Police had to be called to a County Durham children’s home multiple times after youngsters in the facility barricaded themselves in bathrooms and bedrooms and smashed windows.

In one instance, officers even had to negotiate with a child threatening to jump from a first floor balcony.

The issues at the home were raised in a report by education watchdog Ofsted, which also highlighted ‘conduct issues’ among staff, including dangerous driving and leaving vulnerable young people unsupervised.

According to the inspectors’ findings: “The staff have not always positively managed behaviour.

“As a result, a child and a young person were able to barricade themselves in a bedroom on one occasion and, on a separate occasion, a young person was able to barricade herself in a bathroom.

“The police were called on both occasions to manage the child’s and young person’s behaviour and to reduce the risk of potential harm.

“Staff reported that the child and young person were threatening to jump from an external first floor balcony and had smashed a window.”

The Ofsted report does not identify the children’s home, which is run by a private provider with space for up to five children with ‘emotional and/or behavioural difficulties’, other than to say it is in County Durham.

Durham County Council has confirmed the facility is not run by the local authority and is not currently caring for any children from the county.

The surprise ‘monitoring visit’ by inspectors was prompted by a complaint to the watchdog raising concerns over safeguarding and ‘staff conduct issues’.

Assessors found instances of children going missing, of them being allowed ‘unauthorised’ internet access and even one in which a staff member was ‘driving dangerously when transporting a young person’.

And in another, a vulnerable child was left unsupervised while two workers at the home had an argument.

The report concluded by saying ‘failings’ by the home’s bosses meant concerns had not been properly addressed or improvements made at the time it was published last month (April 29).

The home’s most recent full inspection last year (July, 2019) saw it rated ‘Good’ in all areas by inspectors.