Children's Home run by Chillington Close Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report children's home: 2718786 1 Registered provider: Chillington Close 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 was registered on 21 March 2023 to provide care for 2 children who may experience emotional and social difficulties, aged between 5 and 18 years.

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Information about this children's home

The manager is suitably qualified and registered with Ofsted in May 2024.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home. The child was seen but was not spoken to by the inspector.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 18 February 2026

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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: 2718786 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2026 Full Good 18/02/2025 Full Good 14/02/2024 Full Good 31/10/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 3

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Summary of findings

The child has lived in the home for a significant period, providing them with stability and consistency. Most staff and managers know the child well and have developed positive relationships with them. However, the understanding of risk for the child needs to improve to ensure that staff respond consistently to keep the child safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living in the home has achieved a period of stability after experiencing many moves before coming to live at the home over 2 years ago. The child is cared for by staff who are committed to ensuring the very best outcomes for them. The staff team is predominately stable, and most staff know the child well. Managers have implemented strategies to ensure that staff understand the child's needs and presentation. This ensures that staff are effective and empathetic in the care they offer, and has meant the child has made significant progress since coming to live in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child lives in a home that is well maintained. Their bedroom is personalised to reflect their interests and tastes. Staff have put in place additional resources and play equipment to ensure that the child remains engaged when in the home. They have adapted the outside space to meet the child's needs and to ensure that they can play safely. Consequences and rewards are set around the child's interests and abilities, ensuring that they remain achievable and appropriate. Managers and staff review them regularly to ensure that they remain relevant to the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff skilfully support the child to understand their complex family history. This has caused the child to become upset and present with some behaviours that are difficult to manage on occasions. The child benefits from the relationships they have with managers and staff. Staff respond appropriately and offer appropriate reassurance to the child when these behaviours occur. This minimises the impact of the child's distress. Staff have been proactive in the support they have provided to the child through the re- introduction of members of their family. This means that the child enjoys spending time with the people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value learning opportunities and have advocated for the child to continue to access full-time education, including a planned move to a specialist provision. When the child has found this difficult, staff have worked with the education provision to ensure that the home learning they offer complements school learning. This has included staff receiving specialist professional learning to enhance their own knowledge to ensure that home learning is meaningful for the child. Staff have enabled the child to positively engage in a planned transition to their new school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide the right support so that the child maintains all health appointments. They follow up any actions in a timely manner. This ensures that the child's health needs are Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 4 fully met, and staff understand any changes in the support they require. Staff celebrate important events and achievements with the child. This contributes to the child's positive sense of self. Staff support the child to engage in activities that they enjoy, including their first holiday abroad, and ensure that the support offered enables the child to enjoy these fully and safely. They encourage the child to share their views around meals and activities. Staff are creative in the way they ensure that decision-making remains accessible to the child. This ensures that the child continues to have their wishes understood and their views valued.

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improvement to be good

There have been 2 significant missing-from-care incidents recently where the child was able to leave the home without staff being aware. These occurred in short succession and, on both occasions, professionals returned the child safely to the home. Managers and leaders have taken prompt and decisive action to address the deficits in staff responses to the child being able to leave the home unnoticed. They have also acted appropriately to ensure that all staff have revisited their missing-from-care training. Managers and leaders have made significant environmental changes to the building to manage the risk of the child being able to leave the home unattended. A multi-agency response has also considered additional staffing resources to support the child. Nonetheless, this was a serious safeguarding breach and the management of risk around the child going missing from the home requires improvement.

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improvement to be good

Door alarms are in place on the front and rear doors of the home as well as the child's bedroom door. This is a physical change to the home environment following the recent incidents where the child was able to leave the home unnoticed. Local authority consent for door alarms is in place. However, staff have not spoken to the child about the reasons for the door alarms, nor why there are more staff members working in the home than before. This means that the child does not understand how this approach keeps them safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the risks for the child when using online systems. Electronic devices and televisions have age-restricted controls in place, which ensure that the child is only able to access suitable content. The child does not have access to a mobile telephone. They enjoy being able to have supervised time on their games console as part of a positive behaviour reward strategy.

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improvement to be good

Trained staff understand how to store and administer medication safely. Managers have effective systems in place to check the use of non-prescription medication to ensure that this is being administered appropriately.

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improvement to be good

Staff are confident when talking to the child about how to respect themselves and others, and have used external universal services available to them to enable these conversations to take place. The manager has created additional resources for staff to ensure that they develop confidence in knowing how to respond when the child shares Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 5 information. There have been no allegations or complaints received about staff within this inspection period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and registered with Ofsted. The staff team has been relatively stable until recently, although managers have been proactive in seeking to recruit further experienced staff to work in the home. Staff say that they feel well supported by managers and leaders and receive regular and purposeful supervision. Managers and leaders use team meetings as an effective platform to share learning, which impacts future practice. Staff benefit from independent therapeutic input to develop their skills and knowledge. This supports all staff to understand the most recent changes to managing risk for the child. Staff benefit from comprehensive and relevant professional learning opportunities, which they say help them to know how to care for the child and develop their understanding of these approaches.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals working with managers and staff say that communication is timely and effective. This ensures effective multi-agency working so that professionals working with the child understand their experiences of living in the home. During the recent events where the child was able to leave the home unnoticed, managers immediately shared this information appropriately. Managers implemented any actions agreed to ensure the safety of the child without delay. Professionals working with the home feel reassured by the immediate response of leaders and managers to these significant concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and leaders have systems in place to ensure their oversight of the quality of care for the child. This ensures that the plans and risk assessments for the child are kept updated and reflect the child's current and emerging needs. In response to recent events, the manager now undertakes an additional weekly review of safeguarding actions to check the impact of these on the care the child receives. However, this is in its infancy and is not yet fully embedded into practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During the inspection, inspectors identified some vulnerabilities in the safer recruitment process for new staff members, meaning that unsafe adults could care for children. Managers and leaders acknowledged this shortfall and have a plan in place to address this. Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 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 children's views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children's care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child's views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child's best interests when making decisions about the child's care and welfare. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that children's wishes and feelings are sought in relation to any restrictions applied in the home. 1 September 2026

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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; 10 July 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 7 have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that all staff understand the risks for the child and have the knowledge and skills to manage these appropriately.

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that the measures they have put in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child are kept under review. 10 July 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.

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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 1 September 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 8 may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3); and

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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 (6). (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Recommendation

 The registered person must ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them, including all elements of restraint used in the home. This includes the use of door alarms and additional staffing measures. In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff complete direct work with children so that they are able to understand the risks, why the door alarms are in use and the reasons for increased staffing levels. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 16, paragraph 3.6)

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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: 2718786 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Chillington Close Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 15 Heritage Park, Hayes Way, Cannock WS11 7LT

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Charlotte Anderson

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Children's home details

Registered manager: Hannah Lyall-Scrivens

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Inspector

Helen Dickens, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2718786 10 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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