Children's Home run by Catherham Lodge Limited in Redbridge

Inspection report for children's home: 2733828 1 Registered provider: Catherham Lodge Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home was registered with Ofsted in June 2025 and is privately owned. It provides care for up to 2 children with emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home. The inspector spoke to both the children during the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2026.

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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: 26 November 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: 2733828 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/11/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2733828 3

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Summary of findings

Children receive good-quality care at this home. Staff work effectively in partnership with external professionals to meet the needs of the children and to reduce risk. Staff support children in promoting and maintaining meaningful relationships with their families. Children engage in a variety of community-based activities, supported by the staff. Leaders and managers provide staff with ongoing training to support them with their professional growth and development. Three recommendations have been made, regarding maintenance and repair work, notifying relevant bodies of serious events and ensuring that records of restraints are clearly recorded and reviewed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children's moves into the home are well planned. Staff work collaboratively with external professionals and support the children to feel welcomed and to settle in quickly. Children are provided with a personalised video from the staff introducing themselves and helping the child to become familiar with the home. As a result, children know what to expect and feel welcome when they arrive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children's bedrooms are personalised to reflect their interests. Staff support children in looking after their bedrooms and ensuring that they are well maintained. Some areas of the home are not in good condition. For example, cracks can be seen in the walls near a door frame, and a kitchen wall unit has been damaged. These shortfalls have a negative impact on the overall presentation of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with all essential health services and are supported by staff to attend relevant health appointments. Staff use one-to-one sessions to help children with their emotional wellbeing and to support them with their independence skills. For one child, external professionals have seen a positive change with their overall self-care since moving to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their education and work alongside the school and alternative education providers. Staff attend relevant educational meetings to support children to achieve their educational targets. Staff give thoughtful consideration to arrangements for children to work with tutors, using the local library as a venue if necessary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a variety of community-based activities, according to their interests. Staff support children to learn about money management and cooking, and they help them to learn independence skills. This enables the children to lead active lives and grow in independence. Staff support children to meet and spend time with their families if appropriate. This helps the children to maintain meaningful relationships. Inspection report for children's home: 2733828 4

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

Staff understand children's vulnerabilities. There are systems in place to help staff to understand children's needs. These include relevant assessments that provide staff with an overview and help staff to take appropriate actions to support children. Leaders and managers ensure that any updates to information are shared with the workforce so that children receive well-informed care.

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

Staff use physical interventions only when necessary to support the children and to keep them safe. Children and staff are provided with opportunities to reflect after the incident, and the manager reviews staff practice to ensure that the intervention was appropriate and child centred. However, records do not consistently enable occasions to be identified when the child is not ready to engage in reflection. In addition, the duration of the intervention is not clearly documented.

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

Staff follow clear protocols if a child goes missing. Staff notify relevant agencies and take steps to support the child to return safely. When the child returns, staff provide them with reassurance and help them to settle back into the home.

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

Leaders and managers follow safer recruitment processes. Staff are supported with induction, mandatory training and ongoing development to enable them to carry out their roles effectively.

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

Staff respond to children effectively when they need additional support. They take appropriate action, provide the child with reassurance and liaise with relevant external professionals as needed to ensure the needs of the child are met. However, on occasion, the registered manager has not notified the regulator of serious events. Although this has not impacted on the quality of the care provided to the children, it limits external oversight by the regulator.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for development for the home. They have plans in place to support the ongoing development of the staff and to improve the physical presentation of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel valued and supported by their leaders and managers. They can share their views, and they are offered opportunities to develop their skills through ongoing training and use of reflective practice sessions. These have helped staff to grow in their understanding and to work with the children more effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with regular supervision, and monthly team meetings are used to ensure that information is shared promptly. Staff find this supportive and beneficial for their practice and development. Inspection report for children's home: 2733828 5 Staff communicate effectively with the external professionals involved in children's care. They share information promptly and work in partnership to review children's needs and to reduce risk. Inspection report for children's home: 2733828 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment and seek to meet the child's basic needs in the way that a good parent would. In particular, managers should address the maintenance and repair needs in the home. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40 (4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home that the registered person considers to be serious (40 (4)(e)). Notifications should be sent to Ofsted without delay. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 63, paragraph 14.10).

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and that they enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice. The restraint record should be clearly documented. Following the use of restraint, any child should be given the opportunity to express their feelings. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint (regulation 35 (3)(c)). ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', pages 49 and 50, paragraphs 9.59 and 9.60).

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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: 2733828 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Catherham Lodge Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: The Gatehouse, 453 Cranbrook Road, Ilford IG2 6EW

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Inspector

Nirmal Gracian, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2733828 8 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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Inspector

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