Children's Home, Residential special school run by The Senad Group Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 1 SC372504 Registered provider: The Senad Group Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered to provide care for up to 39 children and young people aged from 5 to 19 years who may have learning disabilities, Prader-Willi syndrome or autism spectrum conditions.

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Information about this children’s home

Children live in one of 5 houses. There is an independent special school on the same site. This inspection focused solely on the residential children’s home.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there was a total of 18 children living in the homes and several of the children participated in 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: 30 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: SC372504 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/09/2025 Full Good 06/11/2024 Full Outstanding 27/11/2023 Full Outstanding 20/07/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 3

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Summary of findings

Children continue to make good progress with achievable and realistic targets being set. They are supported by caring staff who work hard to provide children with opportunities to develop their independent living skills. Children participate in varied activities both locally and further afield, where an objective is to have fun and create lasting memories. Children continue to be involved in incidents, and these are managed well by staff alongside children’s emotional resilience being developed. This has resulted in a decrease in incidents overall. Staff enjoy working in the home. There is a focus on continual learning and reflection on lessons learned to ensure that staff are fully equipped with the skills and knowledge to do their role.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, 6 children have moved into the home and 3 have moved out. Two of the children who moved into the home only lived there for a few months. This was due to the manager determining that the home and school could not meet their needs. The manager has reflected and reviewed the admissions process and identified where the process could be strengthened to reduce the need to end placements early.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are 5 homes across the site that are currently in use. While 3 homes feel welcoming, this is not consistent across the 2 other homes. There are a number of maintenance issues to be addressed, and work is needed to improve the garden area so that it is safe and accessible for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have made some form of progress since the last inspection. This has been achieved through the dedicated work of the staff. Staff are not deterred when they have tried something with a child and it hasn’t been successful. Rather, they have persisted and adapted their approach so that the child was able to achieve something that mattered to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s individual needs are well documented within their key documents, but at times some information is not consistently recorded. Staff offer personalised care to children, which supports them to make progress in areas they find challenging. For example, one child was finding it difficult to access the community. Meaningful work was undertaken with the child that allowed them to overcome their worries, and they now go out and have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported to help them keep physically and emotionally healthy. Some children follow specific eating plans that have the input and oversight of a dietician. Staff ensure that the children adhere to these plans but never to the point where children feel like they have been denied food. Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 4 Staff recognise the importance of children spending time with the people who matter to them. They actively promote family time whenever this is appropriate and safe to do so. When challenges arise, staff work proactively with families to find solutions and support the progression of family arrangements. For one child, they have gone from never seeing their father to progressing to unsupervised time together. In addition, consistent relationship-building with one child and their family helped family members gain the confidence to take their child on holiday for the first time.

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

There has been focused work undertaken to better understand the behavioural incidents of the children. The manager has worked with the behavioural lead to explore trends and patterns of the behaviours shown. When required, staff have received further training to better understand the needs of the children and how they should respond when children start to become anxious or distressed. Adopting a proactive approach to managing behaviour has seen an overall reduction in incidents. This means that children are better able to regulate their emotions, contributing to a calmer environment for everyone in the home.

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

When incidents occur, these are well managed by staff. Staff follow the right protocols that are in place. The manager ensures that both children and staff are spoken with after incidents. Staff are provided with time to reflect on their practice and explore any lessons learned. There is appropriate management oversight of incidents.

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

When a complaint has been made, they have been reviewed and the complaints process followed. The manager has ensured that suitable investigations have taken place. On conclusion of the complaint, the manager has shared the outcomes with relevant people and, if necessary, changes have been made where shortfalls have been identified.

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

Children do not generally go missing from the home. There have been 2 incidents since the last inspection involving 2 children. Staff responded in line with the children’s missing-from-home protocol. Managers’ oversight is evident and reflection and learning have been identified. However, the social worker did not complete the return home interview.

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

Physical interventions occur in the home. They are proportionate and recordings are completed within timescales and have the manager’s oversight. At times, some records are not specific and lack some detail. Children are spoken with and their wellbeing checked on. Children are helped to explore different ways to manage their emotions and help them remain as calm as possible.

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

The medication administration process is well established. Before administering medication, staff complete a robust competency assessment to ensure they have the necessary knowledge and skills. Staff administer a high volume of medication each month and, while some errors have occurred, the manager has analysed these incidents effectively. This analysis shows that medication errors have reduced overall, despite a Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 5 significant increase in the number of medications administered, reflecting improvements in practice and management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is supported in their role by 2 deputies alongside 5 house managers. Together, they provide a leadership team for the homes under the one registration.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child centred in their approach and is always aiming for the children to be positively challenged in their daily lives, so that they can achieve the best outcomes possible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are equipped with the necessary skills and training for them to be effective in their role. Where there has been a need for some child-specific training to be undertaken, this has been actioned.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership and management team constantly seeks to improve practice in the home. The team is highly reflective and always keen to explore lessons learned and, where necessary, implement changes. This includes implementing feedback from regulation 44 visits and the independent visitor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a recent change to the recording of supervision. Artificial intelligence is used to capture the discussions held in supervision. Managers have advised that this has saved time as the whole process has become more efficient. However, one outcome is that there are various supervision templates being used and there is no one consistent process being followed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team meetings are held within each of the individual homes and the homes’ managers also meet with the registered manager and deputies. This allows for the registered manager to have greater oversight of all the homes. In-house team meetings provide an opportunity for the house manager to explore staff understanding of safeguarding, working together as a team or lessons learned through daily practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a focus on co-production since the last inspection, promoting greater partnership working. Children, their parents and various professionals come together and plan how they are going to respond to children’s needs and what support will be put into place. Professionals note that communication from the staff and leaders is good overall. Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 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(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 refers to the manager having in place suitable monitoring systems to ensure that all information contained within children’s and staff records are up to date. In addition, the manager should ensure that there is a consistent approach embedded to record staff supervisions. The manager must also ensure that local authorities complete return home interviews. 30 November 2026

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 30 November 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(vii)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the manager ensuring that all accommodation for all the children is a homely and welcoming environment.

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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: SC372504 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: The Senad Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Senad Group Ltd, 1 St. Georges House, Vernon Gate, Derby DE1 1UQ

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Inspectors

Lizette Watts, Social Care Inspector Rebecca Barker, Social care Inspector Becky Thompson, Social care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC372504 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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