of their sleep, and staff have attended relevant training to enhance their skills and understanding in this area. However, learning from this training has not yet been fully embedded into practice. For example, external recommendations regarding one child’s sleep routine have not been consistently implemented, which has limited the child’s progress in establishing routines that support regular attendance at education.

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improvement to be good

When children move into the home, leaders complete detailed assessments of their needs and carefully consider whether staff have the skills and experience required to meet those needs. However, when one child expressed worries about a new child moving into the home, this was not fully explored or documented, reducing opportunities for the child to feel fully listened to, understood and reassured.

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improvement to be good

Children are encouraged to share their views through regular weekly meetings with staff and are actively involved in decisions about their day-to-day lives. They contribute to choices about food, activities and experiences, helping them to feel valued and included. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 4 Children benefit from opportunities to enjoy positive experiences, with one child recently returning from a holiday at the seaside that they greatly enjoyed.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to spend time with those who are important to them. Staff actively advocate to ensure that children maintain these relationships, helping to strengthen their sense of identity and belonging. Children are supported to celebrate family milestones and are given financial support to ensure that family time takes place in age-appropriate settings for children. The deputy manager has supported a child to make a cake for a family member’s birthday.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are variable in quality and effectiveness. Some assessments are detailed, regularly reviewed and provide clear guidance for staff on how to manage identified risks and keep children safe. However, others are not consistently updated following incidents and do not always include relevant historical information about children’s experiences and vulnerabilities. As a result, staff do not always have access to a comprehensive overview of known risks or the most up-to-date strategies required to respond effectively and consistently to children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently engage children in meaningful discussions about their worries, experiences and vulnerabilities. As a result, children are not always supported to develop an age-appropriate understanding of the risks they face or the strategies they can use to keep themselves safe. When children are struggling with substance misuse, staff are not sufficiently proactive in helping them understand the associated risks or in supporting them to develop the skills and resilience needed to make safer choices.

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improvement to be good

In addition, staff do not consistently demonstrate sufficient professional curiosity when children share information about concerning behaviours from peers. Opportunities to explore these concerns further are sometimes missed, and actions identified by the registered manager are not always followed through. While some children receive direct work relating to healthy relationships and personal safety, this work is often reactive to incidents rather than planned and preventative. Consequently, children do not all benefit from consistent, proactive support to understand risk, develop protective behaviours and increase their safety.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint, and staff support them to do so. When complaints are received, leaders respond with a child-friendly written letter explaining the process. However, responses are not completed in a timely manner. On one occasion, a complaint from a child was not investigated for a 4-week period and remains ongoing.

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improvement to be good

Room searches are only carried out when there are concerns for the safety of children and others. Staff understand the importance of the child being present at the search or informed of this. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 5

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

The home is led by an experienced and committed manager, with support from his assistant managers. Leaders have audit systems and oversight of work completed by staff. However, monitoring systems of these are ineffective.

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

When children present with identified risks, staff do not consistently share significant safeguarding information with relevant professionals. For example, children who are vulnerable to exploitation have disclosed concerning information to staff, but this has not always been communicated promptly or effectively to partner agencies. As a result, professionals have not always been fully informed of emerging risks, limiting their ability to develop coordinated safeguarding responses and reducing opportunities to understand and respond to children’s lived experiences. Leaders do not follow up when actions are set to staff. This has hindered robust multi-agency efforts to protect children and promote their welfare.

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

When concerns are identified about staff practice or conduct, leaders take appropriate action to ensure that these are investigated and managed in line with the organisation’s procedures. Internal processes are generally followed in a timely manner, and immediate measures are put in place where necessary to safeguard children and staff. However, on one occasion, although appropriate safeguarding action was taken promptly, a referral to the local authority designated officer was delayed. This delay reduced opportunities for external oversight and scrutiny at the earliest stage of the concern.

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

Leaders and managers provide staff with regular, reflective supervision that thoroughly evaluates each child's needs and progress.

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

Staff have monthly team meetings, which include full and reflective discussions on children, safeguarding and incidents. Staff benefit from development days which explore topics related to the children in the home. However, learning from these is not implemented in the children’s day-to-day routines. Staff are given the opportunity to reflect on incidents and have their voices heard on concerns.

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

Staff speak highly of the support they receive from leaders and describe management as caring, accessible and responsive. When staff are involved in distressing or challenging incidents, leaders respond promptly to provide support and guidance. Reflective debriefs are routinely undertaken to help staff process events, consider learning and identify any additional support needs. Staff wellbeing is given a high priority, and external support is made available where appropriate.

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

The registered manager is clear on the shortfalls of the home and what needs to be done to improve. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that each child has identified education placements and understands the importance of education.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each child is receiving education in line with their relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that barriers to learning are explored and daily routines are implemented to help children attend education. 9 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 7 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—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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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

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that safeguarding information is shared between professionals and included in relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that leaders and staff have the relevant knowledge and understanding of exploitation and how to identify these concerns.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff act on safeguarding concerns as per the home’s child protection policy.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that children are educated on known risks.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that children’s emotional wellbeing is prioritised following incidents and clear records of conversations are kept. 9 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 8 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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

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

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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

In particular, ensure that reflections on incidents and management of these are completed to understand the quality of care provided to children.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that monitoring and review systems are in place for safeguarding concerns and inclusion of incidents in relevant internal plans.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that children are supported to make external complaints and internal complaints are reviewed in a timely manner.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the local authority designated officer is informed without delay of any concerns for staff. 9 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 9

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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: SC034969 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nottingham City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 3NG

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Inspector

Louisa West, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034969 11 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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