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

Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company operates this home to provide care and accommodation for up to two children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The inspector was aware during this inspection that a serious allegation of a child protection nature was being investigated by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate an allegation of this kind, action taken by the setting in response to the allegation was considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform the inspector’s judgements.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 21 to 22 February 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 24 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people receive individualised care from a committed staff team.  Staff spend a lot of time with the young people building up positive relationships. Young people are settled, improve their behaviour and social skills, they engage well with staff and are relaxed in their company  The manager carefully considers admissions to the home so that they have a positive impact on young people.  Young people receive good levels of support and supervision from the staff, which keeps them safe.  Staff help young people take age-appropriate risks as a normal part of growing up and becoming more independent.  The manager is proactive in addressing any safeguarding concerns.  The staff team is cohesive and well led, providing young people with good standards of care.  The manager and staff develop and maintain good partnership working with young people’s relatives and other agencies.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the 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

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)) In particular, ensure that education, health and care (EHC) plans for young people are implemented. 30/03/2018

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Recommendations

 In accordance with regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure that children’s needs are met), homes must have proactive relationships with appropriate schools and educational support services (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.7). In particular, personal education plans should include the details of pupil premium money and an assessment of how well this is used to improve the educational outcomes of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive person-centred care from a staff team that is committed to meeting their short and long-term needs. The staff are sensitive to young people’s views, wishes and anxieties. The nurturing approach helps the young people to form positive relationships with staff and have a sense of belonging. The staff work hard to build these trusting relationships and to help young people overcome difficulties in their lives. Consequently, young people are settled, improve their behaviour and social skills, Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 4 they engage well with staff and are relaxed in their company. For example, during the inspection, young people were taking charge of putting together new bookcases with guidance from staff, and then enjoyed making dens with the cardboard packaging. The staff promote young people’s physical and emotional health needs. They encourage regular exercise, a good diet and attendance at appointments. Young people can access

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

specialist help, such as play therapy and counselling, if needed. Staff are guided by the registered provider’s clinician in developing care strategies that promote young people’s emotional well-being and resilience. The staff and manager work closely with the schools that the young people attend in order to boost their educational achievements. This has helped young people progress well and undertake an apprenticeship after school. In one case, the admission planning was not thorough enough in ensuring that an education placement was obtained promptly. As a result, the young person’s education is not in line with her EHC plan. The manager has been proactive since then and the placing authority is going to provide the young person with personal tutoring. In the meantime, the manager and staff are providing education at home for the young person in order to minimise the impact of waiting for a placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully considers decisions about new young people moving into the home to make sure that young people get along together and are not a risk to each other. He will not accept referrals if he considers the impact to be detrimental or feels that the staff team will not be able to meet the young person’s needs. This has led to the current stability in the home and the positive impact that the young people are having on each other, such as improving their behaviour and making new friends in the local community. Staff spend a lot of time with young people planning activities, shopping, cooking and completing household chores. This is helping young people develop their life skills and staff encourage them to do some of these things independently. There are weekly discussions that give young people a chance to talk about their week and comment about the home. Staff also undertake regular key-working sessions to help young people

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

develop, such as discussions about feelings, how to build positive relationships, and road safety. Topics are planned to promote the identified needs of young people. There is good support with family contact. Young people’s relatives and friends are welcome in the home. Staff provide transport to promote contact when young people’s relatives live a long distance away. The manager is proactive in increasing the levels of family contact, especially when there are plans for young people to go back home. This helps young people maintain their identity and important family relationships. There is good partnership work with parents and placing authorities to promote the outcomes in young people’s care plans.

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

Young people receive high levels of supervision from the staff who are committed to keeping them safe. The staff work consistently as a team to ensure that boundaries and expectations are clearly communicated and modelled to young people. Staff regularly discuss and complete key-working sessions with the young people to help them Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 5 understand social norms and consequences of inappropriate behaviour. The staff are skilled in managing incidents of challenging behaviour. They use a restorative approach, helping young people to understand and recognise different feelings and learn coping strategies such as going to their rooms to calm down. Local police visit the home regularly, giving young people a positive view of the constabulary and to encourage young people to behave well. Compared to their starting points, young people’s outbursts and aggression have significantly declined.

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

The current group of young people do not go missing from home and they avoid the risks of alcohol and substance misuse. This is helped by the high levels of staff supervision and also by how well staff engage young people in meaningful activities. When there were missing from home incidents with young people who previously lived here, staff took appropriate action to keep them free from harm. The staff competently manage risks and encourage young people to take age- appropriate risks as part of their development. Young people enjoy set periods of free time, agreed with their placing authorities and as set out in written risk assessments. This promotes young people to develop their independence, social skills and confidence. Young people have benefited by making friends locally and enjoy going out. Staff are aware of the dangers of the internet and online grooming, and they support young people to develop their understanding of e-safety.

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

Care records include an overview of each young person’s needs, their individual risk assessments, care plans and behaviour management plans. The manager and staff regularly review these documents in line with young people’s progress. These plans provide the staff with clear guidance about how to promote young people’s well-being and safety. The manager ensures that safeguarding concerns are responded to promptly and with the safety of young people being paramount. He has developed links with the local authority and has been proactive in addressing risks in the local community. Concerns and complaints are addressed and staff are confident in using the whistleblowing procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post for approximately a year and is working towards the required qualification. He has competent management skills and leads the staff well. He has an extensive knowledge of the young people’s needs and is active in overseeing their day-to-day care, while still fulfilling his management duties. The manager and staff have a genuine desire to see the young people in their care succeed, regardless of their diverse needs. To achieve this, the staff team works cohesively in providing high standards of care to young people based on their individually tailored care plans. The manager regularly monitors young people’s progress and organises the staff to support young people in achieving the outcomes agreed with their placing authorities. Staff feel supported by each other and the manager. Staff morale is high and this Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 6 benefits young people, who experience good-quality care from motivated and positive

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

staff. Staff are aware of the potential issues that can arise from lone working. Thorough communication during shifts, at shift handovers and team meetings, and the supportive environment, helps make lone working safe and effective. Consequently, young people benefit from the highly personalised care that comes from one-to-one staffing ratios. New staff benefit from an organised induction covering a broad range of training needs. Staff undertake further training on a regular basis and all of the team has or is working towards the required qualification. Combined with regular supervision and discussion in team meetings, these development arrangements provide young people with a competent team of staff to look after them. The manager’s monitoring is thorough. He maintains a good oversight of care practice, incidents, young people’s progress and staff training and development. He is aware of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and takes action to make improvements. For

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

example, he made sure that the games room was refurbished so that it was more child friendly. He has plans to create an extra meeting room in order to avoid the necessity of using communal areas, which impacts on young people, and is taking action to improve the quality of key-working sessions. The manager’s oversight is enhanced by thorough monthly scrutiny by an independent visitor. The visitor’s written reports are of good quality, regularly highlight good practice, and contribute to the process of continuous improvement. The manager and staff have developed good working relationships with partner agencies such as schools, social workers, the police and local authority. This helps to give young people good all-round support. For example, multi-agency working has supported a young person to transition to independence and has helped protect another young person who was frequently missing from the home. The manager is confident in

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

challenging other services to promote the best interests of young people.

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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: 1226978 7 Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Susan Fitzsimmons

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Inspector

Simon Morley, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 9 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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