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:

 Young people are cared for by a skilled and motivated staff team that knows their needs very well. Staff are able to talk about the small nuances that relate to the young people whom they look after, and this attention to detail ensures that the care provided is good.  The staff are dedicated to their work and ensuring that the young people whom they look after are safe, happy and making progress.  Young people feel safe living in their home. They are able to identify a number of adults whom they could talk to if they became worried or upset about any aspect of their lives. One young person said that he felt that staff listened to his worries and acted upon them. This reassurance and approach to care make him feel better.  Young people have high-risk, complex needs. These needs are managed very well and sensitively. Young people understand their individual care planning arrangements and are fully included in decisions made about their

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The children’s home provision is good because:

care.  The manager and staff team have good communication with external agencies and partners. They ensure that information about young people is appropriately shared and jointly assessed. As a result, the risks for young people are effectively managed and reduced across a number of settings and out in the community.  The children’s home is situated in a rural and peaceful idyllic location. Set in acres of farmland, this home offers young people space to play and explore the countryside around them.

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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

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet this quality standard, the registered person must: (2)(e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that every aspect of practice in the home is consistently applied. 01/02/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet this regulation, the registered person must ensure that: (1) no measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, door alarms must only be used when the presenting risks evidence a need for them. Any use of door alarms or other control measures must be meaningfully reviewed on a regular basis. 01/02/2017

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to look after up to two children who may have behaviour and/or emotional difficulties. The home is owned by a large national company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 09/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/10/2015 Full Good 18/03/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 09/01/2015 Full Adequate

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Good

Young people living are settled and feel secure at this home. They are making progress in every aspect of their lives. They are motivated to do well and hold aspirations for their futures. They are proud of the progress that they have made. Young people regularly attend school and/or college, and are motivated to learn. They are making progress from their starting points. Relationships between staff at the home and education teams are good, and this ensures that risks for young people are openly discussed and reduced.

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Good

Young people’s motivation is supported effectively by an incentive programme. This programme provides them with clear, appropriate and achievable targets to help them to meet their goals. Goals are individualised, and are discussed and agreed with multi-agencies. This approach ensures that all agencies involved with young people are supporting and helping them to continue to do well.

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Good

Staff know the young people very well. They understand their care plans and the risks associated with young people’s individual needs. Staff have good, open discussions with the young people about keeping safe, and they are consulted and involved in decisions regarding the care that they receive. A young person said that he appreciates this approach to his care and that it supports him to understand the rationale when his wishes are not granted.

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Good

There has been good exploration and use of external agencies to ensure that young people are supported as well as they can be. There is evidence of good multi-agency working and communication. This supports young people to access the services that are right for them and further improves their outcomes.

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Good

Young people are provided with opportunities to undertake extracurricular activities and to try out new experiences. One young person talked with excitement and animation about a forthcoming trip to a gaming show. Each young person has a diary that is completed on a regular basis by the staff. This will provide them with lasting happy memories as they move on into adulthood.

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Good

The care planning documentation used at the home is cumbersome, and strategies and expectations of staff are not as specific as they could be to drive consistency of care forward. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people have complex and significant identified risks that need to be constantly and carefully managed. The staff caring for the young people know them well, and are able to ensure their safety and reduce risks for them effectively. Young people are fully aware of the boundaries in place for them to keep themselves safe. While they are not always happy about these boundaries, they fully understand the rationale for them, and their unhappiness is short-lived.

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Good

There are known risks for the young people in respect of staying safe online. Systems have been put in place to ensure that the risks for young people are reduced. There is a monitoring system in place that is a good starting point for staff to evidence young people’s use of the internet and to document any concerns. Staff do not currently record information every day, and this weakness hinders the quality of oversight and monitoring by managers.

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Good

The registered manager has ensured that there are effective systems in place to monitor incidents of bullying or poor behaviour between young people. When concerns increased, the manager took steps to ensure that she and the placing social workers reviewed the patterns of behaviours and took the time to understand the triggers. Actions were agreed to reduce the incidents and these have proven successful. As a result of these actions, bullying in the home has been reduced and any concerns about behaviour between the young people are robustly and quickly addressed.

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Good

The registered manager has undertaken a realistic risk assessment in respect of child abuse involving exploitation. As a result, staff are aware that the presenting vulnerabilities increase the risk for the young people. The care planning documents and the care provided take these risks into account, helping to reduce potential harm.

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Requires improvement

Not all of the recommendations made at the last inspection have been met. In particular, the use of monitoring systems in the home in the form of door alarms has been allowed to continue without any evidence to support the need for them. Leaders and managers have not sought more creative solutions to moving this practice on in a more child-focused and less intrusive way.

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Requires improvement

There is room for improvement in respect of notifications being made to Ofsted. The detail in one notification in particular is poor, and fails to provide full details of one member of staff’s poor decision making and practice, which were instrumental in the lead-up to the incident. In addition, one safeguarding referral has not been notified as required.

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Requires improvement

The manager had not reviewed a significant progress report held on the file of one young person. The information held in the document should have been used to inform care planning arrangements and support the progress of the young person involved. In addition, the information would provide staff with the confidence to make informed decisions consistently in respect of risk management.

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Requires improvement

The manager failed to make a referral to the designated officer as soon as she was made aware of a safeguarding concern. As a result, a delay of 12 days occurred. The supervision undertaken by the manager following this incident failed to address the concerns robustly or identify what, if any, steps were required to reduce the risk of these behaviours in the future.

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Requires improvement

Supervision provided to staff is regular and meaningful. Staff report that supervision is of good quality, reflective and supportive. There is evidence that some practice that falls short of expectations is challenged by the manager and measures are put in place to support staff to make improvements. However, this is not consistently applied by the manager.

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Requires improvement

The manager has taken effective steps to ensure that the staff group working at the home is more settled and consistent. This was a recommendation made at the last inspection. This has resulted in a more stable staff team being available for the young people and has supported the positive development of relationships at the home.

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Requires improvement

The manager is dedicated and child focused. She knows the young people well and is fully involved with the day-to-day running of the home. She leads with confidence and care. The staff respect the manager and speak highly of her ability and competence. Young people identified her as someone whom they could turn to if they were worried or upset.

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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’. 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 looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 harmed or at risk of harm or 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 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 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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