Children's Home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 1 SC475335

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Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes 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

This privately operated children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to 4 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living in the home and were spoken with.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 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: 22 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: SC475335 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/09/2025 Full Good 27/06/2024 Full Outstanding 06/09/2023 Full Good 24/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 3

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Summary of findings

Children receive warm, nurturing and highly individualised care from adults who know them well and are ambitious for their futures. Children have developed secure, trusting relationships with staff and are making good progress from their individual starting points in their emotional well-being, education, independence and family relationships. Staff provide children with a calm, stable and therapeutic environment where they feel safe, valued and listened to.

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Summary of findings

Since the previous inspection, leaders have successfully strengthened the culture of the home. Staff feel well supported through reflective supervision, specialist training and effective leadership, resulting in consistent and child-centred practice. Overall, children continue to experience stability, positive relationships and care that helps them to achieve good outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate a sound understanding of each child’s unique communication style, emotional needs, daily routines, interests and future aspirations. This enables them to respond sensitively and consistently to children, ensuring that care is tailored to individual needs and promotes positive outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from children, staff, parents and partner professionals was overwhelmingly positive and consistently highlighted the strength of relationships within the home. Children spoke warmly about the staff who care for them and described feeling valued, listened to and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children continue to make meaningful and sustained progress from their individual starting points because adults have high aspirations and tailor support to each child’s individual needs. Staff consistently celebrate children’s achievements, however small, and use everyday experiences as opportunities to build confidence, resilience and life skills. One child has made strong progress towards adulthood through carefully planned and risk-assessed opportunities to develop independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are strong at supporting children’s educational progress. One child has exceeded expectations by successfully completing qualifications after previously struggling to engage in education and has now enrolled to continue studying. Staff continue to promote independence through practical life skills, including budgeting, cooking, attending medical appointments and preparing for employment. Another child continues to experience emotional barriers to school attendance. However, leaders have ensured that education has continued through home tutoring and close partnership working with education providers. Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 4 Children are supported to maintain meaningful relationships with those who are important to them and to develop a positive sense of identity. Effective partnership working with families has resulted in children being able to spend more safe and meaningful time with family and friends.

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

Overall, children are safeguarded by adults who know them well and respond thoughtfully to risk. Staff place strong, trusting relationships at the centre of their practice, creating an environment in which children feel safe, secure and confident to seek reassurance, engage in meaningful conversations and access support whenever needed. This means that children are cared for by adults who know their individual vulnerabilities well.

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

When children have gone missing from home, staff have acted promptly by searching known locations, informing relevant professionals and providing reassurance when children return safely.

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

Leaders consistently reflect on incidents to identify learning that strengthens future safeguarding practice and improves outcomes for children.

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

Children benefit from a therapeutic approach to behaviour support. Physical intervention is used only as a last resort, following extensive attempts to de-escalate situations through reassurance, distraction, negotiation and relationship-based practice.

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

Partnership working is a notable strength of the home’s safeguarding practice. Parents described communication as open, respectful and consistent, while professionals spoke positively about leaders’ willingness to seek advice, share information and work collaboratively. However, safeguarding arrangements relating to one child’s online safety require strengthening. Despite known vulnerabilities relating to online exploitation and previous concerning online activity, welfare checks of the child’s mobile phone have not taken place consistently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides strong, child-centred leadership and has successfully established a reflective, nurturing and ambitious culture within the home. Staff, parents and professionals consistently described the manager as approachable, knowledgeable and committed to achieving positive outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders know the children exceptionally well and ensure that their individual needs, wishes and future aspirations remain central to decision-making. This has created an environment where children experience stability, consistency and genuinely caring relationships. Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 5 Leadership has been particularly effective in restoring stability following a challenging period for the home. Children now benefit from a calmer, more predictable environment where routines are established and relationships have strengthened.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have made a significant investment in workforce development. Supervision records demonstrate reflective discussions that extend beyond operational matters to include attachment, trauma, safeguarding, research-informed practice, behaviour support and staff wellbeing. Staff describe supervision as supportive, challenging and developmental.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training has been carefully aligned to meet the needs of children living in the home and includes specialist therapeutic input. These opportunities have strengthened staff confidence and contributed to increasingly consistent practice across the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Quality assurance systems are effective and support continuous improvement. Leaders regularly review incidents, children’s progress, staff development and training compliance. Children’s views are actively sought through innovative feedback systems that inform staff development and service improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There remain opportunities to strengthen internal communication so that all staff are consistently informed of significant events and to improve attendance at team meetings to maximise shared learning. Earlier appraisal records also lacked consistently measurable objectives, although current systems demonstrate clear improvement. Overall, leaders have created a stable, reflective and ambitious service where children thrive, staff are well supported and continuous improvement remains firmly embedded. Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 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. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to understand how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet and social media, and that effective arrangements are in place to assess, monitor and respond to known online risks; and

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Requirement Due date

that where a child refuses agreed safeguarding measures, alternative strategies are implemented and concerns are appropriately escalated with partner agencies to safeguard the child from the risk of exploitation.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(b)(e)) 30 August 2026

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Recommendation:

The registered person should ensure that internal communication arrangements are consistently effective so that all staff remain informed of significant events affecting children, and that attendance at team meetings is promoted to maximise opportunities for reflective learning and consistent practice across the staff team. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, paragraph 4.13, page 22, and paragraph 13.5, page 54.) Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 7

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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: SC475335 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd, 21 Mallard Way, Pride Park, Derby DE24 8GX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector

Theresa Kambani, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC475335 9 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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