Children's Home, Residential special school run by SENAD Limited in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 1 Registered provider: SENAD Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is the residential provision of an independent special school. It provides care for up to 8 children who have learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.

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Information about this children’s home

There were 2 children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Both children were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since February 2026 and is registered with Ofsted.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/05/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/12/2024 Full Outstanding 25/07/2023 Full Outstanding 05/07/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 3

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Summary of findings

The children live in a home that is both welcoming and very comfortable. There is ample space for children to be together or spend time on their own. Staff are responsive to the children’s needs. They try each day to encourage the children to learn or enhance their skills, and also have fun whilst doing this. Staff are well supported by the manager. They are of the view that the manager has been a significant factor in the recent improvements within the home. New systems have been developed and introduced and staff are being supported to undertake their role on a day-to-day basis.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection 5 children have left the home, and 1 child has moved in. To ensure the children remained central to the process, the manager worked with the children’s local authority, other agencies and parents to ensure each move was carefully planned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported by dedicated staff. They provide the children with the care they need to thrive. Staff are caring and nurturing in their approach, this contributes to the environment being calm and children being relaxed in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in all areas of their life. This has been achieved through the consistent hard work of the manager and staff. They have implemented structured daily routines and set clear boundaries. The children have responded well to this approach as they know what is being expected of them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are provided with many opportunities to engage in a wide variety of activities. Children enjoy their favourite activities on a regular basis, alongside staff introducing new and enriching experiences. For one child, this meant that they went to the cinema for the first time ever and it was an activity they thoroughly enjoyed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Each child has their own communication aids. Staff are very aware of the best way to engage with each child and seek their wishes and views. For example, children are asked about what activities they would like to do or choose what snack they would like. Staff are patient and allow the children time to process what is being asked, enabling them to respond in their own time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children are supported by staff to remain physically healthy. Appointments are made with health professionals when needed and children are provided with social stories so that they know what to expect when they go to the appointments. Preparing children for their appointments has helped them remain calm and reduce their anxiety. This has allowed one child to receive much needed dentistry intervention. Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 4

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

Staff know the children well. As relationships have strengthened, children have developed a sense of safety and security. Staff know the behaviours of the children and can recognise early signs of dysregulation and respond promptly and appropriately. This helps to prevent situations from escalating meaning children remain calm and settled.

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

Staff continually build on their knowledge of the children and the most appropriate way to support them and keep them safe. There are detailed risk assessments in place. These provide staff with the necessary guidance on how to meet the children’s needs on a day-to-day basis and ensure they remain safe.

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

Children experience times when their behaviours escalate and as a last resort, staff must physically intervene to keep the child and themselves safe. There is manager oversight of incidents and staff are always spoken with. Staff talk to the child after an incident has taken place. However, staff advocate for the child and express their personal opinion of how they think the child feels, based on their observations rather than creating communication tools to explore this with the child. This will enable the staff to determine if any further actions are needed to support the child.

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

There is an extremely effective and robust medication system in place. Staff are meticulous in their management of medication and thoroughly complete all checks. Their diligent approach has contributed to there being no medication errors since the last inspection.

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

Various checks are completed on a daily, monthly and weekly basis to ensure that the home remains a safe environment for the children to live in and staff to work in.

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

Children are supported on a 1:1 basis due to their presenting needs. Therefore, the opportunity for children to engage in any form of bullying is limited. Having this level of support also reduces any risk of them going missing from care as staff are always close by.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager started their role shortly after the last inspection. They have worked extremely hard and have been dedicated to improving outcomes for children. In addition, they have introduced various systems to support the ongoing work and enhance managerial oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection the manager has been focused on coaching, mentoring and up skilling the staff. Staff report that their knowledge, skills and professional judgement is respected. As a result, staff feel valued and relish the opportunity to contribute to the care and day-to-day running of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 5 The manager has a partnership approach to all the work they undertake. The views of external agencies and parents are always sought. The manager considers all viewpoints as valid and that everyone can contribute to the care of the child. This ensures the child has every opportunity to achieve positive outcomes. Parents very much value this approach and feel that the manager is highly responsive and supportive to them and the ongoing care of their children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular, good quality supervision. Staff find supervisions useful and a forum where they can explore different aspects of their practice. The team meet each month. This is an opportunity for the whole team to discuss any practice issues and ensure the children remain central to all the work undertaken in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has captured the training that staff have completed within a training matrix. This also identifies when staff need any refresher training. One child recently moved into the home and the staff have not received any training relating to a particular health need. When this was brought to the attention of the manager during the inspection, they started to explore how this training could be coordinated for the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A number of new monitoring systems have been introduced. However, it has been difficult for the manager to retain her oversight of the documents completed. The manager has used their time in role to focus on a number of priority issues. This has meant that on some occasions, the manager has not checked that documents have been completed to their full extent. In addition, the local authorities have not shared some key documents that the home should have on file. The manager has been proactive in responding to this and while the inspection was ongoing, she started to rectify these issues. Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 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 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

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring they have oversight of the records in the home and that the information within the records is accurate and up to date. In addition, the manager must ensure that they have all the necessary documents on file and this includes documents from the children’s individual local authority. Furthermore, it relates to the manager ensuring staff have relevant training to meet the identified needs of each child. 30 October 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. 30 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 7 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(iv)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that each time a physical intervention is undertaken that the record reflects the duration of each of the interventions. In addition, the child must be spoken with and if necessary, suitable communication aids to be used to assist with this task.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that when reviewing the location risk assessment, they consult with appropriate local services and capture this information within the assessment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: 2581909 8

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 St Georges House, Vernon Gate, Derby DE1 1UQ

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Inspector

Lizette Watts, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2581909 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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