Children's Home run by Sterling Supported Living Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 1 Registered provider: Sterling Supported Living Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated by a private company. It provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties or have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by an experienced registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 2 children were living at the home and their views were sought.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/06/2025 Full Good 24/09/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 3

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Summary of findings

The staff provide warm and consistent care to children, helping children to feel safe and build positive relationships. Some areas of the home are looking tired and require redecoration. However, leaders and managers have a plan in place to address this. The children are making good progress in education, with increased engagement. The home advocates for the children and ensures their voices are heard. Their views are consistently sought and acted on, contributing to improvements in independence. Safeguarding practice is effective, with appropriate responses to incidents and risk management. There is a new manager in post who has recently registered with Ofsted and is providing good support to the staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team has welcomed one new child since the last inspection. This was a planned move into the home. Leaders and the manager gathered information to inform care planning. This ensured that the identified needs and vulnerabilities of the child moving into the home were carefully considered alongside those of the child already living there.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have positive relationships with the children and know them well. This enables staff to provide consistent, nurturing support that is tailored to the children’s individual needs. The staff are skilled at balancing support with opportunities for independence, helping children to develop socially and build trusting relationships. Warm and playful interactions create a positive environment where children feel secure, valued and have a strong sense of belonging .

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff understand the importance of children having positive and enjoyable relationships with their family and friends. Children are helped to repair and improve relationships with those who are important to them, with increased direct and indirect family time. The manager and staff work with partner agencies to ensure that plans for family time are adhered to and monitored closely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s wishes and feelings are regularly sought, ensuring they have a meaningful say in their day-to-day care. When children share their opinions or preferences, staff respond promptly and act on them where appropriate. This supports children to feel heard and listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans contain detailed information, enabling staff to develop a thorough understanding of each child’s needs and preferences. Staff support children to take part in a wide range of activities that reflect their interests. This includes regularly accompanying one child to watch their favourite team play football. These experiences allow children to build relationships with staff and make special memories. Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 4 The home currently looks tired with marked walls and flaking paintwork throughout. A refurbishment programme has recently started and will be completed in phases over several months to minimise disruption to children. Once finished, these improvements will create a more welcoming and homely environment. However, staff have not yet established consistent routines to support children in keeping their bedrooms clean and tidy. This further impacts the overall presentation of the home and does not encourage

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

children to take pride in their living space.

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

When allegations or suspicions of harm arise against staff, the manager refers these promptly to the appropriate external agencies. These matters are handled swiftly and in accordance with statutory guidance. Children are supported and protected throughout the process, with support provided both to the person making the allegation and the individual who is the subject of the allegation.

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

Risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated, ensuring that all known risks are clearly identified and addressed. Staff use these documents to inform their care practice. The content reflects a strong understanding of each child’s needs and the strategies required to support them.

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

Incidents in the home are handled calmly and effectively. Reports provide a clear account of events, demonstrate reflective practice, and show how follow-up work supports children to learn from experiences and move forward positively. However, there are occasions when the language used is of a negative or blaming tone. This had not been identified by the manager, although he recognises that language used in reports would benefit from being more child centred.

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

Incidents of the children going missing from the home have reduced. When they do occur, staff respond promptly and appropriately, taking immediate steps to locate the child and ensure their safe return. Incident records are detailed and thorough, including debriefs for both the child and staff involved, as well as clear evidence of management oversight. However, missing-from-home protocols do not detail when staff should escalate concerns to the police. There has been no negative impact on the children. This is due to the home’s consistent staff team.

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

The use of physical intervention is rare. When it is used, it is proportionate and focused on keeping children safe. Staff support children with care and sensitivity throughout the intervention. After an incident, children are given time and space to talk about how they are feeling and to ensure they are alright. There is clear management oversight in place to review the appropriateness of each intervention.

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

The registered manager ensures that there is a robust and thorough staff recruitment process. Checks ensure that unsuitable people are prohibited from working with children. Oversight continues after employment with an effective induction and probationary period. Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A new manager has been appointed and has recently registered with Ofsted. He is aspirational for the children and the staff. He has quickly got to know the children well and speaks warmly about them. He has ensured that the children are making good progress while enjoying living at the home and having fun.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is well supported by the responsible individual and the deputy manager. They are committed and share an ambitious vision for the home and what they want to achieve. The staff speak highly of both the leadership and management team, expressing that they feel well supported in their roles. Staff report that they enjoy coming to work and that the positive leadership fosters a supportive atmosphere. This was particularly significant during a recent challenging period, when the staff showed considerable resilience and dedication in maintaining the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is identifying the strengths of the home and areas he wants to develop further. There is a detailed development plan in place. The manager values the strength of teamworking and leading by example. Recognising the need for further development and upskilling, the manager has outlined a plan for staff development. This plan is focused on enhancing the skills and competencies of the team, ensuring that staff are well equipped to meet the needs of the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager holds monthly team meetings. These are productive, and staff contribute to the agenda. This will help further staff development. A therapeutic worker attends the meetings regularly to support staff in adopting a therapeutic view when discussing the children’s needs. This contributes to improved consistency and quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Not all staff receive regular supervision that enables them to reflect on their practice. This limits the manager’s ability to monitor performance and support staff wellbeing. The manager has since strengthened monitoring and quality assurance tools to ensure all staff receive regular supervision moving forwards. Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that the home environment is well maintained and personalised for the children living there. It also relates to staff ensuring children are supported to keep their bedrooms clean. 28 October 2026

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or

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Recommendations

clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from home without Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 7 permission. This must include clear guidance to staff detailing timescales of when the missing procedure must be commenced for each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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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: 2780230 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sterling Supported Living Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Old Police Station, Wharncliffe Road, Ilkeston Derbyshire DE7 5GF

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Inspector

Rachael Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2780230 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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