Children's Home run by Cedarways Residential Child Care Albury House Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 1 Registered provider: Cedarways Residential Child Care Albury House Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned. It is registered to care for up to 3 children with social and emotional difficulties and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 2 children were living at the home. They were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

An experienced and suitably qualified registered manager oversees the home.

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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: 8 December 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: 2724258 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/12/2025 Full Good 17/09/2024 Full Good 03/10/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 3

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Summary of findings

Children have made individual progress in key areas of their lives due to consistent staff support. Staff have formed positive relationships with children, which contributes to their progress. Leaders and staff promote good health and education outcomes for all children. Leaders and staff provide a child-focused environment, and encourage children to personalise their bedrooms. Shortfalls have been identified with some aspects of fire safety, staff’s assessment of risk when a child was at risk of going missing on one occasion, and one staff member’s qualification.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home. Staff supported the child to develop their independence skills. This included learning to prepare meals and booking appointments and giving them support with education plans. As a result, every effort was made to ensure the child was as prepared as possible for their transition to the new setting. Leaders and staff remain in contact with this child due to the positive relationships which were formed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff’s relationships with children are nurturing and positive. There has been minimal change in the staffing team since the last inspection. Staff have developed a broad understanding of each child’s needs. Children are relaxed in the presence of staff, and they value the nurturing interactions. One child’s communication with staff has improved significantly. Staff are passionate when speaking about children. One staff member said, ‘The young people are a credit to work with. Building positive relationships has been the highlight of this work for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and staff provide children with fun and enriching experiences. Staff plan activities around children’s interests, including trips to the bowling alley, shopping in nearby towns and going to the cinema. These experiences support the children to develop positive relationships with one another and with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff support children to achieve their educational goals. Staff understand children’s career interests. They use this knowledge to support children to find suitable education or training courses. Leaders advocated for one child to resit their exams, giving them further opportunity to improve their outcomes and achieve success.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and warm. During the inspection, the home was being redecorated to create a fresher and more inviting environment. Leaders recognise that this supports the children to feel safe and comfortable in their surroundings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are paramount. The registered manager and staff provide regular ‘you say, we did’ sessions for children. This helps ensure that the views raised by children Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 4 have been listened to and responded to in a timely manner. Consequently, children feel reassured that their voices are heard and that they are valued at the home.

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

Leaders and staff have a clear understanding of children’s risks and vulnerabilities. Leaders regularly consult with external professionals to ensure that risk management plans are up to date, effective and reflect any new risks that emerge. They ensure that staff are provided with the most up-to-date information about the children. This ensures that staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities and that children’s safety is consistently promoted.

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

Leaders and staff have a consistent approach to the management of behaviour. They do not rely on the use of consequences but focus on having regular conversations with children to help them reflect and to make better choices in the future. One child said they acknowledge that their behaviour has improved since living in the home.

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

Recruitment processes are robust and support the safe employment of staff. Leaders carefully investigate and follow up any concerns identified from references. This provides assurance that individuals are suitable to work with children.

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

There have been no allegations raised by children since the last inspection. Leaders and staff ensure that children understand how to raise concerns should they have any. Children can identify trusted adults that they can talk to if they have any worries or need reassurance. They feel that they are supported and cared for.

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

Fire safety is not always effective in the home. Leaders failed to respond in a timely manner to the actions set out in the fire risk assessment. This focused on water damage in the basement. The same issue reoccurred, despite it being noted as high risk. This does not provide assurance that fire safety is monitored effectively.

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

Staff mostly respond appropriately when children are missing from home. Guidance for staff is clear and supports them in how to respond. However, on one occasion, staff supported a child to visit the train station only a few hours after they had returned following a missing-from-home incident. Although the child had been granted free time, staff did not sufficiently consider the significance of the earlier incident or the potential risks associated with this decision. Following this, leaders reviewed and updated plans around free time to ensure that further opportunities for the child to go missing would be minimised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a suitably qualified registered manager who demonstrates care for the children and is committed to providing them with positive experiences at the home. She is, also, focused on staff development and understands staff’s needs well. This knowledge is shared with the deputy manager who is well informed and committed to the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 5 Staff feel well supported by leaders. They receive regular supervision. Leaders provide a range of training opportunities, for example, in therapeutic interventions, including the PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy) model of care. This ensures that all staff have appropriate knowledge to support children effectively. Staff said this helps improve their knowledge and understanding of how to support children. Team meetings include opportunities for reflection on practice and discussion around staff wellbeing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This helps staff feel confident to seek additional support when required and to feel a valuable member of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders work well with external professionals. The manager regularly communicates with education providers to share updates on what works well with children in the home. One education professional said, ‘There is so much nurture in the home. [Name of child] appreciates their own space when needing to regulate. They speak about how at home they have space. They now do this within school.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Most staff hold or are working towards the required qualifications. However, one member of staff has worked in residential care for over 2 years and has not yet completed the level 3 diploma for residential childcare. As a result, they are outside the required timescale for achieving this qualification. The manager is working closely with the staff member and training provider to address this. Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 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

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)) 16 September 2026

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual—

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Requirement Due date

does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or 16 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 7 works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b) (6)(a)(b))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are provided with the safeguarding skills to help them identify signs that children may be at risk, and to support children to manage and reduce any risks. Staff should encourage children to express their views about whether they feel safe both within and outside the home. Staff should support children to understand how to ask for help to stay safe, and that the home is an environment which supports this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)

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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: 2724258 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cedarways Residential Child Care Albury House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 45 Burton Road, Branston, Burton-on-Trent DE14 3DL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Karmen Buckerfield

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Inspector

Chanel Bryant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2724258 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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