Children's Home run by Anchor Care and Education Ltd in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 1 Registered provider: Anchor Care and Education Ltd

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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 is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to 4 children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were 2 children living in the home. Their views were sought as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2025.

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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: 23 September 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/09/2025 Full Good 30/07/2024 Full Good 09/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making good progress. The manager and staff know children well and have built good relationships with children. One child has lived at the home for more than a year. Leaders and staff want children to do well, and they have strong aspirations for children’s futures. Professionals and family members offer excellent feedback about the care given to children.

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Summary of findings

Staff are managing a high level of incidents well, and the manager has good oversight of these incidents and acts in response to identify learning. The manager supports staff in their role, and staff enjoy working in the home.

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Summary of findings

However, at times important information is not consistently shared with Ofsted. Children are receiving good care in this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home, and no children have moved out. The transition for the child who moved in was well planned and creative. Key professionals reflected that the manager went above and beyond to ensure that the move for the child went well. The manager ensured that the child already living in the home was well prepared. The manager has been reflective about how future transition planning would ensure that clear information was gathered from key professionals prior to children moving into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff aspire for children and their education. When a suitable education placement could not be found for one child, staff supported them to learn at home. As a result, the child achieved a qualification. The manager works closely with education settings to ensure that children are receiving consistent support at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health and wellbeing needs are consistently met. Staff make referrals to specialist agencies for support and encourage children to attend universal services for their health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children developing independence skills and seek to manage vulnerabilities in a balanced way. This includes children being supported to have part-time jobs, go to work experience and attend driving lessons. Staff promote children’s identity needs and seek to develop their understanding to be able to offer good care to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When difficulties developed between children, leaders took prompt action to attempt to reduce risks. This meant that children were able to have some space and start to rebuild their relationships at their own pace. Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 4 Staff support children to see their family regularly. This includes transporting children long distances regularly to maintain these relationships, in line with their wishes and feelings. This has meant that children are able to spend quality time with people who are important to them, and children have been able to have time with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff have built good relationships with children. The manager has regular individual time with children, which they value. The manager understands the individual needs of each child and plans accordingly, including trips to hairdressers together or to interesting educational experiences which children enjoy. Children talk about the manager and staff with affection, which is reciprocal.

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

There was a period when children presented with a high level of vulnerabilities and incidents occurred frequently. Staff have shown resilience and have developed a good understanding of children’s needs, which has helped to build positive relationships. As a result, children speak openly with staff and the manager about things that have happened. The manager shares learning outcomes with staff following incidents.

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

Staff manage the risk of self-injurious behaviour well. When incidents have occurred, prompt action has been taken, including changing practice to increase safety and review of procedures and policies. Staff dynamically risk assess to respond to changing circumstances and manage known risks, while promoting children’s independence.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When this happens, staff know how to respond and there are appropriate protocols in place.

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

There have been several consequences given to children. When these have appeared to be ineffective, the manager has reflected and considered the potential impact of consequences on children and has adopted a different approach.

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

Behaviour support plans for children include key information regarding how staff should support the care of children, and these are consistently reviewed following incidents. However, there are vulnerabilities for children within plans that are not always relevant to their specific needs. Leaders are in the process of reviewing plans for children.

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

There have been a small number of occasions when children have been held by staff. However, there have been occasions when a lack of effective planning has contributed to incidents in which children have been held by staff. The recording of physical interventions has not always reflected clearly what holds were used and by who. Following the manager being involved in a hold, the debrief was not undertaken in line with regulatory timescales and the manager undertook the debrief of other staff involved. This impacts on the opportunity for staff to have an independent discussion regarding the incident. Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads by example and inspires an open culture. Staff enjoy working in the home and give positive feedback about the manager. Key professionals reflect that the manager and staff offer consistent care to children. The responsible individual regularly visits and offers support as necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good systems in place to ensure that staff receive regular support and guidance through supervisions, team meetings and observations of staff practice. Staff receive regular supervisions, including 6 monthly safeguarding supervisions to ensure that staff understanding remains consistent. Staff have regular appraisals and the manager uses this as an opportunity to reflect on positive practice and to address any practice issues in a supportive way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a culture of learning within the home. When incidents have occurred, the manager reflects on what has happened and discusses lessons learned with the staff team. However, there have been times when serious incidents have not been shared with Ofsted in line with regulatory requirements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well trained, including receiving specific training about the needs of children. Staff either have the relevant childcare qualification or are working towards it. Staff who have already achieved their qualification are supported to work towards their Level 5, which supports building a skilled workforce.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Prior to working in the home, prospective staff undertake shadow shifts, during which core staff make a recommendation about their suitability to work in the home, considering the needs of children. Safer recruitment checks are undertaken. For one member of staff, leaders had not had oversight of some small discrepancies in their dates of employment history.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are regular visits from the independent visitor to the home. The visitor does not always gain feedback from external professionals or family members and does not consistently comment on children’s bedrooms. There have been occasions when the visitor has not accurately identified which incidents required notification to the regulator.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has undertaken a review of the quality of care, which includes feedback from children and staff. However, the manager did not include actions necessary to improve the quality of care in line with regulations. The manager was unaware of the point-in-time survey, which promotes feedback to gained from all key people linked to the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 6

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Statutory requirement

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

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders should inform Ofsted of serious incidents. 7 September 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. In particular, records should be clear, debriefs should occur in timescales and, if leaders are involved in the restraint, an appropriate person should be identified to undertake follow-up actions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59).  The registered person should ensure they actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. This also

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Recommendations

includes ensuring that the point-in-time surveys are distributed to all relevant people so they have the opportunity to provide feedback. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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: 2680971 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Anchor Care and Education Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ensors Accountants LLP, Saxon House, Moseley’s Farm Business Centre, Fornham All Saints, Bury St. Edmunds IP28 6JY

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Inspector

Lorna Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2680971 8 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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