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Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 1 SC457501 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation to three young people who require support with their emotional and behavioural care needs. It is operated by a national provider of children’s homes.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

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

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people thrive and make significant progress from their starting points. The manager and staff team succeed in providing a loving and nurturing environment for the young people.  The young people have full involvement in the day-to-day running of the home. Their views are regularly gathered and acted upon by the manager and the staff in a variety of ways. For example, the young people take a full part in the annual appraisal of the staff. One young person has developed a staff appraisal tool that has been shared with all of the homes in the company.  There is no office. The staff work creatively to ensure that the house has the appearance of a family home. All of the young people have the opportunity to own and care for a pet. This helps them to learn responsibility and empathy for others. The young people enjoy having friends and siblings over to the home for visits and sleepovers as most of their peers who are not in care would do.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people make notable progress with their education. The young people are either in full-time employment or undertaking vocational courses at college, following successful completion of their GCSE examinations. These are young people who prior to coming to the home were refusing to engage at all with education and were not in school.  Transitions in and out of the home are extremely well managed by the staff. Prior to a new young person coming to live at the home, the other young people make them a video showing them where and with whom they will live. Young people who have left the home to live independently continue to be supported by the staff in their own homes. This ensures that the young people continue relationships that are important to them.  Young people are supported by their key team to identify their long- and short- term aims and targets. These are regularly reviewed and are changed in line

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Key findings from this inspection

with a young person’s progress. This practice leads to excellent outcomes for the young people. One placing social worker reported: ‘I have never known a children’s home to give a young person so much support.’  The manager has created a culture of high aspiration for young people in an atmosphere of effective and nurturing support. In this environment, the young people are able to build strong and lasting relationships and resilience that help them to overcome their previous difficulties.  The young people say that they feel safe living in the home. Young people who were self-harming or frequently going missing are no longer engaging in these behaviours. The staff achieve this through building strong, trusting, nurturing relationships with the young people. Any mistakes that the young people make are discussed; they learn from their mistakes. Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/12/2016 Full Good 23/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/09/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The quality of the support given to the young people in the home is excellent. Young people who have lived at the home for over two years have made significant progress from their starting points. Young people who have lived at the home for less time are beginning to make significant progress with their education, behaviour and emotional health. Due to effective support from the staff, the young people develop a sense of permanence and belonging. One young person said: ‘The staff are like our family; we love them. I will always remain in contact with the home; this is our family.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are highly successful in engaging with the young people who arrive at the home extremely distrusting of adults. Over time, staff build meaningful and trusting relationships with them. The staff genuinely care for and nurture the young people in their care and have high aspirations for them. For example, on one occasion recently, a young person asked the staff to accompany them to the funeral of a close relative. Following the funeral, the staff encouraged the young person to place a picture belonging to their relative in the hallway of the home. This small, but significant gesture, communicated to the young person that the staff understood the young person’s grief and loss and how important it was to have something to remember their relative by on display in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff create detailed placement plans for each young person that are child-focused with aspirational yet achievable targets. These plans are reviewed regularly. It is clear what progress has been made by a young person and in what areas they continue to need support. The manager has created an innovative ‘key team’ approach. Teams of three members of staff provide the key work for each young person. Each member of staff has tasks that they are expected to complete in order to meet the young person’s support needs. This approach is effective and ensures that the staff team motivates each other and members are creative in finding solutions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff have high educational and employment aspirations for the young people. Routines in the home run smoothly and are built on the expectation that the young people will get up in the morning, attend employment or college and work hard during this time. All of the young people are in full-time employment or undertaking a vocational course at college. Personal tutors are employed when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Transitions in and out of the home are exceptionally well managed. The young people are carefully matched. Prior to coming to the home, the manager ensures that the young person visits the home to meet the staff. The other young people make a welcome video, informing the prospective young person all about themselves and the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young people are fully involved in agreeing their transition plans, which are regularly reviewed. This plan tells the young person and the staff how the transition will be achieved. For example, plans document how independence skills will be achieved, such as how the young person will be supported to learn to cook their own meals and Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 5 manage their own medication safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young people are able to have their own front door key and spend time alone in the house in preparation for moving out of the home. The staff understand the importance of continuing relationships with the young people when they leave the home. The staff continue to support one young person who is now living independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The health needs of the young people are clearly identified in their healthcare plans and are fully met. The appropriately qualified company therapist visits the home monthly. She offers support to the staff and helps them to devise effective strategies to support the emotional healthcare needs of the young people. One member of staff’s role is to be the clinical champion. She liaises with therapists and health professionals to implement any healthcare strategies. The staff understand different attachment styles and approaches, and support the young people using an underpinning theory of playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy. The young people also benefit from health education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person said: ‘I have more confidence; it has gone through the roof. I wouldn’t go out of the house when I arrived. Thanks to them (the staff), they sat down with me and talked to me; we would go in little steps.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young people enjoy a variety of activities. They enjoy and learn from going on holidays abroad with the staff. Other activities include trips to theme parks, go-karting, shopping and swimming. The young people enjoy spending time with their friends and family who are welcome to visit the home. Brothers and sisters of the young people stay at the home for a regular sleep-over. All of the young people are able to keep a pet. They are expected to be responsible for the care of their pets and learn how to be responsible and nurture others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young people are fully involved in the day-to-day running of the home. They report that their views and opinions are respected and valued by the staff. Recently, the young people have been involved in choosing the colours for the dining room decoration. They are encouraged to write and present to professionals at their reviews. They are fully involved in writing their placement plans alongside the staff. Relationships between the staff and the young people are observed to be trusting, respectful and full of appropriate humour. The young people give their views about individual staff at the annual staff appraisals. These views are fully taken into account and acted upon by the manager. One young person has designed the format for collecting staff appraisal information from the young people, which has been disseminated for use by the company’s other homes.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The staff achieve an excellent balance of keeping the young people safe while allowing them to take managed risks so that they are able to learn and improve their resilience. One placing social worker describes the staff as ‘flexible and sensible’ when assessing their response to identified risks. A placing social worker said: ‘Staff help my young person make good choices.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 6 The strong and trusting relationships that the staff build with the young people underpin the progress the young people make in keeping themselves safe. Physical restraint is not used at the home. Positive behaviour is encouraged through incentives and rewards, rather than punishments for negative behaviour. House rules and expectations are clear and consistently implemented by the staff. If a young person makes a mistake, or is verbally or physically aggressive, staff take the time to talk through the incident with the

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

young person. They explore alternative strategies and responses so that the young person learns to use a more positive approach. The staff educate the young people about the consequences of their actions. This helps the young people to make positive choices the next time.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

None of the young people who have lived at the home for two years have gone missing from the home since the last inspection. The one young person who arrived more recently has significantly reduced incidents of being missing or late back to the home as the work the staff are undertaking with them takes effect. The staff are curious if the young people are late home and rigorously follow up any information the young people give them about where they were.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The manager and the staff describe any negative behaviour of the young people as ‘the tip of the iceberg’ and understand that there are underlying reasons for the behaviours. They then put strategies and plans in place to support the young person to change their behaviour. The staff are supported in this work by the company therapist. It has been successful, alongside the other support offered by the staff, in helping the young people to avoid triggers to their anger, to look at other strategies and to learn how to develop empathy for others. One young person said: ‘I have found myself as a person; I can give emotional support to others. I have very good relationships with the staff and they trust me to make the right and mature decisions. I am aware of risks and how to keep myself safe.’

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The staff are able to manage any safeguarding incidents that may arise. The staff have good links to safeguarding professionals and to the police. All of the young people say that they feel safe living at the home and are confident that the staff will keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is skilled, experienced and provides highly effective leadership to the staff team. She is clear and focused on what she expects the staff and the young people to achieve at the home. The young people, staff and professionals speak very highly of her leadership and the positive difference it makes. One young person recently wrote a thank you card to the manager stating: ‘You inspire me every day, I am so lucky to have you in my life.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Placing social workers describe the communication from the staff as ‘brilliant’. Families of the young people, if appropriate, are involved in all discussions and reviews with the support of the staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 7 The staff benefit from regular staff meetings where the manager asks them to discuss the ‘policy of the month’. At the following meeting, she then assesses their learning. Supervision sessions for the staff are undertaken regularly. The manager has high expectations of the staff and regularly challenges their practice to ensure that they are providing the best possible care for the young people. Poor practice is promptly challenged by the manager in supervision sessions. In addition to these sessions, the staff receive an annual appraisal where their training needs for the year ahead are planned. The staff also meet in their key-team groups to discuss how they can best meet

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff benefit from a comprehensive training programme in core topics, such as safeguarding, first aid and physical restraint, and they are also able to request training in accordance with the needs of the young people. For example, this includes training about bereavement so that the staff could support a young person effectively when their close relative had passed away.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The young people benefit from being cared for by a staff team which is experienced and consistent. Agency staff are not used and most of the staff have worked at the home for over two years. They share the manager’s aspirations for the young people and work hard to achieve them. The staff write their own profiles in the children’s guide to the home. This document is written in a child-friendly manner. The manager ensures that it contains all of the information that an anxious young person would need to be reassured and well informed when they arrive at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager fully involves the staff and the young people when devising the home’s development plan. This ensures a shared vision for what they all hope to achieve in the home and a sense of shared belonging and responsibility. Any ideas or views from the young people are taken seriously and acted upon. For example, the young people recently said that having to sign the record of positive consequences was too institutional. As a result, the manager and the young people now have an agreement that this is not necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A strength of the home is how strongly the manager and staff advocate for the young people. On two occasions recently, positive outcomes for the young people have been achieved as a result of strong staff intervention. A placing authority proposed to move a young person before their 18th birthday. The young person was adamant that they wanted to remain at the home until they were 18. The staff helped the young person write a letter of complaint to their independent reviewing officer, Ofsted and the placing authority. As a result, the young person will now stay at the home until they are 18 and have completed their transition programme. On another occasion, the staff challenged a college which had rejected a young person’s application for admission due to their negative behaviour prior to arriving at the home. The staff helped the young person to write a letter of apology and advocated for them to be offered a place. The young

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

person has now returned to the college and is making progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is well maintained and extremely homely. There is very little evidence that it Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 8 is anything other than a family home. Framed photographs of the young people, their families and the staff smiling and having fun are dotted around the house. The office is now a sitting room to further reduce any institutional appearance. There is a small work- station discreetly behind the door for the staff to use. The files of the young people have been condensed into necessary and effective working documents that are stored in a small lockable cabinet. This means that there are no physical barriers between the staff and the young people, such as a locked office door. If the staff wish to make a confidential telephone call, they ask the young people for privacy and close the door.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is committed to continual improvement. She leads by example and is constantly striving to implement further innovative and creative practice, such as removing the office. She is aware of the strengths and areas to improve in the home. Quality monitoring is further enhanced by monthly visits from an independent person. These visits are followed up with comprehensive reports. Any actions from these reports are swiftly dealt with by the manager.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian Group, 4th Floor Waterfront Building, Chancellors Road, Hammersmith Embankment, London W6 9RU

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Inspector

Tina Maddison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 10 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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