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

Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 1 SC455991 Registered provider: Cambian Signpost 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 operated by a large national provider of children’s social care services.  The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for no more than four children and young people at any one time.  The children may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties or learning disabilities.  The registered manager has been in post since 3 September 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 and 14 February 2019

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not judged

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/06/2018 Interim Not judged 21/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 29/09/2017 Full Inadequate 13/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When the interim inspection took place in June 2018, there were no children in the home. This meant that a judgement could not be made. The registered manager was new in post at the time. She was in the process of building her staff team and preparing the home to accept children. The manager has done extremely well to improve the quality of the home’s environment and establish a safe, supportive home for the two children who now live there. She now has a strong, child-focused and stable staff team that provides continuity of care for the children. The children enjoy very good-quality care. The staff are warm, nurturing and highly positive in their work. A social worker commented that, ‘It would be fair to report and write with great confidence that the placement… has been assessed by (my local authority) as exceptional. (The child’s) needs are being met in every way.’ The placing authority is pleased that the child has settled well at the home and has

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

made positive progress. The child is engaging with her education and therapy and there have been no recent reports of her going missing. There are some outstanding elements to the staff’s practice. For example, the staff spend lots of time helping children to express themselves through arts and crafts. The home has a designated room for this purpose, which is full of delightful craft work. The children’s art decorates much of the house, which helps them to express themselves and to feel valued. The staff’s work with the children’s parents is also exceptionally good. One child and her mother created a tepee together in the craft room. Parents are welcomed to the home and invited to stay in a nearby annexe, where they can spend good-quality time with their child. The staff’s work has been so successful that there are long-term plans for both children to return to their families. The children’s healthcare needs are well managed and recorded. They keep all their

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

appointments and help to choose their own healthy and appealing diet. There are safe arrangements for storing and administering medication. Children have access to good-quality, in-house therapy from a qualified psychologist to support their emotional well-being. Not all of the children feel ready to accept help at the moment. The therapist’s regular visits to the home help children to get to know them informally and begin to build trust. This may help the children to become confident enough to talk with them in the future. Children have made very good progress in their education. Both attend school full time, which is a significant improvement in comparison to their previous experiences. During the inspection, one child came back from school with seven certificates of achievement. This child has 97% attendance, and only missed school time due to recent snow. Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are consulted about their daily experiences, wishes and feelings. One child expressed the view that it would be nice to be closer to her home city. The responsible individual suggested obtaining a local newspaper for her home area, so that she can keep in touch with news and events. This would give her some shared experiences to discuss with her family when she sees them. Both children are too young for a formal independence plan, but they are working well to increase their life skills. This may include work experience, keeping their rooms clean and baking delicious chocolate brownies for everyone to share.

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

Staff and social workers confirm that the children are now safe in this home. There was a period when the mix of young people, although carefully planned and risk assessed, turned out not to be positive. There were several serious incidents, during which staff were at risk of harm. There was also significant damage in the local community, which led to complaints from members of the public. The registered manager responded very swiftly to separate and protect the children. This was a challenging period for the home; however, because of decisive action, both children are now settled in different homes within the group. The home’s former resident keeps in contact with the registered manager and the staff team and has sent them letters which show how much she appreciated their care and appropriate affection. One child also wrote to the home’s neighbours to apologise and explain that she had been distressed at the time of the incidents. The complaints were handled very well and

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

the registered manager acted quickly to repair relationships in the community. The home’s risk assessments are very clear and cover all areas of known risk. There have been a small number of incidents when some children left the home unauthorised. These incidents were managed well. In some cases, staff knew where the children were, followed them and responded quickly to keep them safe. There have been no recent missing-from-home incidents. Behaviour management is very good. The staff’s warm and nurturing relationships with the children have enabled them to build trust and to talk about their difficulties, rather than expressing distress in destructive ways. There have been a small number of referrals to the designated officer for the local authority in relation to allegations, which arose during the difficult incidents in October last year. These were investigated appropriately and no further action was indicated.

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

Staff safeguarding and restraint training is up to date. This helps to ensure that staff know what to do in the event of a child disclosing possible abuse, or a serious incident which cannot be managed without intervention. There have been a small number of low-level restraints since the last inspection. All were for appropriate reasons and were of short duration. The staff need to be careful in how they record restraints. A minor recording error was amended during the inspection. Health and safety in the home is well managed. The registered manager ensures that Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 5 fire safety and other essential checks are carried out at recommended intervals. The company has a safe system for managing staff recruitment. All staff are appointed after rigorous checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a relatively new registered manager, who started in her role during the summer of 2018. The requirement made at the last inspection, in relation to the appointment of a manager, is now met. The manager has made very good progress with this home in a short period of time. She has led the new staff team extremely well and has supported the team through the difficulties in September and October last year. This was a challenging experience for all concerned. The manager and staff team have emerged from this period with new skills and the confidence to learn from experience. The registered manager monitors the home very well. Her comments on the staff’s records are constructive and encourage learning from practice. She has begun to use child-focused research to inform discussions and team meetings. She is not afraid to challenge other agencies appropriately in order to protect the children’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager was new in post when the interim inspection took place. At that time, she had inherited several requirements from the full inspection in November 2017, when the home was rated requires improvement to be good. In particular, the home required a great deal of work to improve the quality of the environment. The registered manager has worked extremely hard with her staff team to achieve a very good standard of accommodation and care. For example, there are new carpets, curtains and blinds throughout the home. The children have new furniture in their bedrooms and the garden has been improved to provide a pleasant, safe space for the children to play. The requirement made under the quality and purpose of care standard is therefore met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Two requirements were made under the positive relationships and child protection quality standards. This was because, at the time, there was bullying between two young people who have since left the home. The relationships between the current residents are harmonious. The requirement made under the leadership and management quality standard is now met. The home has a skilled registered manager who has set high standards for her staff team. She approaches any challenges intelligently and monitors the children’s progress to help them to achieve their potential. At the time of the previous full inspection, the home had admitted children whose needs could not be met, so a requirement was made under the care planning quality standard. This matter was resolved. The recent incidents relating to two young residents were not related to poor planning. In this instance, the registered manager acted quickly to manage the situation and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 6 separate the children. All staff training is now up to date. The requirement in relation to the need for training in self harm and child sexual abuse is therefore met. The home no longer cares for deaf children, so the British Sign Language training cited in the same requirement is not relevant to the present children. The home had a final requirement because, at the time of the last full inspection, serious incidents had not all been notified to Ofsted. This has been actioned and the registered manager is very good at keeping the regulator updated about any concerns. The registered manager was diligent in following up the need for return-home interviews. These were all been completed, which has helped the staff to understand the reasons for children’s behaviour. The recommendation in relation to return-home interviews is now met. The recommendation about the staff’s recording is also met. The home’s care planning

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

documents are of a good standard and provide the staff with all the information that they need to care for children appropriately. The children’s photographs were updated during the inspection to provide a high-quality image to complete the file record. This requirement is now met.

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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: SC455991 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Signpost 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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Victoria Elworthy

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Inspector

Heather Chaplin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC455991 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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