Children's Home run by Friends Together Care Homes Ltd in Doncaster

Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 1 Registered provider: Friends Together Care Homes 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 run by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with all the children currently living at 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/08/2025 Full Outstanding 27/08/2024 Full Good 08/08/2023 Full Good 03/10/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 3

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Summary of findings

Managers are skilled and experienced; they lead a team of staff who are committed to the children in their care. Staff communicate effectively with children and other professionals. Children’s views are regularly sought and their wishes and feelings acted on. Managers and staff have positive relationships with children. This creates an environment where children trust staff and can be open and honest. Staff promote education and health. Managers advocate for children regarding their education. Staff seek medical advice appropriately. Children are supported to attend both routine and emergency health appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from warm and nurturing relationships with staff. Staff are responsive to their individual needs. Children say that they feel safe and that there are adults they can talk to if they are worried. One child said, ‘Staff are good; they care. I got lucky living here.’ Positive achievements and experiences are celebrated in the home, such as one child completing their exams and attending the end of school prom. Staff are proud of children, and photographs of the children and their achievements are displayed throughout the home. This supports the children’s sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children enjoy relationships with people who are important to them. Staff have positive relationships with children’s families and keep them informed about their child’s wellbeing and progress. Staff transport children to see family members and invite them to visit the home. Managers and staff remain in contact with children who no longer live in the home and continue to offer them support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively seek children’s views and help them to express them. Daily discussions provide a time for children to share their wishes and feelings and take part in decisions about things that matter to them. Time is allocated each week to plan the meals and activities for the forthcoming week, and children’s views are acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage in a wide range of activities promoting their confidence and independence. Staff support children to plan activities. Risks are assessed enabling children to take part in new experiences safely. This supports children to develop skills and safely explore new opportunities. For example, one child enjoyed a skydiving experience. One child said the best thing about living at the home was ‘staff take us places and plan activities’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff capture the memories and progress each child makes. Children collect items from their favourite events to put in their memory boxes. Photos are captured in an online system that all significant people can access to ensure that memories are saved safely for the child to access currently and in the future. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 4 Managers are committed to improving the standards of the physical home environment and have made improvements since the last inspection. There are plans for further renovations to the home. There is damage to property in the home. Managers are aware of this and have started to implement some of the required repairs during the inspection.

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

Staff use their relationships with children to manage behaviour and help children to stay safe. The police have been used to support behaviour management on 2 occasions. This has been proportionate and appropriate to the presenting behaviour and was a last resort to ensure safety. Managers and staff talk to children about their feelings following incidents and share learning to develop practice. Managers review incidents and use lessons learned to develop plans and staff’s skills in de-escalation.

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

Staff understand children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. Children’s care plans and risk assessments are detailed and are reviewed and updated when needed. When incidents occur, staff share information promptly with relevant professionals, ensuring that there is effective partnership working which promotes children’s safety. Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities and will make referrals to statutory or specialist services if required.

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

Children understand that staff will check their rooms if they are worried that they have items that could compromise their safety. Staff will dispose of items that may present a risk to children. Children know staff do this because they care about them and want them to be safe. Staff talk to children about lifestyle choices that support healthy decision-making, for example reinforcing that vaping is discouraged and is not permitted in the home.

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

Staff understand the risks associated with exploitation and children going missing from home. On 2 occasions, one child has left the home without staff’s knowledge. Once staff were aware, the missing-from-home plan was followed. There is a detailed missing-from- home plan, and staff know what to do if the child goes missing. Staff will actively search for the child. Staff spend time with the child to help them understand the risks they face and how to keep themselves safe. Managers have reviewed the incidents with staff and discussed the learning to strengthen practice and reduce the likelihood of the child leaving the home without staff’s knowledge in the future.

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

Children are protected by carefully considered staffing arrangements. Risk assessments are regularly reviewed to ensure that staffing levels remain appropriate and responsive to children’s needs. Due to a change in a child’s need which temporarily required more adults to ensure that they are safe, additional staff were required to work in the home. The use of agency and additional staff meant that children received care from some staff who do not know them well. Children and parents said that this meant on occasions rules and boundaries were inconsistent. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced and committed manager. The manager knows the staff and children well. Staff consistently spoke positively about the manager, noting that she is ‘always putting others first before herself, this being with staff or the young people’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision sessions. Staff report that managers are available, supportive and provide clear direction and nurture. The manager is committed to staff’s wellbeing and creates a positive culture where staff are encouraged to ask for support. Staff enjoy coming to work and many staff are long-standing, which contributes to children’s stability and relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are regular, well attended and staff understand their value. The manager uses these sessions to hold reflective discussions to review the care offered to children and staff’s development. The meetings support the running of the home, focusing on continual improvements, children’s experiences and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a strong advocate for children. Managers and staff work with other professionals to ensure that children have access to the support and care that they need. The manager has developed strong partnerships with external professionals, and she provides them with weekly detailed progress reports.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The current monitoring system is not effective in supporting the manager to identify which mandatory training is up to date and what training has been completed. Not all staff completed the provider’s mandatory safeguarding training within approved timescales. At the time of the inspection, while all staff had completed the essential training, the system was not accurately updated to reflect this. The manager is aware of this and is reviewing the system to introduce a more effective method of monitoring training. The current system impacts on the manager’s ability to ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills required to safeguard children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An independent visitor attends the home regularly and provides a report. The independent visitor does not consistently obtain views of professionals and other relevant people involved in the children’s care. The reports do not consistently provide an opinion as to whether children are safeguarded effectively or whether the home promotes the children’s wellbeing. They have also regularly visited at times when children are attending education. This prevents the regulator from gaining independent views about the care children are receiving. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children’s wellbeing. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a) (4)(a)(b)). 18 September 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that expectations of behaviour are consistent for all staff and children in the home. These expectations should be clear and unambiguous to enable children to receive consistent care and agreed boundaries from all staff. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)  The registered person should ensure that there is a workforce plan in place which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 7 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: 1232650 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Friends Together Care Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 7 Tenter Lane, Warmsworth, Doncaster DN4 9PP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Stacey Hargreaves

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Inspector

Gemma Sheader, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1232650 9 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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Inspector

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