Children's Home run by Nurture Childcare Services Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 1 Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Limited

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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 is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2024.

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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: 30 September 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: 1238043 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/09/2025 Full Good 03/12/2024 Full Good 23/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 3

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Summary of findings

Two of the 3 children living at the home are siblings and have lived there for several years. One child has recently moved in.

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Summary of findings

The home is in a rural setting and is cosy and spacious. Leaders and managers must ensure that they continue to invest in the maintenance of the home and not delay repairs and redecoration.

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Summary of findings

There are considerable risks relating to missing-from-home incidents for one child. Staff ensure that the child returns to the home safely, and incidents have recently reduced.

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Summary of findings

Staff focus on building trust with children and allow them to set their own pace.

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Summary of findings

Staff prioritise monitoring and supporting positive mental health for children. They encourage children to talk about the things that are worrying them. Additional focus needs to be given to vulnerabilities specific to each child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress at the home. One child has recently moved in and is struggling to adapt to being away from their home. Another child is currently struggling with their mental health. Staff use a child-led approach to encourage children to explore activities outside of the home, supporting them to build confidence at their own pace.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Building connection and trust is a priority for staff, particularly when they are an unfamiliar face to the children. This focus means that children are beginning to seek them out when they are upset, and staff respond with warmth and curiosity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children are making progress in education. One child has not been in education for a significant period. Managers have worked collaboratively with the social worker and local school professionals to establish a plan to support the child’s return to school. Another child has improved their attendance at school and is making great progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff encourage children to put their own individual stamp on the home. There are numerous rooms in the home that are ‘free’ and managers encourage the children to take the lead in determining what they can be used for. Children are encouraged to decorate their bedrooms, and one child is supported to care for a cat. The home is generally well maintained, though there are delays in some required repairs. For example, leaders have not promptly addressed damage to the paintwork in the bathroom. In addition, one child’s bedroom needs redecoration and the manager advised that the work is planned. Another child requires extra support to ensure that their room is of an appropriate standard of hygiene, particularly as they have a cat. The use of Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 4 landing and hall sensors to reduce risks for children has not been evaluated for each child by managers. This unnecessarily infringes on children’s privacy.

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

Staff understand children’s individual vulnerabilities and how to reduce them. They follow children’s risk plans and raise concerns with their social workers at the earliest opportunity. This ensures that staff and social care professionals are aligned in their approach to managing risks for children.

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

When children are missing from the home, staff search for them and contact the police when they need to. When children return home, staff talk to them about the reasons why they went missing and ensure that they are offered an independent person to speak to. As a result, the number of missing-from-home incidents are beginning to reduce for one child.

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

Staff have a strong awareness of children’s emotional wellbeing. They look for signs that a child may be experiencing a low mood and provide the child with the opportunity to talk about their worries. Children are beginning to express their feelings in safer and more appropriate ways.

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

Staff use a trauma-informed model to care for the children. This means that physical interventions are kept to a minimum. When physical interventions are used by staff, the in-house trainer reviews the records, and staff are encouraged to reflect on the intervention as a team.

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

Children feel comfortable speaking with staff about their individual vulnerabilities. However, there are missed opportunities to address known risks such as alcohol and e- cigarette use. Furthermore, managers and staff do not ensure that children understand and follow the expectations about not using e-cigarettes, in line with the provider’s policy. This means that children are not consistently supported to understand the risks and develop the skills to keep themselves safe and healthy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced in residential childcare and is a strong advocate for the children’s voices. One child was supported by her to challenge the local authority and express their preference for where they want to live when they leave the home. She strives to ensure that children’s opportunities and experiences are not limited. She is currently organising a holiday to a major European theme park for the children, as well as items for the garden, such as a pool for the summer.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children have experienced several changes in staff since the last inspection. One child, who has lived in the home for several years, has found this particularly challenging. Managers and staff ensure that they explain the changes to the child, and the manager has worked some shifts to ensure that they are provided with a familiar face. The Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 5 manager is committed to re-establishing a stable and consistent team to support children’s psychological safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers hold team meetings regularly, which are well attended by staff. They are a space where the team identifies new strategies to help children to stay safe and make progress. The therapist commissioned by the provider regularly visits the home to provide staff with additional opportunities to reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff complete a combination of face-to-face and online training to increase their skills in line with children’s individual needs. However, leaders and managers do not ensure that staff training is refreshed regularly. One child has global development delay, but the training to support staff understanding of this was offered some time ago. This does not provide assurance that staff knowledge remains up to date or reflects evidence-based practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide children with a commitment to their care before they move in. A child who has recently moved into the home experienced significant distress when moving from their previous home. The manager and staff continuously adjusted the child’s transition plan to try to provide them with reassurance and show the child that they care. However, managers did not assess the child’s risks with the children already living at the home, or whether staffing levels and staff skills were sufficient to meet the child’s needs. Although children have remained safe, managers failed to properly identify and reduce potential risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment procedures are followed by leaders and managers to ensure that everyone working in the home is safe to do so. However, leaders and managers do not provide staff with clear guidance to follow to ensure that children are safe when external contractors are working in the home. The manager is taking steps to address this shortfall. Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 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— that staff—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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.

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the children’s risk plans contain all identified risks for the children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff hold regular conversations with children to ensure that they understand the risks related to e-cigarette and alcohol use.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff support children to follow the policies and procedures relating to the use of e- cigarettes in the home. 25 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 7 The registered person must ensure that staff are provided with clear plans to ensure that children are safe when external contractors attend the home for repairs.

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that managers complete a thorough evaluation to understand a child’s risks before they move into the home. Managers must evaluate whether there is sufficient staff on shift, whether they have the skills to address these risks, and whether the child can live safely with the other children. 25 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 25 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(ix)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the use of internal sensors to monitor movements are only used when needed to safeguard each child and are kept under regular review.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that maintenance repairs are completed quickly. This includes redecoration to the main bathroom wall and the redecoration of one child’s bedroom. Additionally, children should be supported to keep their bedrooms to a high standard of cleanliness, particularly where there are pets.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff have access to training that is specifically related to children’s risks and needs. This includes providing staff with regular refresher training to ensure that their skills and strategies of support are current. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.1). Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 9

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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: 1238043 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Calls Wharf, C/O Pebbles Care Ltd, 2 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7JU

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Inspector

Sarah Gilbert, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 11 regulates and inspects to 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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