Children's Home run by Blossom Children’s Homes Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 1 Registered provider: Blossom Children's Homes Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to 6 children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children's home

The manager has applied to be registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 4 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children's home

The staff are known as adults in the home and this is reflected in the report.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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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: 2837858 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/10/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 3

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Summary of findings

Specific concerns received by Ofsted were a consideration of this inspection. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate such matters, actions taken by the setting in response were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors. There were 4 children living at the home at the time of the inspection, who were met by inspectors. Inspectors found that children are making good progress from the point of moving into the home. Adults are aspirational for children and are invested in their care. There are shortfalls in leadership and management of the home, but this has not impacted on the outcomes for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are living in a home that is cared for by the adults and provides children with a warm and loving environment. Children's personal spaces significantly reflect their interests and what is important to them. Adults have invested in artwork that brings bedrooms and communal spaces to life. Each child has their own living space that is adapted to suit their needs and privacy. This ensures that their personal and health needs can be met with dignity as well as their sensory needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Adults support children to develop trusting and fun relationships with the people who support them. Consistency of care is helping children to safely connect with the adults in their lives. Additionally, children are developing positive relationships with their peers. These are both areas that children previously struggled to manage and are making progress with. Peer group living is prioritised in respect that this will likely be the situation for children as they move into adult provisions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see their families and people who are important to them. Where there are barriers and obstacles to this, adults explore what resources and time they can provide to make family time more meaningful. Each child has their own mobile phone that is managed by the adult supporting them. This means that families can call and check in informally with their children. This reassures family members about children's wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Adults support children to attend education, and this is generally a positive experience for them. Some children attend a school on the same site as the home. Adults utilise consistent routines before and after school to support the children to differentiate between the school and home. At the point of moving to live at the home, children who were settled in their schools were supported to maintain those education provisions. This ensured some level of consistency for those children at a time of significant change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a positive experience of moving to or from the home. Transitions are well planned and managed at a pace that works for the child. Adults seek the input of people who know the children well. This provides consistency and familiar care for children. It Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 4 provides a platform for areas where some change is required to support children to make progress. Adults speak about children with care and affection. They have genuine aspirations for what children can achieve.

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

Safety plans for children contain a lot of information about past incidents. This information overwhelms the plan and the focus on key information about how adults manage risk. One safety plan was not updated to reflect peer-on-peer risk for a child.

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

There is no quick access to emergency information when staff need to respond more swiftly to safeguard children. How adults should respond to children who go missing or have a health emergency needs more detail in the plans. However, this has not impacted on children's safety and adults know and understand plans.

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

Adults are focused on supporting children with their behaviours and how they process their environment. Behaviour is viewed by adults as a form of communication and how children express their feelings, emotions and frustrations. Records demonstrate that meaningful, consistent and boundary-led discussions take place with children regularly. Adults are led by what matters most to children, and develop their plans and routines around this. This forms the foundation of children feeling safer in their home.

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

Incidents of restraint are low. When this has occurred, it has been as a last resort to keep children and others safe. Adults are trained in the safe use of physical intervention. Records of restraint are generally robust with good reflection. Adults speak to children after incidents of being held. Alternative methods of communication are used to support these discussions. Although managers reflect on incidents and identify areas for improvement, there is a lack of recorded debriefs with the adults involved in the restraints.

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

Professionals spoken to consistently said that children are safer because of living in the home. Managers support children's placing authorities to visit the home regularly to review children's care and the environment. Some professionals fed back that managers need to improve the consistency of which reports of incidents are shared. Professionals said that they felt this would improve safeguarding oversight for the team around the child.

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

A concern about a child was raised by a staff member during the inspection. This was shared with leaders and managers to further investigate and share with relevant professionals.

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

There has been a change in the manager of the home, with a handover period between the 2 in place to support the new manager's transition. The new manager has previous residential experience but is new to supporting disabled children. They have been the driving force behind the positive development of the home environment. Leaders and Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 5 managers have high aspirations for children and high expectations for the care they want to provide.

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

Oversight of the home requires improvement. Numerous shortfalls were identified in care documents, and it was not clear during inspection who was responsible for the management of the home. This is impacting on the clarity and accessibility of required information and quality assurance processes to monitor and maintain standards of care.

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

New and existing adults in the team have not had supervision in line with the organisation's policies. This included one staff member who had not received supervision since starting employment 3 months before the inspection. Despite this being raised in the home's compliance meetings, the managers have failed to act in response. Staff were spoken to and most said that they were happy in their roles and that morale in the team was high.

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

There was an unclear system in place for the team rota. Leaders and managers could not identify who had been working and when. This prevents managers from having all the required information when investigating and evaluating incidents in the home.

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

The training provided to adults is good. Adults are supported by leaders to access a range of training that is specific to children's individual needs. Specialised health training for epilepsy management was prioritised before one child moved to the home. Adults have been enrolled onto the required childcare qualification. They spoke positively about the support they receive to complete the course.

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

Leaders and managers are strong advocates for children to try and improve their outcomes. They have also appropriately challenged other agencies and professionals when concerns have arisen. Managers complained about one child's treatment in hospital, where a lack of information had a significant impact on the child's safety and wellbeing. Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 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 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— that staff—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to risk assessments being updated to reflect known risks of children to each other, and for key emergency information to be accessible and clear to staff. 10 October 2026

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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

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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring that robust quality assurance and monitoring systems are in place and are used regularly. 10 October 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 7 The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 10 October 2026

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Recommendations

 Records of restraint must be 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. ('Guide to the Children's Home Regulations, including the quality standards', page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: 2837858 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Blossom Children's Homes Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Suites 7-8, Moran House, 449-451 High Road, London NW10 2JJ

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Wakeling

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Inspectors

Chris Haines, Social Care Inspector Sarah Orris, Regional Inspection Manager Inspection report for children's home: 2837858 9 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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