Children's Home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Darlington

Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 1 SC485540 Registered provider: Witherslack 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 home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to 7 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 2022.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 7 children were living in this home and all were spoken with.

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Information about this children's home

There is a school on the same site as the home. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this site.

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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 outstanding

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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

Date of last inspection: 22 October 2025

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/10/2025 Full Outstanding 26/11/2024 Full Good 10/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/10/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 3

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Summary of findings

Children experience nurturing care, which helps them to thrive in all areas of their development. The manager and staff invest time to develop meaningful relationships with children and to understand their individual needs. This means that children benefit from bespoke, individualised care. Children enjoy a wide range of activities that promote their self-confidence and social skills and provide them with a host of positive life experiences.

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Summary of findings

Strong multi-agency working alongside effective management oversight ensures that robust safeguarding practices are in place. Leaders and managers provide a high level of support to staff, children and families. A dedicated and skilled staff team provides stability and child-focused care to children and this helps to give children a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are helped to make exceptional progress in their education. Children have full school attendance, which is a significant improvement from their starting points. Staff reinforce the importance of education in a way that means that children are enthusiastic about learning. Staff work closely with professionals from the on-site school to ensure that educational programmes are tailored to children's individual needs and abilities. One parent said that the progress made in their child's education is 'incredible'.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff create an environment with a strong focus on family values, which leads to a distinct nurturing feeling in the home. The home is decorated with lots of photographs of children and staff engaging in various activities. Photographs of children who have previously lived in the home remain on display, showing that children are remembered when they move out. Children who have moved out continue to be supported by staff, along with their families, particularly in times of need. This shows children that they are valued and promotes enduring relationships and lifelong links.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit from high levels of support to maintain and develop meaningful relationships with people who are important to them. Staff work hard to promote and progress family time, and advocate for this where it is safe and appropriate for the child. Parents say that staff listen to, and understand, children. Communication with families is good and this contributes to the key people in children's lives working consistently to support children to make progress. One parent said that the progress made by their child has been 'life changing' for their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to build their emotional resilience and confidence. Children who struggle in social situations benefit from taking part in group activities with their peers, such as participating in local football and rugby teams. Staff are proud of children and celebrate their achievements. This makes children feel loved and valued. Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 4 Children say that enjoy living in the home and that there is nothing that they would change. They are supported to develop excellent social skills and significantly increase their confidence in their own abilities. Staff and children have excellent, reciprocal relationships, which are helping children to grow into confident and well-rounded young people. Children's increased confidence and the supportive relationships they have with staff encourage them to be ambitious for the future and equip them with the resilience

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children take part in a wide range of activities, celebrations and charity events. Staff strive to understand children and they tailor activities to their individual interests, needs and abilities. Children benefit from holidays both as a group and individually. Detailed and individualised planning ensures that these are positive experiences for children. This variety of experiences ensures that children make life-long memories, which enhance their sense of identity and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is presented to a high standard throughout. Children's bedrooms are well maintained and children are encouraged to take pride in their personal space. When children cause damage to their personal space, staff take appropriate action to minimise risks and to prevent further damage. However, there is no mechanism in place to review these actions or to consider whether they are effective in helping children to understand more-positive ways of managing their emotions.

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

Staff have an in-depth understanding of safeguarding practice and receive ongoing, bespoke training, which is specific to the needs of the children. This helps to strengthen their knowledge and skills in responding to individual children and managing risks that they face.

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

Staff are highly flexible in their care for children. Individual support plans are detailed and tailored to children's needs. When needed, they are adapted to ensure that they remain up to date and continue to provide clear guidance for staff. Staff are confident and child centred in their roles. They are well attuned to children's unique needs and support them in ways that they respond to best. This has helped to reduce the number of incidents that children have been involved in.

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

Children become significantly more settled living in the home. For one child, there has been a clear reduction in incidents of restraint, demonstrating that approaches that staff use are effective in supporting them at times of distress. When restraints are used, these are proportionate, low level and only used in order to keep children and others safe. Children are supported to reflect on incidents and they develop a good level of understanding around the effect that negative behaviours can have on others. Restorative practice is prioritised and this helps children to learn how to maintain and repair relationships. Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 5 Allegations against staff are taken seriously and responded to promptly and in line with safeguarding procedures. Concerns are managed sensitively and escalated appropriately by the manager. Appropriate, but proportionate, actions are taken by the manager to

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

mitigate the risk of harm to children and repair relationships between children, staff and families when needed.

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

Consequences for children are rarely used. Interventions and incentives are individualised to the needs of children. Staff have a deep understanding of the children and know what strategies work well for them. As such, children feel understood and build trusting relationships with staff, and incidents have significantly reduced.

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

Managers have effective oversight of any incidents that take place. They have a clear focus on taking a trauma-informed approach and identifying any learning that can be taken from incidents. Staff demonstrate professional curiosity to identify changes in children's behaviour. This helps staff to identify strategies that are effective in supporting children and to develop and maintain child-focused de-escalation methods.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is experienced, highly child-focused and takes time to engage in meaningful activities that children enjoy. This helps him to understand children's care needs and risks well. The manager is a visible and hands-on presence in the home and is available to both children and staff whenever needed. He leads by example and this helps to provide children with a nurturing environment and positive experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has a strong focus on developing the staff team and, at times, encourages staff to move out of their comfort zones to create a culture of ongoing professional development. The manager drive improvement by identifying and putting to good use the varied skills of the staff team. This improves the environment for children and the quality of care that they receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff speak highly about the personal support they receive from leaders and managers. Staff describe the manager as approachable, knowledgeable and always there should support be needed during difficult times in work or in their personal lives. Staff enjoy their roles and are committed to the home and children. One staff member said that they enjoy their role so much that it does not feel like coming to work. This contributes to high levels of stability in children's care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff supervisions sessions are thorough, relevant and beneficial. Highly reflective and comprehensive discussions take place between the manager and staff. This supports staff to identify positive practice, lessons learned and areas where practice may be improved. Staff practice is regularly reviewed by managers, and learning is shared in supervision sessions and team meetings. This contributes to ongoing practice development and improvements in the care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager works closely with a wide range of professionals to ensure that children continue to make progress. There is good communication, and external professionals Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 6 praise the time that the manager and staff have taken to build positive relationships with children's families. In particular, the manager is skilled in building trust with families where this has previously been challenging. This helps families to feel heard and allows children's relationships with people who are important to them to progress and develop.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has developed a clear and effective escalation process. They are confident in appropriately and robustly challenging professionals when necessary to benefit children. This ensures that all relevant information is in place to inform the care and support received by children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children's files are highly personalised and provide a narrative of each child's lived experience. Records demonstrate thoughtful planning and reflect children's daily lives and the progress they make. The language used to describe children is warm and nurturing. However, on occasion, recordings and assessments are not consistent and accurate, which has potential to limit the effectiveness of management oversight. Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that information about children is always recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, information contained in risk assessments should be clear and consistent and recordings of missing episodes should provide adequate detail to enable a clear evaluation of the action taken by staff. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that systems are in place to monitor children's progress. In particular, the registered person should review behaviour management strategies to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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: SC485540 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth, Lancashire LA6 2PR

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Inspectors

Sarah Adotey, Social Care Inspector Shaun Martin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC485540 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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