Children's Home run by Woodleigh Healthcare Children Services Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 1 Registered provider: Woodleigh Healthcare Children Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to 2 children with learning disabilities.

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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 spent time with both children.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is currently without a registered manager.

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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: 2 September 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: 2692118 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/09/2025 Full Good 18/06/2024 Full Good 27/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 3

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Summary of findings

This was a positive inspection. Children were found to be making some significant progress, from either living in the home long term or having moved in more recently.

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Summary of findings

One child who has moved into the home since the last inspection has been supported to navigate significant changes and events by a dedicated and developing staff team. Improvements to the environment are evident and ongoing.

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Summary of findings

The registered manager had left their role before the inspection; however, good oversight and leadership have remained in place through a new responsible individual. A new manager has been appointed but is yet to commence their role.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has been living at the home for a long period, and a new child has moved in more recently. The process of considering the impact of the children living together was well thought out and planned. The children are developing a positive relationship with each other. It was previously thought that the original child would struggle to live with a peer, so this is significant progress. Both children’s families spoke of how positive this is.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Adults support children to access activities both in the home and progressively more in the community. The home environment is adapted and suited to the sensory needs of the children. Adults adopt a planned and thoughtful approach to engaging children in the home with activities they enjoy. The garden is set up for muddy play and trampolining. Children are developing confidence through community-based activities, including trips out and visits to local shops, which help to reduce their anxiety. Both children enjoyed a holiday together and made positive memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Adults are determined to improve education and learning for children. One child has been supported with tutoring during a gap in having a school placement. Adults used some creative thinking during this time to ensure that the child had a positive association with learning. Adults used a building separate from the home for the sessions with the tutor, as well as providing the child with a uniform. The child has now had a positive start to a new school. One child continues to be without an education placement, and this has been for a significant period. However, leaders are continuing to challenge this issue with wider services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Adults support children to explore their thoughts, wishes and feelings. Children’s preferred methods of communication are considered and regularly used. Image-led messages, social stories and objects of reference are all used to engage children in discussion. This supports children to reflect on change, make choices or understand plans. Children respond well to this approach because adults are consistent and committed to ensuring that children can express themselves and feel heard. Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 4 Adults provide children with planned and effective support in relation to their health and wellbeing. Children are improving how they process health interventions because of the consistent and caring approach from adults. Through communication and repeated practice, children feel safe and trust health professionals. This was particularly effective for one child who needed significant dental treatment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Supporting children to build positive relationships with adults, peers and family members is the foundation of the progress they make. Staff know the children very well. They understand their needs and adapt the environment and situations to respond to how children process the world around them. Because of this, children trust those caring for them. Families are included and frequently visit and share in positive experiences. Children’s relationships with their families have improved and continue to strengthen.

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

Children feel safe living at the home because staff understand how their specific needs can increase risk. Children have clear and effective safety plans, and the team knows the plans and how to manage risks. Plans are being streamlined to ensure that staff clearly understand the steps they should take when responding to or de-escalating incidents.

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

Children do not go missing from the care of the team. Staff continually consider and assess the possibility of this risk when supporting children in the community. Appropriate levels of supervision are in place to ensure the safety of children who can sometimes become overstimulated and run away from the staff. However, some plans regarding how to respond if a child were to go missing need updating. Information to help police identify the response required should this happen also needs to be clear and shared. This has not affected children’s safety.

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

Staff have a good understanding of how children can struggle to communicate their emotions or feelings. There is an effective approach to supporting nonverbal children when this leads to increased behaviours of distress that affect their safety. Staff understand triggers and adapt support to help children feel calm. Incidents have significantly reduced because of how well staff know the children. Staff respond quickly to cues from children about what is frustrating them. This has led to a significant decrease in self-injurious behaviours for one child.

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

Incidents where children have struggled to regulate themselves are swiftly reflected on by the team and managers. There is a strong culture of reflection and learning, with careful consideration given to how interventions could have been approached differently to achieve more positive outcomes. Changes to routines and plans are embedded quickly to improve how children feel when daily or necessary situations are repeated.

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

Staff have continued to need to hold children during incidents where behaviour is not safe. However, the number of interventions needed has reduced. Staff are trained in the safe use of restraint. Incidents are reviewed robustly by managers, and staff are supported to reflect on what led to the need to intervene. Children are also supported to Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 5 reflect on being held in a way that they understand, allowing them to communicate how they felt afterwards.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager left their position after a period of reflection with senior leaders in the organisation. There were some shortfalls in oversight, but these are being addressed by a new responsible individual who came into post several months before the inspection. The responsible individual is very experienced and has introduced more stability and structure to the home. They have maintained oversight in the absence of a manager and had successfully recruited a new manager to the role at the point of inspection. The leadership structure is improving with the appointment of a deputy manager and team leaders, all of whom are being supported to develop in their new roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual has a strong vision for the home and high expectations of positive outcomes for children. They know the areas for development in the team and have children at the centre of those plans. Staff feel well supported and are positive about the changes in direction being implemented. The team is now more consistent after staff vacancies were recruited to and the use of agency staff to cover shortfalls has reduced. This is improving the care children receive. Some of the required pre- employment checks for certain staff were incomplete, and there was poor oversight of this from leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The development of the team of staff supporting children has been prioritised. They receive effective training to carry out their roles. Bespoke training that aligns with children’s needs has been delivered. Face-to-face training is preferred where possible, as it is seen as more meaningful and effective. When staff complete training, they are asked to provide feedback about its quality and impact. There is an emphasis on work- life balance from leaders. As a result, staff are happy in their roles, and absence has reduced in a team of staff who work positively together.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals is broadly positive. Those spoken to said that care for children is excellent and that they are making consistent progress. Professionals feel that communication is regular and effective. Families also fed back positively. They feel that the team goes above and beyond in caring for the children, and they all said that they would not want their children to live anywhere else. Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that a comprehensive audit of staff recruitment files is carried out to ensure that all required checks have been completed, are appropriately evidenced, and are satisfactory. 20 October 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when children are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, they work closely with staff and the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that managers and staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their safety plans, agreed between the Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 7 home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take

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Recommendations

to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: 2692118 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Woodleigh Healthcare Children Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 23 Woodleigh Close, Leicester LE5 2HW

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Inspector

Chris Haines, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2692118 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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