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

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Living here makes a huge difference to children‟s lives.  Children love it here. They enjoy close attachments with staff who offer them high quality nurture and understanding.  Children live in a happy, lively, deeply caring and extremely well organised home.  Staff are completely committed to their work, and all demonstrate excellent child-centred practice.  Children achieve excellent outcomes. They overcome complex and deep- seated emotional and behavioural problems to the point where they successfully cope with mainstream school and moves to foster homes.  Children enjoy a healthy and active social life with their peers and at numerous local clubs that develop their individual interests.  Staff are dedicated, patient and creative in their care of children. They use rich, varied and imaginative practice that helps children to thrive physically, emotionally, socially and educationally.  Staff take every opportunity to weave guidance, advice and learning into

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

their conversations with children.  Children are exceedingly safe, because of the consistent and nurturing care that staff provide.  Children feel highly valued and listened to. They receive ongoing therapeutic input that enables them to learn to behave safely and acceptably.  Children‟s individual and everyday needs are met in ways that far exceed the norm. Staff give their full attention to every detail regarding food, clothing, play, education, toys and the environment.  The manager is at the top of her game. She is totally devoted, continuously developing and insightful. She is always looking out for developments in the sector, including the learning from research.

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Information about this children's home

This children‟s home is run by a private organisation and offers care and accommodation for up to five children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 06 January 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03 November 2015 Full Outstanding 26 March 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 28 May 2014 Full Outstanding

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Outstanding

Seven children have lived here since the last inspection. No staff have left. Five children live here now, and two children have successfully moved on to foster homes. The two who moved have made excellent progress, given the extent of their emotional and behavioural difficulties and their previous traumatic experiences. The independent reviewing officer for one of the children said, „It has been such a pleasure to work with the team and to see the difference that has been made to [this child‟s] life and future prospects.‟

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Outstanding

Children‟s relationships with staff are key to the outstanding progress that they make. Immensely skilful and loving care, given in particular by key carers, helps children to make huge progress. Staff constantly show them how much they are valued. Every positive step that they take is praised. Staff carefully plan and time moves from the home to foster care, to maximise the likelihood of settling well. Staff provide wonderful send-offs for the children when they are leaving. One of the children who recently left had a „glitz and glamour‟ party. Everyone dressed up in eveningwear and she and her guests made a grand entrance to the garden along a red carpet. Staff knew exactly what props, costumes, cake and music to plan because they knew her so well. After moving on, staff and the manager keep in touch with children and their new carers and social workers. They work out together the best way to do this so that children continue to progress. One of the

p.5

Outstanding

children‟s social workers said, „I told him you've been asking about him, and he says, “Hi, I'm doing great!”‟

p.5

Outstanding

Children love it here. Being here makes a huge difference to their lives because staff are so dedicated and skilled. Staff unconditionally give children consistently high quality nurture and understanding and do not give up on them.

p.5

Outstanding

Children‟s close attachments to staff are like springboards that accelerate their progress. Children feel truly secure with staff and can therefore learn more quickly. They feel listened to and respected, and therefore soon start to listen and learn from what staff say. Children feel confident that their own wishes and feelings are understood. An independent reviewing officer said, „Overall this is an excellent home that treats children with the respect and dignity that they deserve.‟

p.5

Outstanding

Every day, children learn more about how to live in a family and how to make and keep friends as well as learning to share, play, work out problems, organise their possessions and keep clean and tidy. In addition, they eat more healthily and use good manners. Staff spend all their time with the children and take every opportunity to explain and show children what to do. For example, children have learnt how to tie shoelaces; how to tidy and organise their clothes and toys; how to plait their hair; and how to mop the kitchen floor. They have helped build and decorate an outdoor messy kitchen in the garden where they enjoy mud and water play. They sit at a large kitchen table for meals, eating politely, listening to one another, and passing drinks jugs, sauces and bowls sensibly. The home‟s independent visitor said: „There are very positive interactions between staff and children. Staff are keen to spend time with the children and they appear to really

p.5

Outstanding

enjoy the company of staff.‟ Children‟s social and emotional progress is impressive, and their practical skills are much improved because they live in such a lively, well- organised and deeply caring atmosphere.

p.6

Outstanding

Staff constantly keep in mind their in-depth knowledge of each child‟s levels of functioning and their real understanding of children‟s previous trauma. They therefore constantly adapt their practice to best suit each child. Staff focus on creating a sense of belonging for every child from the outset of their placement. A large part of this is preparing all children well for new arrivals and fully including them in welcoming a new child in. The newest child‟s social worker said: „I was particularly pleased with the care and attention taken to prepare the other children for [new child‟s] arrival and the personalised booklet made for her. This included pictures and details of all the people she would be living with, and attention was given to bringing her own personal interests into this, e.g. “you can see the horses from your bedroom window”.‟ Staff members‟ skilful, empathic practice means that children with complex emotional and behavioural difficulties are able to settle

p.6

Outstanding

Staff spend time playing, reading and making things with children. For example, they play board games, such as chess and monopoly. They play with dolls and they make up dances and plays. They colour in, bake, and they dress up for Halloween and other festive occasions. Staff make school holidays fun times, with numerous games, outings, special celebrations and holidays. Children have fish and guinea pigs to help look after and play with. The children help with jobs around the house and delight in being involved and included. Staff know that the help that they give to children at home successfully enables them to function in community-based clubs and activities. Community activities broaden children‟s horizons, confidence and interests still further. For example, all the children performed in the organisation‟s school talent show. Many of them are doing very well in clubs, such as gymnastics, skating, karting, cycling, archaeology and horse-riding.

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Outstanding

Staff maximise children‟s educational progress by applying new and creative techniques that they have read or heard about in training and conferences. For example, they find creative ways to help children improve their reading, writing and problem-solving. They have put written labels on some items around the home, and they talk about words, meaning and spelling. They play vocabulary and writing games such as pretending to be „secretaries‟. They hold a „summer school‟ and use the chalk message boards that are in every child‟s bedroom to exchange daily written messages. Reading with children at bedtime is a daily routine. They encourage reading and writing through carefully worded activity planners, and care plans that are frequently referred to. By using colour, photos, posters and pictures, staff maximise children‟s learning without creating an institutional feel. As a result, children make enormous educational progress and are much more confident about

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Outstanding

Staff have an excellent understanding of the reasons for children‟s unsafe behaviour. They are alert and vigilant to children‟s fears, worries and concerns, dealing with each child sensitively and helpfully. Their practice nurtures children‟s dignity and self-confidence minimising the likelihood of any harm being caused. Staff work consistently well with the organisation‟s life-story workers and therapists, so that children get all the help and protection that they need. The manager told the inspector: „Constant discussion is held as a team about what we can do to further support the children through our relationships or language. We use playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy. All children have struggled with raised tones, and adults have become better at recognising when not to continue an argument. Clear explanations and short instructions have also worked well for all children.‟ This outstanding practice plays a huge part in helping children

p.7

Outstanding

Many children have suffered sexual abuse, severe neglect and/or sexual exploitation. They are living a long way from home and have minimal contact with their families. Children come here with significant difficulties, including sexualised behaviour, self-harm, difficulties around food and toileting, going missing, and an inability to control their anger and fears. However, staff create an environment in which every child feels safe and says that they feel safe. Staffing levels are high enough to ensure that excellent levels of safety between children are secured. As a consequence, no children go missing and there are no serious self-harm incidents

p.7

Outstanding

Children‟s behaviour rarely escalates into an incident because staff create a busy, purposeful routine to each day. Staff are sensitive to the things that trigger children‟s difficulties, and they usually defuse situations early. This prevents situations from escalating into incidents.

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Outstanding

Staff are proactive about teaching children how to be safe inside and out of the home. They find engaging ways to teach children about fire and road safety. They teach them about stranger danger, safe touch, and safety on the internet. They teach them about keeping in touch with trusted adults and the importance of asking for help and reporting unsafe incidents if they happen. Staff make sure that children experience things like fireworks and playing conkers, but with practical safeguards and supervision.

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Outstanding

Staff provide excellent support when children make disclosures about what has happened to them. Staff know what to do about reporting concerns to safeguarding professionals. One child‟s social worker said: „Staff have managed [the child‟s] disclosures very well: they have given her calm and reassuring responses and then reported this to children‟s services and the police promptly. Their calm responses to her self-harm have also been very helpful. They do not draw any sense of panic or attention (as seen in their recordings of events).‟ Staff are not complacent when children‟s previously risky behaviour is not being shown. They routinely keep necessary records and refresh themselves about what they need to do.

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Outstanding

The manager has been registered for almost three years. She has now completed her level five diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. She exudes a calm, warm, committed leadership style that gets the best from every staff member. She loves her work and is completely committed to each child in her home. A social worker said: „I have got the sense that staff like their job. They seem happy, they seem to communicate well in a friendly manner and this helped to create the warm and homely atmosphere.‟ The manager continuously reads about residential childcare practice and inspires her staff to do the same. Together, they provide an outstanding children‟s home, where children make excellent progress.

p.8

Outstanding

The manager has the complete confidence of all the staff and provides them with excellent support and opportunities to develop their practice. A key part of this is developing the skills of staff to see „behind‟ children‟s presenting behaviour. This includes using research and training to enhance practice.

p.8

Outstanding

The manager has excellent skills in placement planning and managing transitions into, and out of, the home. She has developed credible, insightful impact risk assessments that she uses to best effect. This ensures that new admissions to the home match well with the existing group of children. She visits and plans transition programmes for each child, so that each child looks forward to living at the home and feels welcomed and safe.

p.8

Outstanding

The manager advocates for children with local authorities to plan and time moves out of the home and this often this includes giving advice and support to foster carers. It always includes planning sensitive and positive goodbyes that emphasise the intrinsic value of the child and celebrate their excellent progress.

p.8

Outstanding

The manager ensures that staff work seamlessly with therapy staff to best help each child. The home‟s independent visitor recently said: „I witnessed the manager communicating some concerns reported from a young person‟s therapy session, and the difficult issues they had been talking about. At the same time the manager was instructing the staff to be extra supportive in their practice, and to offer caring gestures on his return to the home.‟ Since the last inspection, the manager has encouraged the therapy staff to attend special activities in the home. This has benefitted children enormously because their relationships with their therapists are better developed and they are more relaxed in therapy sessions.

p.9

Outstanding

The manager strives to continuously improve the quality of practice and the outcomes for each child. Her monitoring work shows that she is analysing practice more. She has met the recommendations made at the last inspection and has a clear set of short-term targets to develop staff practice. For example, she is planning refresher work on managing sexualised behaviour; more research on attachment theories; and an analysis of the impact of positive consequences on behaviour. To develop the performance of individual staff, she plans to give training on key carer roles; opportunities to learn about shift-leading and senior roles; and support to develop relationships with other professionals in the team around the child. These are well-chosen aims that demonstrate the manager‟s unswerving focus on best practice.

p.9

Outstanding

Excellent relationships with numerous placing authorities are maintained because the manager consistently delivers the outstanding progress and experiences for children that are promised in the home‟s statement of purpose.

p.9

Outstanding

The manager and staff chose a wall motto for the dining room that sums up what they do for children. It says, „In this house we forgive; we are real; we give hugs; we make mistakes; we say I‟m sorry; we give second chances; we are loud; we have fun.‟

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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 who 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 0300123 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, workbased 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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