Children's Home run by Willow Tree Children’s Services Ltd in WokinghamOfsted inspection, 17 Sept 2026

Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 1 Registered provider: Willow Tree Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection 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 provider and offers care for up to 4 children with learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since 1 September 2026.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered provider has recently appointed a new responsible individual, and we are currently checking whether this person has the relevant capacity, experience and skills to carry out the role.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 15 October 2025

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/10/2025 Full Good 22/10/2024 Full Good 15/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 3

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Summary of findings

Children are not receiving good enough support to help them make progress in accordance with their individual plans. This undermines the ability of children to develop important knowledge and skills to enhance their futures.

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Summary of findings

Children have developed positive relationships with staff, who know them well. However, when things do not go to plan, staff do not provide opportunities for positive learning that encourage children to make healthier choices in their lives. This has had a negative impact on one child’s social and emotional development and means that they are not receiving the support they need to learn from their experiences or prepare for their future transition into adult life.

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Summary of findings

There have been significant changes in both the ownership and management structure since the new inspection. Staff feedback regarding the new management team is positive. Despite this, more time is required for the new management team to embed its proposed changes into practice.

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improvement to be good

Children are not making consistent progress in all areas of their lives, particularly in relation to their education. For example, one child has not benefited from any formal education despite living in the home for over a year, and another child has lived in the home for nearly 4 months and has yet to be allocated a school place. This has a negative impact on children’s educational attainment and prospects.

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improvement to be good

One child has consistently expressed that they do not wish to engage with tutoring. Despite this, there have been sustained attempts to offer individualised tutoring to them. The expectations from tutors and staff in relation to the child’s engagement with these sessions are inconsistent and have caused distress for the child, leading to preventable incidents. This does not demonstrate sufficient awareness of the child’s underlying needs.

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improvement to be good

The management team has been ineffective in advocating on behalf of children with their placing authorities to ensure that their educational needs are met. For example, the timescales outlined in one child’s education, health and care plan have not been met, and there is no evidence that managers have appropriately escalated their concerns. As a result, children continue to be at risk of educational disadvantage.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not consistently supported one child to benefit from positive relationships with peers of a similar age, and this social isolation undermines the child’s social and emotional development. The significant age gap between some children in the home also contributes to this. The new management team has demonstrated positive insight Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 4 regarding this and are committed to appropriately promoting the child’s social development and peer relationships.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are well understood by staff, and all children receive the support they require. Staff have recently been encouraging one child to adopt a healthier lifestyle and are using positive incentives to support this. As a result, the child is showing signs of increased motivation to improve their own physical wellbeing.

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improvement to be good

The new management team is child focused and demonstrates a strong commitment to listening to children and understanding their individual preferences. This has already had a positive impact on one child, who expressed a preference to be supported by staff members who share their ethnicity and cultural background. In response, the new management team took proactive steps to increase the diversity of the staff team.

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improvement to be good

The behaviour management approach used in the home is not always child centred, and some staff do not demonstrate sufficient understanding of children’s emotional and behavioural needs. In one example, a child was prevented from visiting a local shop for an extended period following a challenging incident involving staff. In another example, technology devices were removed in response to unrelated concerns. Staff do not recognise that excessive or punitive consequences can be detrimental to children’s emotional wellbeing.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently promote positive learning opportunities for children underpinned by natural consequences. For one child specifically, this means that they are not being adequately supported to understand the impact their decisions could have on them in the wider community and into their adult life. Otherwise, positive work with this child is undermined by a punitive behaviour management approach.

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improvement to be good

On occasions, staff have used physical interventions to ensure a child’s safety and prevent them from harming others. However, some physical interventions could have been prevented if communication with external professionals, such as tutors, had been more effective and child focused. Subsequent incident reports are weak and too descriptive, meaning that it is difficult for managers or external professionals to obtain a full chronological account of the actions staff have taken to keep themselves and children safe.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from a stable and homely environment, and generous staffing arrangements enable children to be supported by several familiar adults each day. Children know who they can seek support from, and this promotes stability and predictability for them.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s preferred methods of communication and respond in a proactive and sensitive manner. They recognise when children require additional support, which is particularly important for one child who is nonverbal. This Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 5 helps children to feel confident that staff understand their individual needs, including nonverbal forms of communication, enabling them to participate fully in decisions about their lives.

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improvement to be good

Staff value their relationships with children and are committed to promoting children’s safety. Since the last inspection, direct safeguarding incidents in the home have been infrequent. When concerns have arisen, effective action has been taken to protect and promote children’s wellbeing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there has been a transition and changeover of ownership of the wider organisation. This has been characterised by conflict and disagreement in relation to the leadership and management of the home. Consequently, serious concerns have been raised about the integrity and functioning of the organisation by staff and external professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Changes in the leadership structure have affected the new leadership team’s ability to benefit from full transparency and insight regarding the day-to-day running of the home. For example, there have been gaps in documentation required to meet statutory and regulatory responsibilities, including missing staff supervision records, health and safety records, and organisational policies and procedures. These shortfalls have had an adverse impact on children, and the new leadership team is developing a home improvement plan to resolve these concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff’s confidence and trust in the wider organisation have been seriously undermined as some staff were not paid in a timely manner during the organisational transition and expressed fears about their visa and sponsorship agreements. While these concerns have now been resolved by the new director, time is required for trust to rebuild and for the foundations of good leadership and management to re-establish.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff do not contribute effectively to transparent and child-friendly records for children. For example, children’s plans include contradictory and outdated information and are not updated to accurately reflect changes in their care. This will not help children to fully understand their experience of living in the home should they wish to access their records in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some staff rely on artificial intelligence to support them to create records, which causes further ambiguity about the transparency and accuracy of the actions they take to support children, as well as compliance with general data protection responsibilities. Leaders and managers have not demonstrated sufficient oversight of this practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There have been 2 changes to the appointed independent person since the last inspection, and a new independent person is being sought. The previous independent persons have not been effective at seeking regular external feedback from professionals or families. This has not supported the management team to benefit from feedback from external oversight about the care they provide to children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 6 The new director has recruited an entirely new leadership team, consisting of a newly appointed responsible individual and deputy team manager. Since the new management team has taken over, there has been a purposeful commitment to information-sharing with Ofsted, placing authorities and relevant safeguarding professionals. This demonstrates that the management team is focused on improvement and creating the right environment for children and staff. External professionals have expressed

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

reassurance following them carrying out their own quality assurance measures. Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 7

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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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 18 September 2026

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; 18 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 8 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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must maintain effective oversight of staff practice and record-keeping. This must include effective quality assurance relating to all records staff complete, such as care plans and physical interventions. The registered person should take a leading role in helping staff to understand how they can provide the best support to children.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders must communicate effectively with the placing authority if they believe that the care children receive is not meeting their everyday needs. This should include appropriate escalation to senior management in the local authority, including the independent reviewing officer. 18 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. (Regulation 19 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that consideration is given to the use of natural consequences as a way of supporting children to learn. Staff must never use punitive measures. 18 September 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person undertakes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children living in the home. This should include regularly seeking external Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 9 feedback from professionals and family members. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: 2680923 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Willow Tree Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71 to 75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ

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Inspector

Ashley Edwards, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2680923 11 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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