Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in County Durham

Inspection report children’s home: SC066127 1 SC066127 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

The home is run by a private organisation and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to four children or young people who have learning disabilities, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, sensory impairments, or mental disorders. The manager was registered in August 2011 and is appropriately qualified.

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC066127 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2018 Full Outstanding 28/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/06/2016 Full Outstanding 22/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC066127 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is exceptionally child centred and the children and young people are at the heart of everything that happens in the home. They thrive and flourish in this home. They take a full part in the day-to-day running of the home, and the staff consult with the children and young people and give them choices, wherever possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children and young people make extremely good progress in many areas of their lives. The staff are nurturing and offer a great deal of encouragement and praise so that the children and young people are supported to achieve well. Their experience of living in the home is excellent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All of the children and young people are making progress with their education. The staff work extremely closely with education providers and support the placements very well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff do some excellent individual work with the children and young people. They work particularly hard with the children and young people around learning independence skills and around sex education and puberty. They have brought in a wide range of specialist workers to help with specific issues such as health, sleep, continence and mental health. This combined effort provides the children and young people with the best opportunities to develop, and to grow into confident and able adults.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Another feature that stands out at the home is the variety of activities, trips, projects and celebrations that the children and young people get involved in. These range from trying new adventurous activities to eating out regularly. Children and young people get involved in local charity projects which help others. Also, they participate in fun educational projects, gardening and many other leisure interests. These all build confidence and life skills, and keep the children and young people active and stimulated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff work very closely with families, and every person spoken to by the inspector was complimentary about the service. One parent said of their son, ‘He is doing things we would never have thought possible.’ Another relative said about their young person, that the service ‘has changed his life completely’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Many of the children and young people have complex health needs. The healthcare they receive at this home is excellent; it is well organised and safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

On the one occasion when a young person’s needs could not be met by the staff there was effective support and planning to support their transition to a more suitable placement. Staff went the extra mile to ensure that this situation was well supported and was in the young person’s best interests.

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

The children and young people at this home are kept extremely safe, and they feel safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC066127 4 There are very high levels of supervision at all times, both in the home and when out in the community. This supports the children and young people’s needs, ensures proactive responses to situations and reduces risk. Staff are vigilant and understand risk well. They take good precautions and achieve a good balance between minimising risk and allowing children and young people to take appropriate risks as part of their development of independence skills.

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

There have been very few safeguarding concerns, and when these have occurred the staff have reacted appropriately and kept the children and young people safe.

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

The staff are well trained and understand the behaviour of the children and young people. They are able to recognise when children and young people are becoming anxious, angry or confused and are able to divert and de-escalate situations before they become more challenging. The staff do not use sanctions to control behaviour but do use various incentives, as well as praise and encouragement. On a few occasions staff have had to use physical interventions, but these have all been low-level and brief.

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

The staff spend a lot of time helping the children and young people to understand what is and isn’t appropriate. They reinforce appropriate boundaries on a daily basis in a gentle but firm way, and this allows the children and young people to learn and to avoid difficult and dangerous situations.

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

The children and young people are encouraged to participate in a wide range of activities, and these are all risk assessed well so that children and young people get the maximum value and the minimum risk out of them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has created an excellent service. She is skilled, confident and very experienced. She and her senior staff have put considerable effort into creating a culture and ethos in the home that is consistently successful. She is an excellent role model and she is ambitious for all the children and young people in her care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

She has created a staff team that takes her values and puts them into practice. She ensures that the staff are well trained and supported, and closely monitors their efficiency and effectiveness. The staff respond well to her leadership and are clearly supportive of her. She is particularly well supported by her senior workers, who form a strong management presence. A requirement from the previous inspection to ensure that all staff become appropriately qualified within the time scale has been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

One of the strengths of the home is the work the staff do in partnership with others. There is a great deal of evidence of effective partnership working with both education and health professionals. The registered manager has been able to source and access a wide variety of specialist help and support, and this has benefited the children and young people considerably. Another strength is the work with families, where they are encouraged to contribute and share care wherever possible. Inspection report children’s home: SC066127 5 The registered manager is innovative and encourages this in her staff. She clearly uses wide-ranging research to inform her practice and to help her staff develop and learn more about the work and about the needs of individual children and 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: SC066127 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Waterfront Building, Chancellor’s Road, Hammersmith Embankment, London W6 9RU

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Inspector

Colin Imrie, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC066127 7 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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