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

Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 1 SC476303 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 owns the home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children irrespective of gender. The home supports children who have experienced behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since 2017.

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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: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/08/2017 Full Good 29/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/05/2016 Full Good 29/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children receive exceptional support from staff and the management team. The high quality of care is based on the ethos of the home as stated in its statement of purpose. For example, ‘A place that children can call home, be happy and feel normal from their own perspective while receiving the opportunities and being encouraged to take these opportunities to develop to their full potential in all areas.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children’s progress is outstanding. From their starting points the children develop confidence in sharing their thoughts, opinions and feelings on all aspects of their care. The children value the consistent approach to children’s meetings. They are always listened to and shown respect. The children respond to an incentive and reward structure that celebrates positive behaviours. The children are encouraged to choose rewards and are involved in planning activities and future events. This level of engagement supports children in developing resilience, self-esteem and a level of control in their own progress. In many cases, this is for the first time in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children develop excellent relationships with the members of the staff team, who know them well. Placement plans are thorough, and the knowledge of the team is further enhanced by children completing a ‘My Plan’ document supported by their key worker. This depth of information ensures that children are involved and understand their care plans, and this helps them to develop a sense of ownership of their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The manager and staff meticulously plan the admission of children to the home. The staff visit existing accommodation and arrange visits to the home for children prior to admission. The detailed pre-planning and discussions with children reduce anxieties and slowly build the first steps of trust. This enables children to understand in advance the expectations and boundaries that will support their progress during their time living at the home. They are helped to choose items for their bedroom and plan how they would like it decorated. This practice supports self-esteem and confidence in children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff are supported by the provider’s own clinician, who provides regular consultations that help staff understand the complexities of the children’s emotional well- being and presenting behaviours. This direct support complements the therapeutic environment provided by the staff and is based on a number of theoretical models. The keyworker is at the centre of any planned intervention with individual children to promote positive change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are encouraged in all aspects of their independence to prepare them for adulthood. The home environment is of a high standard in terms of decoration and accommodation, and children help to maintain this by keeping their rooms tidy and respecting the communal living spaces.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Professionals, parents and carers spoke highly of their relationships with the manager and staff and were complimentary about the progress made by the children. Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 4 Contact with family is respected and supported by staff through facilitating transport to and from the home, working with social workers to provide suitable accommodation when families travel long distances and ensuring that families and friends are encouraged to visit the home when appropriate. Children benefit from sleepovers with friends and families and these support their overall development, socially and emotionally.

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

Risk assessments and risk management processes are highly effective. The staff have a very good understanding of each child’s vulnerabilities, such as risky behaviour and social isolation. Research-informed practice consistently supports safe care. The staff have developed specialist knowledge around the risks of self-harm and child sexual exploitation. This enables them to recognise behavioural changes and respond accordingly, thereby reducing risks for children.

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

There is a thorough and comprehensive approach to risk management. The children are helped to make consistently safe choices that enable them to develop an understanding of risk and an awareness of potential danger. The commitment shown by staff creates an environment which nurtures the feelings of emotional well-being and safety.

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

Due to the professionalism and persistence of staff practice, children make exceptional progress in the reduction of previous risk-taking behaviours. Episodes of going missing from home, self-harm and drug misuse have significantly reduced. Safety plans and protocols are well written, followed and proactively reviewed as needs change.

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

The children are encouraged to develop their independence skills by spending planned time in the local community and further afield when using public transport independently. For example, the staff developed a summer programme of activities. This enabled the children to follow set tasks in the community to demonstrate their ability and confidence in travelling independently and finding out pieces of information connected to certain historical landmarks.

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

The staff use informal and formal one-to-one sessions with children to help them make safe choices. These are supportive and help to develop trust with caregivers and build confidence in children to appropriately share their thoughts and feelings. This helps excellent relationships to develop that support overall safe care.

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

The manager and her team are quick to resolve children’s disagreements and occasional fallings-out with each other, helping children learn the skills for resolving future challenges. The children are encouraged to sit around the kitchen table and are empowered to take control of discussions in a respectful manner. The children respond positively to this nurturing, family-orientated way of expressing feelings towards each other. This practice is monitored to make sure it is safe for everyone involved. Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager sets high standards and ensures that staff are well supported to achieve best outcomes for children. She is extremely well organised and an active member of the care team. The staff team shares her passion for flexibility and creativity in achieving the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The training needs of the staff team are met through the home’s internal training programmes and, when required, specialist areas of training are sourced to enable the staff to meet the more complex needs of children, thus improving the overall awareness and knowledge base of staff. The staff meetings, handovers and supervisions enable knowledge to be shared and discussed to meet children’s individual needs to the best of the staff’s abilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The quality of records and processes is high and well maintained, ensuring that information is always ‘live’. This helps staff to spend more time with children and keep up to date with important events. Daily and weekly evaluations carried out in relation to progress are shared with social workers. Recording and detail are meticulous. The manager understands the challenges that children face and the fact that there are times when progress dips. However, she ensures quality of care does not.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is well supported by three team leaders who provide staff with regular and effective supervision. The staff spoken with during the inspection all stated that they feel valued and enjoy particularly the relaxed, homely environment that they work in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is working proactively with the adjacent church and local authority to ensure that the outdoor space is maximised to further develop the living environment for children. This commitment demonstrates that children are at the centre of practice and further improvements can be made to enhance children’s living experiences.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 6 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 7

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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, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellor’s Road, London W6 9RU

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Inspector

Michael Dack, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476303 8 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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