Children's Home run by Leighview Children's Care Limited in Southend on Sea

Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 1 Registered provider: Leighview Children’s Care 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

The home is operated by a private company. It provides care for up to 2 children with social and emotional difficulties. One child was living at the home at the time of this inspection. They were not spoken with.

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Information about this children’s home

The previous manager de-registered with Ofsted in January 2026. A new manager has since been appointed and is currently overseeing the day-to-day operation of the home. They have submitted an application to register with Ofsted and were present throughout 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: 2 December 2025

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/12/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 3

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Summary of findings

The home has been through several managerial changes since the last inspection; this resulted in shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home. These shortfalls have impacted the overall experience of children. A lack of consistency among the leadership team during this period of managerial change has affected the day-to-day care of children. This has also negatively impacted on how well children are protected from harm.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home. No children have moved out of the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not been successful in supporting the child to develop a sense of belonging and investment in the home. One professional reflected that this may be linked to the staff team’s limited understanding of the child’s needs and experiences when they first moved into the home. As a result, staff have not developed sufficiently trusting relationships with the child to influence their engagement. The child routinely declines opportunities to participate in key-work sessions or discussions and frequently leaves the home without informing staff of their whereabouts.

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improvement to be good

Consequently, the child spends significant periods away from the home, including overnight stays, and is absent more often than they are present. This reduces opportunities for staff to understand the child’s experiences, assess and respond to emerging risks and provide the consistent care and support needed to promote the child’s safety, stability and progress.

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improvement to be good

Staff have recently started developing relationships with relevant external agencies around the child, including their parents, social worker and school. This is beginning to help staff to establish where the child is on some occasions when they are not at the home, but is still being embedded.

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improvement to be good

The child has had some positive experiences; they regularly attend the gym and recently started to re-engage in education, which is positive.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the importance of family time and what it means to the child. The staff support the child to maintain links with those who are important to them. Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 4

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not ensured that safer recruitment processes are consistently followed. Some staff members commenced employment without all appropriate pre-employment checks having been completed. Managers also failed to verify the reasons why one staff member had left a previous role working with vulnerable children and did not adequately explore gaps in employment history. As a result, leaders cannot be assured that all staff are suitable to work with children, which increases the risk of unsuitable individuals having access to and caring for children.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers do not consistently notify Ofsted of serious incidents. Failure to do so reduces Ofsted’s ability to monitor safeguards at the home effectively.

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improvement to be good

Staff carry out monthly fire drills. However, the child living at the home and some staff have not been involved in fire drills. Furthermore, at the time of this inspection, fire doors were being propped open. This could pose a risk to staff, children and visitors in the event of a fire.

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improvement to be good

The independent person visits the home on a monthly basis. However, reports often lack feedback from parents, children and external agencies. This means opportunities may be missed to incorporate the feedback of relevant persons into the assessment of the quality of care and development of the service. The visitor does not consistently report on the safety and welfare of the children, which reduces the relevant professional’s capacity to monitor safeguards at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not developed sufficiently trusting relationships with the child to understand their day-to-day experiences, influence their choices or effectively support their safety. As a result, staff were unaware that the child had access to an 18-rated video game containing violent content, despite it being unsuitable for a child of their age. Furthermore, when the child spends time in the community, staff do not always know where they are, who they are with or what activities they are engaging in.

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improvement to be good

These shortfalls limit staff’s ability to assess and manage risk, provide appropriate guidance and help the child develop an understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Consequently, staff were unable to identify and respond to emerging concerns at an early stage, which contributed to a recent significant incident.

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improvement to be good

There have been no physical interventions, complaints from the child or allegations made against staff during the inspection period. This indicates that staff are generally able to manage behaviour and maintain relationships without the need for restrictive interventions.

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improvement to be good

When the child goes missing from home, staff generally respond appropriately and in line with agreed procedures to promote the child’s safety. Where shortfalls have been identified in staff responses, managers have taken action to address these and promote Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 5 learning. This reflective approach helps to reduce the likelihood of similar issues occurring again and supports the ongoing development of safeguarding practice within the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have completed the organisation’s mandatory safeguarding training; they understand their child protection responsibilities and are confident in the organisation’s whistleblowing procedure.

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

There have been numerous changes in the leadership and management of the home since the last inspection, including multiple changes of manager and a change in the responsible individual. These changes have affected the stability and oversight of the service. Leaders and managers failed to notify Ofsted of the change in responsible individual, despite the individual having been in post for a significant period. This prevented Ofsted from maintaining accurate oversight of the home’s leadership arrangements.

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

The statement of purpose has been reviewed and updated since the last inspection. However, despite several revisions being made, updated versions were not provided to Ofsted for over 12 months. As a result, Ofsted was not kept informed of significant changes to the operation and management of the service, limiting regulatory oversight and failing to meet the requirements of the regulations.

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

Leaders and managers have completed a quality of care review. However, the review lacks detail and does not contain any feedback from relevant persons. Furthermore, there were significant delays in sharing this review with Ofsted.

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

Staff attend regular team meetings, clinical group supervisions and one-to-one supervision. However, annual appraisals lack detail and timely actions to address poor performance and support staff development.

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

Some staff are working towards completing a relevant qualification. However, some staff have failed to complete their qualification within specified timescales.

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

Feedback from external professionals is mixed. A social worker and education professional said communication had recently improved. However, there were concerns with inconsistencies.

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

The new manager works closely with the responsible individual, and together they are developing plans and systems to monitor the quality of care in the home. These plans and systems are still being embedded into the home.

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

Feedback from some staff is positive. One staff member said they were happy working at the home and felt supported. Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 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—

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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

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.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 17 August 2026

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 17 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory fire reform order 2005 applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

The registered person, must ensure that the requirements of the Order and any regulations made under it except for article 23 17 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 7 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. Regulation 25 (2)(b)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children, are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire, and ensure that fire doors are not propped open.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5)

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 17 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 17 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 8 The registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must give notice in writing to HMCI, as soon as it is reasonably practicable to do so, if any of the following events take place or are expected by the registered person to take place—

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Requirement Due date

any change in the identity of the responsible individual. (Regulation 49 (iii)) 17 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 9

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulation 44) to ensure continuous improvement. In particular, the registered person should ensure that in accordance with regulation 44, they help the independent person, if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. The independent person should also set out their opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded and if the conduct of the home promotes children’s wellbeing. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that all staff members have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This

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Recommendations

appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The register person should ensure that they develop and keep under review a "Statement of Purpose" (regulation 16 and schedule 1). In particular the registered person should ensure that they notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5) Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 10

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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: 2823748 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Leighview Children’s Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 23a Orsett Road, Grays, Essex RM17 5DS

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Sibangani Mswelanto

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Inspector

Anver Rose, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2823748 12 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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