Kedleston Group is delighted to announce that all of its registered children’s homes are graded ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by regulator Ofsted.

As the Group completes the latest regulatory 12-month cycle, its seven children’s homes have all attained the top two grades including two ‘outstanding’ grades for Dovedale House and High Peak House.

Graded outstanding in all areas, inspectors praised High Peak House, set in the Peak District, saying: “Children living in this home make excellent progress due to the consistently high standards of care provided by a highly skilled team.”

They said children made “remarkable progress in their education” including those who had not routinely not attended school or were disengaged from education before moving into the home. They now attend school full time and achieve their targets. This means, the report said, “children’s educational and career prospects for the future have significantly improved.”

The Group’s Dovedale House in Buxton was also graded outstanding in all areas for the second year in a row with inspectors praising the happiness of the children at the home and the ‘exceptional’ progress they make.  

All other homes across the Group were graded as Good including Millstream Lodge in Staines after its first Ofsted inspection since opening. The inspection team noted that the home had already supported a child to return successfully back to their family home. There was also praise for the home’s approach to helping children re-engage with education and learning – representing ‘significant progress’ for those young people.

In its first full inspection since opening Ivytree House in Manningtree, Essex, was also graded as ‘good’ in all areas, with particular praise for the progress children have begun to make as well as the ‘beautiful environment’ which has been created for the young people.

The Group’s other registered children’s homes - Vernon House in Cheshire, Wood Grove in Essex and Austen Cottage in Coventry – are all also ‘good’ in all areas.

Gillian Miele, Group Head of Care at Kedleston, said: “As an organisation, we are focused always on providing nothing but the very best care and support for children and young people in our residential children’s homes. We are delighted that over the past year, all of our homes have been praised by Ofsted and that our high standards of care have been recognised with good or outstanding ratings in this way,

“It is testament to the hard work, dedication and passion our teams put into creating homes where children want to live and are proud to call their home.”