Children's Home run by We are Juno CIC in Wirral

Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 1 Registered provider: We are Juno CIC Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a community interest company. It provides care for 4 children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 4 children were living at the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in August 2024. The registered manager left the role in December 2025. The new manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/07/2025 Full Good 17/03/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 3

p.2

Summary of findings

Children have positive experiences with staff who they trust. The relationships between children and staff are a key strength of the home and help children to feel valued.

p.3

Summary of findings

Staff work hard to support children to be safer. Children care about the views of staff, and this dynamic has helped children to consider the impact of their behaviours.

p.3

Summary of findings

Leaders and managers work together to ensure that they have effective oversight of the home. They work alongside other professionals to advocate for children and to ensure that care meets their needs.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have developed strong relationships with staff and can name who they would approach if they had any worries. Children said they like living at the home and gave it ‘10 out of 10’. Records show numerous examples of meaningful conversations between children and staff, which demonstrate the strength of their connections.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child moved out of the home quickly. Managers and professionals involved acknowledge that the dynamic with another child already living at the home was not positive and had become unsafe. While the child received little notice of their move, staff ensured that the move was positive and the child was supported throughout. The provider completed a thorough analysis and review of the placement to identify areas of learning.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A move into the home for siblings was well planned and done at the children’s pace. The approach was positive and ensured that all children were well prepared for the change.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Engagement in education is encouraged, with children sitting exams and having excellent attendance. However, for one child there has been limited progress since the last inspection. While home tutoring has doubled to 4 hours a week, the manager accepts that professionals are failing the child. Options are being considered for plans to reintegrate the child into school. However, the barriers to learning have not been addressed. The child has a zest for learning, but records of informal education do not capture this.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well understood and issues are managed sensitively. One child’s anxiety is understood, and they spend time with an art therapist to support their emotional wellbeing. However, there has been no formal monitoring of their anxiety and links to poor sleep hygiene to support discussions with health professionals. Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 4 Children have positive experiences and are helped to explore their interests. A holiday abroad is planned, and all the children have been encouraged to think about their wish lists for the summer break. Staff support children to engage in activities such as drives out in the car, karting, bike rides and community groups. The home is beautifully presented and child focused with personalised bedrooms and relaxing spaces.

p.3

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

Staff understand the risks to children, and they use the agreed strategies effectively. Staff make use of their strong and trusting relationships with children to explore their behaviours and understand their feelings. This has helped one child to consider the choices they had been making about friendships.

p.4

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

Progress has also been made with supporting a child to consider the impact of their medication on their behaviours. The team uses an interactive tool to understand children’s views on the progress they have made and to consider the impact of the support provided. While the risks for children have reduced, the progress made is not clearly reflected in children’s plans.

p.4

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

Incidents are managed well. When children go missing from home, staff go to great efforts to search for them and to communicate with their friends and family until children are safely returned.

p.4

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

Consequences are used effectively to support children to consider the impact of their behaviours. The measures used are fair and appropriate to the concerns.

p.4

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

Allegations made by children are managed well, and managers ensure that the appropriate professionals are involved. On one occasion, there were delays in the allegation being brought to the manager’s attention, which the manager addressed.

p.4

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

There are safer recruitment practices in place, which means that staff are safe to work with children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an acting manager in post. She has made an application to register with Ofsted.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have effective oversight of the home. The manager has completed an analysis to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the home to inform her planning. This means that the manager has a good awareness of what works well and what needs further development.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have sound processes in place to support their oversight of safeguarding. They complete thorough audits, review incidents and conduct fortnightly safeguarding meetings to consider concerns, impacts and themes. Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 5 There is a culture of learning at the home, which is driven by the responsible individual. This informs staff training, which is tailored to meet the needs of the children and is carried out in a timely way. Training is often developed with the home’s psychologist, meaning that it is specific to children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been some tension in the team about recent staffing changes. Leaders and managers have acted quickly to understand this, and there is work underway to address the causes and rebuild cohesion in the team.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supervised by both managers and through clinical supervision with the provider’s psychologist, which is specific to support staff practice with the children in their care. Sessions support reflection and consider the emotional impact of the role. However, there is no tool to track when supervision sessions are completed for the team and any reasons for delays.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

While team meetings focus on the actions needed to provide consistent care, recordings do not demonstrate staff input and reflection.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Annual appraisals of staff are of good quality and support staff development. They include feedback from children and colleagues but do not include feedback from professionals. Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

p.6

Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

p.6

Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

p.6

Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

p.6

Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

p.6

Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority; 31 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 7 help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x)(b))

p.7

Requirement Due date

In addition to the above, leaders and managers must ensure that informal education completed by staff is recorded in detail to demonstrate the child’s learning.

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff encourage children to take a proactive role in looking after their day-to-day health and wellbeing. Staff should support children to understand their own health concerns regarding their sleep and anxiety through regular monitoring, which can then assist with referrals to health services. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The registered person should ensure that as part of staff responsibility to continually and actively assess the risk to children, records should identify where risks have reduced or have been removed and where new risks to children have emerged. Monitoring should support discussions with children about their progress or any new concerns. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should use internal monitoring to ensure that staff supervision

p.7

Recommendations

is taking place regularly in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Monitoring should identify where meetings have been rearranged due to sickness or annual leave. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should ensure that team meetings support the team to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care as a group. Records of meetings should demonstrate staff input. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff appraisals consider, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 8 member over the year. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

p.7

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: 2783439 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 A Queen Insurance Building, 24 Queen Avenue, Liverpool L2 4TZ

p.9

Inspector

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2783439 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.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10