Children's Home run by G B A Care Limited in Calderdale

Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 1 SC462593

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company. 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 the inspection, 4 children were living in the home and were all spoken with.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has submitted her application for registration with Ofsted and is currently working towards her diploma qualification.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/07/2025 Full Good 16/09/2024 Full Good 22/01/2024 Full Good 18/05/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 3

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Summary of findings

Four children live in the home and are making exceptional individual progress, fully supported by a dedicated staff team. Although the manager is new to the home, she already knows the children and staff well. In a short time, staff have established nurturing, supportive relationships, ensuring the children feel secure, highly valued, and well cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is welcoming, clean, and well-maintained. The spacious garden overlooks scenic farmland, allowing children to observe the nearby animals. Parts of the home are being redecorated using input from the children. A highlight of the home is the well- equipped games room, which offers a variety of stimulating and relaxing activities. The room features a pool table, cinema projector, and a custom manicure station. This shared space successfully promotes the children to play harmoniously and share with one another.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and staff benefit significantly from a therapeutic wrap-around service. Staff are trained to understand the root causes of trauma, responding to children’s complex behaviours with insight and sensitivity while offering consistent stability during difficult times. The children have deeply trusting relationships with staff, and they continue to build the emotional resilience needed to process significant past events and develop lasting coping mechanisms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s progress in education has been phenomenal considering their starting points and adverse childhood experiences. The manager advocates for the children, through a willingness to constructively challenge external agencies. Staff ensure that children receive the support that they deserve. Determined and meaningful advocacy by staff meant a placement for one child at a school specifically equipped to meet their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Each child in the home has their own ‘reflective journey’ which is a document that sets out their lived experiences, and progress made at the home. The document contributes to life story work and is written sensitively, using language that shows the staff care about the children. These logs clearly show how staff deliberately take the time to get to know the children, understand each child’s trauma and do their upmost to accelerate progress in all aspects of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff effectively meet the diverse needs of all children. Through an open-minded approach, staff ensure each child’s culture and heritage are actively celebrated and valued. Children who explore their gender identity receive sensitive and unique support. Staff make relevant referrals with external specialist services to expand the child’s support network, which helps them to connect with peers alike. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 4 Staff work closely with the therapy team and children’s families to facilitate open communication about the children’s care plans. This ensures that children are absolutely clear about their future. Staff promote children seeing their families and friends. For children placed far from home, staff are tenacious in making sure that these visits happen by traveling with them to their hometowns. Staff are aware of the emotional strain family time can have. They carefully monitor and support children through any

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

anxieties, continuously meeting each child’s specific emotional needs.

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

Staff effectively manage missing-from-home risks through strong relationships and clear mitigation strategies. A child who frequently went missing from their previous home has only done so once since moving to this home. Staff achieved this by understanding the child’s risk profile, subtly monitoring exits, and actively following them to ensure a safe return. No other children have gone missing from the home. This success is a direct result of the strong relationships staff build with children.

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

Staff are alert to children’s triggers and recognise changes in their emotional presentation. Staff listen to children when they talk about their feelings and sensitively help them to process and understand them. Written records of these sessions are child focused; written with curiosity and empathy, and they evidence how staff offer support to children in their most vulnerable moments.

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

Children are supported by staff to understand what risk is. Children are supported to work towards spending time alone in the community and to have sleep overs at their friend’s houses. Children who do have time out in the community respectfully follow their plans to keep them safe when away from the adults who care for them.

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

Risk assessments are comprehensive, regularly updated, and accurately reflect each child’s history and current needs. Support strategies align perfectly with the child’s care plan. These strategies are clearly detailed in incident records, ensuring staff use the correct approaches to support the child’s best interests.

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

Staff are clear that physical interventions are only used where necessary and proportionate. In most circumstances, staff can de-escalate situations in line with children’s plans. Follow up conversations for both staff and children are not consistently completed within required timescales, a gap that management oversight has failed to identify.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The transition between the previous and incoming manager has been sensitive, and purposeful. This has resulted in very little disruption for the children. Rather, children have received a continuity of exceptional care and support. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 5 The new manager is ambitious and has high expectations of the staff team and is supported by a dedicated deputy. She has clear expectations of what good practice looks like and is a role model of this. She challenges staff without delay if practice is not continuously excellent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The therapeutic model of care is well embedded in this home. New and existing staff understand the importance of playfulness, distraction and humour. They know how to implement this model of care to successfully support children to remain calm when they become upset.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is effective and there is regular consultation with the children’s parents, carers and professionals. The excellent relationships ensure that children receive the best possible care and experiences. There is a high level of professional satisfaction. One professional said, ‘The staff take time to get to know the children who move in and build trusting relationships in a relatively short time, and they consider all of the children during difficult times.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are motivated, speak proudly of the children, and praise the home’s leadership. They said that they like working in the home and that they feel supported and that the change in management has not had caused any anxieties. The staff are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need and demonstrate clear confidence in the home’s whistleblowing procedures and all safeguarding matters. Furthermore, a child-centred culture of professional curiosity and peer challenge ensures that the children’s best interests always come first.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions and frequent team meetings. This creates an environment where staff feel heard and are comfortable to openly raise any concerns that they may have. Nevertheless, some supervision sessions do not allow for reflective discussions about the children. This is a missed opportunity for leaders to further support staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring systems identify shortfalls in practice. However, leaders occasionally overlook minor documentation issues. These administrative gaps do not affect the quality of care that children receive. The manager is aware of these shortfalls and is taking action to address them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 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

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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 20 September 2026

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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: SC462593 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor Brian Royd Mills, Saddleworth Road, Halifax HX4 8NF

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Inspectors

Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector (lead) Nabeel Hussain, His Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC462593 8 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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