Children's Home run by Arnfield Care Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 1 SC020133 Registered provider: Arnfield Care 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 8 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 6 children were living at the home. Inspectors met 5 of the children and spoke with 3 of them as part of the inspection.

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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: 25 November 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/11/2025 Full Outstanding 15/10/2024 Full Outstanding 13/02/2024 Full Outstanding 10/10/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 3

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Summary of findings

Children move into the home during periods of crisis in their lives. Staff provide consistency, with firm boundaries that support children to make progress and have a reduction in incidents. Children experience a period of stability while living at the home. They make progress in education, accessing the on-site school that supports and develops their learning. There are some shortfalls in oversight and management of incidents and allegations. Managers know the home and the model of care well and have a clear vision for the home. Staff are well supported in their roles and in developing skills and knowledge.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience positive, nurturing relationships with staff. Staff place the children at the centre of their day-to-day practice, and this helps children to feel supported by the adults around them. Children benefit from dedicated time with staff, which allows them to build relationships where they can comfortably talk to them. Staff are playful and have fun with children, which supports them to navigate the daily routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully considers transitions before children move into the home. There have been times when children have moved in quick succession into the home. Due to careful planning, this has not disrupted the other children. In one instance, a holiday was planned with a child before moving into the home. This gave them the chance to build relationships with staff before moving in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers support children to have planned endings to their time at the home. There have been 2 occasions when notice has been served on children due to staff not being able to meet their needs. In these cases, the children have still moved on from the home in a planned way and have been supported to have a positive ending.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have regular conversations with staff about areas that are important to them. Staff are sensitive to children’s needs while also educational in supporting children to develop. As a result, one child was able to have their phone returned following a period of time without it as ordered by the court.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education support is a real strength of the home. Staff have clear routines that work for children in supporting them to attend education each day. Children are incentivised to engage in the school day and have lots of access to outdoor pursuits and opportunities. Joined-up working between the school and home provides consistent approach for children. As a result, they are all engaging in a full-time educational timetable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are able to express their views and feel confident in sharing their thoughts and feelings. They sometimes express frustrations about the home’s structures and Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 4 boundaries and feel confident in sharing this frustration with the staff. Staff support children to understand their care plans and the next steps following their time living at the home.

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

Children have moved into the home during acute periods of crisis in their lives. Often these are linked to them going missing from care and the associated risks this presents to children. The staff provide very clear structures and routines that are consistent across all the children. This provides stability for children and, as a result, they very rarely go missing from care.

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

Some of the children are subject to a deprivation of liberty order. Managers and staff ensure that the implementation of this order does not affect the other children in the home. Staff understand the permissive nature of these orders and ensure that children are supported to have the least restrictive supervision, unless necessary. This ensures children are not overly restricted around the home. As a result, children are making progresstowards no longer being subject to this order.

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

Staff give consequences to children in response to certain behaviours. Children know when consequences may be issued, and they understand that this is part of the routines and boundaries of the home. The intention of consequences is for them to provide time for children to re-build relationships and to educate children on the impact of their behaviour. Children understand expectations of their behaviours and are supported to make positive choices.

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

There have been incidents where children have made allegations against staff. Managers ensure that allegations are shared with the local authority designated officer, and with the police where required. Safety plans were in place for staff who were subject to these allegations, for them to remain in the home. However, additional information gathering from witnesses has not been evidenced. As a result, leaders did not sufficiently assure themselves that staff were safe to continue working with children. These allegations have all now been closed with no further action.

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

Where physical intervention has been used, it is proportionate and focused on keeping children safe. Records document the triggers and the de-escalation techniques tried beforehand. There are times when records have appeared harsh in how staff have spoken to children during a physical intervention. This is linked to recording concerns, rather than staff practice.

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

Managers’ oversight is always present on physical intervention records and is reflective. However, managers still have oversight of incidents when they have been involved with the physical intervention, or have allegations still being investigated. This prevents sufficient scrutiny of the records and the practice of staff by someone independent. Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is highly therapeutic in his approach. He understands research that underpins the work he completes and has a vision to embed this firmly within the practice of the home. The manager is a supportive person for staff and is keenly involved in the day-to-day running of the home. He builds positive and nurturing relationships with the children, as well as with the staff that support, them to fulfil their potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are knowledgeable about the children, their journeys and the risks with which they might present. Staff feel confident in what to do when a safeguarding concern arises. They report feeling well supported in their role and thoroughly enjoy their roles within the home. As a result, there is minimal turnover of staff, with a core team who have worked together for several years.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions that are supportive and allow them to talk about their practice. They also have their yearly appraisals that allow them to reflect on their overall progress and plans. Staff also recognise that there is always someone they can speak to and raise concerns to if needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular training, including in areas of specific need for the children. The manager identifies any gaps in staff learning and fills these with personalised training for staff when needed. Staff receive training in the therapeutic model that supports them in their approach to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of care review does not include feedback from the children about their care. It also does not include evaluation of the care provided that informs actions moving forward over the coming 6 months. As a result, this document misses the opportunity for the children to have a say in the quality of care of the home and ongoing improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals talk positively about the home and its capacity to provide stability for children in acute crisis. Professionals are confident in the home’s care and ability to keep children safe and to help them make progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring sufficient documentation of any evidence gathered in the event of allegations against staff and that the rationale for staff remaining on shift while awaiting the outcome of any allegation is clear, with the supporting evidence.

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Requirement Due date

This also refers to ensuring that when managers are involved in incidents, particularly when they are subject to an allegation, they are not involved in the management oversight of those incidents to ensure sufficient scrutiny of practice takes place. 17 December 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— 17 December 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 7 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

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Requirement Due date

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)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring that children’s views on the quality of their care are included in the quality of care review. Also, that actions are identified to improve and maintain the quality of care.

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Recommendation

 The registered manager should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC020133 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Arnfield Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Generate Business Hub, 13 Bernard Street, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 7AA

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Inspectors

Becki Cornes-Sinclair, Social Care Inspector Simon Hunter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC020133 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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