Children's Home run by Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 1 Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd

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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 one child with social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home. One child had recently moved from the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a manager who is registered with Ofsted and is suitably qualified.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/08/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/06/2025 Full Inadequate 18/03/2025 Full Good 19/12/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 3

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Summary of findings

The child living in the home has recently moved in. Staff have supported them to settle well, and the child says that they feel safe living in the home. Staff understand the importance of providing clear, consistent boundaries, and the child is benefiting from the structure and stability this offers. Staff receive effective support from managers, who promote an ambitious vision for the home and are committed to achieving positive outcomes for the child in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child lives in a home that is well kept and inviting. Their bedroom is spacious and personalised to their tastes. They are comfortable moving around the home and value their room as a safe space where they can keep their special belongings and toys. The child said that they enjoy going out on activities and feel safe living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carefully planned and supported the child’s move into the home. Before moving in, the child had several opportunities to meet staff and become familiar with the home. The manager considered the skills, experience and qualities of staff needed to meet the child’s individual needs. This has helped the child to settle well into the home and begin to develop positive, trusting and meaningful relationships with the adults who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enjoy spending time with the child. They support the child to take part in activities that are meaningful, enjoyable and aligned with their interests. Staff have developed a good understanding of the child’s particular interest in nature and actively nurture this through a range of engaging and educational outings and experiences. Staff speak with love and affection about the child. This caring approach is helping to build the child’s confidence, strengthen their sense of identity and promote their emotional wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s care and behaviour support plans are comprehensive. Documents are written in a child-centred way, setting behaviours in the wider context of the child’s early life experiences and trauma. They guide staff on how to support the child to remain calm and engaged, while offering clear advice for when behaviours escalate.

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

The child is benefiting from established routines and consistency from staff. This reliability in approach is supporting the child to feel safe and, as a result, there have been no significant incidents since the child moved to the home.

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

Managers promote a culture of professional curiosity and encourage staff to consider whether children’s needs are being met effectively. For example, when children move into the home, managers carefully review any prescribed medication and, where Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 4 appropriate, promptly seek input from relevant healthcare professionals. This helps to ensure that medication remains necessary, suitable and in the child’s best interests, supporting positive health outcomes.

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

Staff know how to help the child to remain calm and prevent incidents from escalating. This is effectively supporting the child to avoid more serious incidents in which physical intervention may have been used in the past.

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

Staff use language that is trauma informed and non-shaming and there is a focus on repairing relationships quickly following incidents.

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

Children’s risk assessments include a good level of detail. They guide staff on how to respond to identified behaviours that may challenge. However, when these identify ongoing pieces of direct work with children, they have not been consistently undertaken successfully.

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

One child living at the home went missing regularly. Although staff responded appropriately to incidents and welcomed the child back in a supportive manner, the child’s missing-from-care protocol was not updated following a significant change in circumstances. This resulted in unclear guidance about when the child should be considered missing and led to some independent return home interviews not being completed or recorded. Consequently, opportunities were missed to capture the child’s views and experiences and to use this information to strengthen risk assessments and safety planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a management team that shares a clear and consistent vision for the home and has high aspirations for the child in their care. The manager and responsible individual work closely together and model positive practice, providing strong leadership and direction for the staff team. Staff describe managers as approachable, supportive and trustworthy, and report that they enjoy working at the home. This positive culture helps staff feel valued and well supported, enabling them to provide consistent and effective care for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff value team meetings as a space where they can reflect and have their voices heard. Staff said the manager is receptive to their ideas and acts on these appropriately with safeguarding partners. Minutes of the meetings are detailed, giving those not present a clear sense of practice direction. Safeguarding is discussed in depth and staff competence understood through scenario-based questioning and focused training, such as on the impact of closed cultures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision records are clear and show a good balance of welfare and practice discussions. When concerns have been raised about working conditions, these have been quickly addressed by senior leaders at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 5 Staff are safely recruited, and staff files are organised and accessible. However, there is not yet a consistent approach to checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for all staff, particularly when staff have not subscribed to the update service. Leaders rely on self-declaration by staff between checks, which risks managers not being aware of any changes to suitability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established tools to oversee and audit the home. Systems in place track children’s progress effectively. However, these systems remain in their infancy and are not yet fully embedded in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands that children’s behaviours are often a way to communicate their feelings or are informed by the challenges they have faced in their lives. When required, the manager commissions specialist advice, ensuring approaches to children’s care are appropriate and nuanced. Staff understand children’s needs well and the expectation on them to keep children safe. Despite this, one known risk was not included in historic documentation, and risk assessments would benefit from the inclusion of ongoing learning from practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 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 registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the missing child policy") setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring all children have clear missing-from-care protocols and that independent return home interviews are arranged following a child being missing from the home. 20 August 2026

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. When there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example through undertaking life-story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)  Staff should be recruited safely so that agreed DBS checks safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations,

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 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: 2661513 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Almond Care Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Almond Care Ltd, 4 Barling Way, Nuneaton CV10 7RH

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Inspector

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2661513 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 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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