Children's Home run by Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company in Birmingham

Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 1 Registered provider: Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

Birmingham Children’s Trust operates this home. The home has been registered since March 2018. It provides care for up to 12 children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 10 children were living in the home. Inspectors spent time with all the children.

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Information about this children’s home

The proposed manager has submitted their application to register 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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/06/2025 Full Good 22/10/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/08/2024 Full Inadequate 20/09/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making consistent progress in all areas of their lives. They enjoy living in the home and they have positive relationships with the adults who care for them. Children are being effectively safeguarded. During the inspection, shortfalls were identified in managerial oversight of the home, which have resulted in a ‘requires improvement to be good’ judgement in this area .

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality care that supports them to feel valued and secure. The staff demonstrate dedicated commitment to them. Children have made significant and meaningful progress from their starting points. Relationships between staff and children are warm, affectionate and loving. Children are positive about the care that they receive. They hold hands with and request hugs from the staff who care for them. One child said, ‘The best thing about living here are the adults who care for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are expertly addressed. The staff work effectively in partnership with medical professionals and respond to the evolving care needs of the children. They use information and guidance alongside research to help them to modify their practice for the benefit of the children. This enables the children to have stability, security and consistent care from a team that fully understands their needs. One child has made remarkable progress since their feeding tube was removed. This has had a significant positive impact on their independence, confidence and overall development. With carefully planned support and close collaboration with the child and relevant professionals, staff have enabled the child to develop their feeding skills and become increasingly confident in managing mealtimes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children access education that is appropriate to their individual needs and have excellent attendance. Staff work closely with schools and education professionals to maintain regular communication, monitor children’s progress and ensure that any emerging concerns are identified and addressed promptly. This partnership approach enables staff to understand children’s individual educational needs and provide appropriate encouragement and support in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with people who are important to them, and staff work with families to ensure that this is a positive experience for children. Family members said that staff keep them informed about their children. This practice means that children are able to maintain a sense of belonging in their families, and it promotes their sense of identity. One parent said, ‘They are simply amazing. I can’t thank them enough; it has been life changing for us as a family. The team are like angels on earth. Their [the child’s] speech has come on leaps and bounds. Staff are teaching them the alphabet, and they are now starting to form sentences. I know they are in safe hands; I know that they are loved and staff treat them like their own.’ Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 4 Managers and staff have a clear and effective approach to admissions, ensuring that children are welcomed into the home in a planned, sensitive and child-centred way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Admissions are carefully considered in relation to the individual child’s needs, the existing group dynamics and the home’s ability to meet the child’s assessed needs safely and effectively. These positive transitions have had a significant impact on children’s experiences and outcomes. Children moving into the home are supported to feel welcomed, valued and secure from the outset. Staff take time to understand each child’s history, relationships, routines, preferences and individual needs, enabling care to be personalised and responsive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are comfortable communicating with staff and are supported to develop trusting relationships. Staff recognise changes in children’s presentation and behaviours and recognise these as important forms of communication, responding appropriately to their individual needs. Staff take time to listen to children and respond to their individual communication style. They use appropriate communication strategies to help children express their wishes, feelings and views, and to ensure they are involved in decisions about their care and daily lives. This supports meaningful relationships with staff, promotes children’s participation in their care and helps them to have their wishes and feelings recognised and respected.

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

The strength and consistency of the safe relationships that children have with the staff makes children feel secure. Managers and staff place a high priority on keeping children safe. They work in partnership with the trust to protect children and promote their safety. Staff are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and they have a good knowledge of whistleblowing procedures.

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

Staff know the children exceptionally well. They pick up on social cues if children are struggling and need some support. Staff have a high level of intuition, are responsive to children and understand them. This means that children quickly get the support they need before behaviours escalate.

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

Staff provide a culture of respect, nurture and safety. They are highly committed to children. The positive relationships that managers and staff form with the children are a significant protective factor in helping to keep them safe. As a result, incidents involving the use of restraint are rare. Staff only physically intervene when children become unsettled and show behaviours which place themselves or others at risk of harm. Staff understand the reasons behind children’s behaviour and provide good support to children after any use of restraint. This helps children to move on from the incident. The manager provides scrutiny of all incidents and measures of control to ensure that their use is fair and proportionate. Good management oversight and prompt action to address issues means that children are treated fairly and stay safe.

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

Staff provide children with individualised support to help them understand risk and develop the skills they need to keep themselves safe. Key work on safety is adapted to Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 5 each child’s communication style, level of understanding and developmental needs, ensuring that information is accessible and meaningful. Staff use everyday situations to reinforce awareness of personal safety, relationships, boundaries, online safety and recognising when to seek help. Children are encouraged to make choices and take appropriate risks in a supported way, helping them to develop confidence, independence and resilience.

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

Managers and staff demonstrate a great understanding of children’s vulnerabilities and potential risks posed to them. This awareness is embedded in the staff’s day-to-day work, which effectively reduces and minimises the risks for children. Staff are highly skilled in diversion, distraction and de-escalation techniques. However, children’s behaviour management plans and risk assessments do not provide staff with clear guidance or strategies to support children to keep safe. In addition, there is minimal direction on how to manage and mitigate the risks identified for each child. This shortfall has recently been identified by managers and plans are in place to improve this imminently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the home has experienced significant changes in leadership and staffing arrangements. Two managers and the responsible individual have left the home, and there was a period of high levels of staff sickness, with absences covered by agency staff. While leaders and managers try hard to ensure that, where possible, consistent agency staff are used, this does not ensure good and consistent continuity of care for the children and has the potential to compromise the quality of care provided. These changes have had a measurable impact on staff morale, consistency and the overall stability of the home. A new manager, responsible individual and deputy manager are now in post. They have identified some areas to develop and are working hard to make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff enjoy working in the home and speak with warmth and passion about the children they care for. Staff morale has been mixed since the last inspection and, at times, staff have not always felt supported. Staff spoke of a lack of presence and oversight from the current manager. Changes in the management team have also created uncertainty for staff. While interim arrangements have provided some leadership oversight, the frequency of leadership changes has affected staff feelings of confidence about the future direction of the home. This has created additional challenges in maintaining a stable culture and ensuring that staff feel listened to, supported and valued. Staff have not received regular supervision or annual appraisals in line with policy. They do not have opportunities to discuss issues regarding childcare practice, to help them understand and meet each child’s needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is an extensive training programme in place to provide staff with knowledge and skills that focus on keeping children safe and to support them in providing an individualised approach to each child and their care needs. However, the manager has not ensured that staff training is kept up to date or that casual staff have completed training. This means some staff do not have the skills to understand and manage Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 6 children’s complex needs. In addition, new starters have not been appropriately inducted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There have been significant gaps in the manager’s oversight of the home. Although systems are in place to oversee the home, these are not always consistently implemented in practice, to identify any learning to improve the quality of care for children. For example, manager’s audits were not carried out between June 2025 and June 2026 and repeated recommendations have also been raised by the independent visitor. This fundamentally limits the opportunity for leaders and managers to learn and take action to improve the quality of the home. Since the new deputy manager started work, he has begun to identify that this is an area to develop, and a new monitoring tool has now been implemented. This has been used over recent months and has highlighted similar shortfalls identified during this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Although the manager has submitted a quality of care review, it does not include any feedback from children, staff, families or external professionals. As a result, this review fails to focus on the quality of care provided by the home and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager and staff have developed effective working relationships with placing social workers and other external professionals. Professionals are overwhelmingly positive about the home and the quality of care given to the children. One social worker said, ‘I saw my child last week. They are like a different child; they are so settled and thriving. It is so lovely to see.’ Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 7

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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—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all children’s plans are reviewed, contain accurate information and are kept up to date. 1 November 2026

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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

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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(d)(h)) 1 November 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 8 The registered person must ensure that systems to oversee the quality of care are effective, that there are sufficient staff to care for the children and that all staff receive training in line with the statement of purpose and children’s individual needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff receive practice- related supervision and annual appraisals and are suitably inducted into the home. 1 November 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the review of quality of care includes feedback from all relevant people and is completed within required timescales. 1 November 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 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: 1273663 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Birmingham Children’s Trust Community Interest Company

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Avenue Road, Aston, Birmingham B6 4DU

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Inspectors

Marianne Grandfield, Social Care Inspector Alison Smale, His Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1273663 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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