Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The young person says the home is a good home to live in. Staff are approachable, supportive and spending time with them is enjoyable.  Staff demonstrate positive ambition for the young person they currently care for, and previous young people living at the home. They promote education effectively, liaising with schools and education providers to ensure that the young person has the opportunity to achieve well within school. In addition, opportunity to access additional work-based apprenticeships to gain skills for their chosen future career is promoted.  Young people are supported to maintain relationships with family and friends, in accordance with any restrictions. They are encouraged to have friends visit the home and take part in activities available. Staff provide regular updates to family and involve them in the care and support of their child.  The home is currently recruiting for additional staff. However, to provide

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The children’s home provision is good because:

consistency of care and support, where there have been additional shifts to cover, the staff from the home or bank staff have provided this cover.  The home provides a warm, welcoming environment, with the young person fully involved in planning and choosing the decor. Health and safety checks are completed and maintenance of the property ensures that repairs are addressed in a timely fashion.  There are some shortfalls identified within staff recruitment files and notifications being submitted to Ofsted, along with risk assessments being updated. These matters are currently being addressed by the manager and staff.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meets the Care Standards Act 2000, 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

Ensure that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2, in particular a recent photograph. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 30/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(3)(e)) 30/10/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home that provides care and accommodation for one young person with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

20/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

The young person living at the home has settled in well and feels safe, well cared for and supported by staff. He says ‘The home is good and I want to stay here until I am ready to move onto independent living. Staff listen to me and talk to me about decisions that affect me now and in the future.’ The social worker spoke positively about how well the young person has been supported to settle at the home and said, ‘Staff provide very good levels of support.’ The young person is completing a community order and has invested time working within the home’s garden, painting the walls and making the outdoor area a comfortable area to spend time relaxing in. He is pleased with the results of his work and is encouraged to continue to complete this.

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Good

Staff help young people move on to future placements in a planned way. An example of this includes a young person who had lived at the home for a number of years and was supported to move to a foster placement which meets his needs well. The social worker involved said, ‘The move was a positive move for [name] and he was fully supported by the staff team.’

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Good

Staff have high aspirations for young people, with education being a strength of the home. They work with a range of other professionals to find the most appropriate education for an individual young person. This has resulted in young people sustaining educational placements and achieving well. The most recent young person to move into the home is currently on school holidays but is positive about returning to school and also taking part in an apprenticeship scheme to contribute towards his chosen future career. Staff understand the importance of formal education and also supplement this with a variety of activities and discussions to promote informal education and learning activities. This includes assisting with independent living skills through learning to budget, cook and prepare meals, managing money and developing interests to continue on to their adult lives.

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Good

Access to healthcare is supported through registration with community-based healthcare, including doctors, dentists and opticians. Education about leading a healthy lifestyle is promoted by staff, and includes eating healthy diets, smoking cessation and information about the effects of substance misuse.

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Good

Staff understand the importance of family relationships for young people, and, in accordance with any restrictions, promote and support these relationships well. This includes facilitating visits to family and through regular telephone contact and effective communication.

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Good

The home provides a safe and well-maintained environment. The young person has recently been involved in choosing the decor for his bedroom and contributes his views to how the rest of the home is decorated to make it feel homely and comfortable. Regular tests on fire and safety equipment are undertaken and the young person is aware of the procedures to follow in the event of a fire.

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Good

Since the last inspection, the home has had a change of young people. Staff experienced some behaviours which had not been displayed for a significant period of time. This included missing from home incidents, for which risk assessments are in place. Staff try to dissuade young people from going missing, and discuss potential risks and the impact this could have on the young people. However, if the young person does leave the home, staff make every effort to follow, maintain contact and locate them. They follow agreed missing from home protocols, contact police and inform other relevant people. Upon return, young people are made to feel welcome and appropriate support is provided. All incidents are recorded, and independent return interviews are offered. This enables the home to understand possible reasons for the young person leaving the home.

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Good

Young people are helped to manage their emotions and behaviour. Staff understand the complex issues that have an impact on young people’s lives and support them to develop strategies to manage these. Staff receive further support and guidance from the organisation’s therapist, who will attend staff meetings and discuss different approaches to supporting the young person. Regular key-work sessions are held with young people to enable them to discuss and reflect on their issues. This has had positive results for the young person currently at the home, who feels settled and supported.

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Good

Staff demonstrate an understanding of additional risks around the behaviour and actions of young people. Individual risk assessments are in place. However, some lack detail, and this could lead to different responses by staff. Changes to behaviours are identified, but risk assessments are not always updated clearly to identify this. However, individual risk assessments are discussed with the placing social workers on a regular basis to make sure that any new or emerging risks are identified and known.

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Good

Recruitment of staff is undertaken in accordance with the organisation’s recruitment and selection policy. Staff files are maintained at the home. However, some files do not contain recent photographs of staff members as required by regulations. The manager is currently undertaking an audit of staff files with a member of the human resources staff to ensure that files are updated as required. Staff do not commence work at the home until all safeguarding checks have been completed. This contributes to making sure that people who pose a risk to children and young people do not work at the home.

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Good

The area risk assessment is kept under review and potential risks that may have an impact on the young person are identified. Since the last inspection, despite detailed impact assessment for a young person who moved into the home, staff identified previously unknown risk-taking behaviours, which placed the young person at potential risk within the area. Appropriate action and robust further planning addressed this, ensuring that the welfare of young people is central to the home’s ethos.

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Good

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2014. He had experience of working within children’s homes as a residential worker and first-line manager prior to his appointment. He is currently completing the level 5 qualification in management. The staff and young person are aware of this, and the organisation are currently in the process of recruiting a manager. The home benefits from having a first-line manager who supports the manager. She has experience of the home and, although there have been some changes within the team, these have been completed when there has not been a young person in placement. This means that the continuity of staffing has not had an impact on them. The home currently has a vacancy and this post is due to be filled within the near future.

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Good

The manager completes impact assessments for new admissions into the home. As this is a solo placement, he does not have to match young people’s needs with others, but he does take into consideration the area risk assessment as part of the placement planning.

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Good

The manager undertakes regular monitoring of the home and the records within it. However, the risk assessments in place for the young person require additional information and need to be agreed with the placing social worker. There has also been an incident when police arrived at the home looking for a friend of the young person living there. Staff were unaware that the young person had enabled his friend to come into the house without their knowledge. The manager failed to notify Ofsted under significant events because staff from the home had not contacted the police and did not identify this as a significant incident. However, he has ensured that regular checks are undertaken to minimise the chance of this happening again and staff have held individual sessions with the young person about the importance of knowing who is in the house for health and safety reasons.

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Good

Additional monitoring is undertaken by an independent visitor who provides reports to the manager and the organisation. These reports are evaluative and comment on whether the home is keeping young people safe, providing them with appropriate facilities and enabling them to achieve good overall outcomes. The manager and staff ensure that the recommendations made within the report are followed up and help them to reflect on their practice within the home.

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Good

Staff receive regular supervision, enabling them to discuss their own learning and development needs as well as reflecting on practice. This, along with attending regular staff meetings and accessing training, supports them to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. They discuss additional strategies to assist young people to achieve and remain safe. These measures ensure that the young person remains central to the care practice within the home.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place. However, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or that result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference that adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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