Children's Home, Residential special school run by Cambian Autism Services Limited in North Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 1 Registered provider: Cambian Autism Services 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

This children’s home is made up of a few separate houses in the grounds of a residential special school. Both the school and home are owned by a private company. The children and young people are placed by local authorities throughout the United Kingdom. Their residential placements are for 38 or 52 weeks of the year. The school also caters for day pupils. The children and young people may have learning disabilities and/or a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. They all have an education, health and care plan. There is a clinical team employed that provides a range of specialist support. The registered manager has been in post since December 2015.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three houses providing residential care at the time of the inspection, Oaktree, The Beeches and The Cedars.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 6 November 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: A compliance notice was issued after the Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 2 last full inspection. A monitoring inspection took place on 12 December 2018 and all the required improvements had been made.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/11/2018 Full Inadequate 13/02/2018 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 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, 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

In meeting the quality standards the registered person must, if the registered person considers a placing authority’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 55 (c)) In particular, take action to ensure that placing authorities promptly attend planning meetings, and avoid drift and delay in children’s transitions. 31/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(iv)) 31/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, review staff understanding of risks and ensure there is adequate staff deployment to keep children safe. 31/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. 31/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(e)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should:  implement her own monthly management audits to improve her oversight of record keeping and staff practice;  review current supervision practice to develop a reflective approach to supervision;  ensure that staff training is up to date;  improve the integration of care staff, the clinical team and teaching staff to improve outcomes for the children; and  review and improve the system for showing how the residential contribution makes a positive impact on children’s outcomes. 31/03/2019

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improvement to be good

The personal, social and emotional progress of the children and young people is inconsistent. Evidence of their achievements is not as well informed in the residential settings as it is in school. This is because targets and measures are not clearly prioritised and planned for. Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 5 There have been occasional incidents when the children and young people have felt unsafe or have assaulted each other. This hinders the children and young people from making positive relationships with each other. The level of staff turnover means that the children and young people must learn to trust new staff and build relationships with them regularly.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people have positive relationships with the staff they know well. These staff have a good knowledge of the individual children and young people. The staff help the children and young people develop resilience and coping strategies through regular discussion about behaviour and consequences.

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improvement to be good

The staff listen to the children and young people’s wishes and feelings and promote their individual interests and hobbies, such as scuba diving. The staff also support the children and young people to develop their independence. Some of the young people are risk assessed and trusted to go into town on their own. Achievements in their leisure and social activities and independence contribute to the children and young people’s increased confidence and give them positive experiences.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people can communicate with staff so that they all have a voice. The staff promote communication through a range of different aids such as social stories, talking mats, tablet apps and signs and symbols. The manager and staff are committed to using modern technology to promote communication and individual needs. For example, one young person is supported to make his own short films.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people’s attendance at school is good and an improvement from previous placements. Coupled with improvements in well-being, this helps the children and young people achieve more in school. For example, they are able to sit exams when this has not been achievable before.

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improvement to be good

Not all the children and young people feel safe. This is because of who they share their houses with. The same week as the inspection, the children and young people were not sufficiently consulted and prepared about a move between the houses. This has led to high levels of anxiety and feeling unsafe for one young person.

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improvement to be good

Despite risk assessments being up to date, the staff do not always fully understand the risk reduction strategies in place. Consequently, there are occasions when children and young people assessed as needing one-to-one staffing do not receive this. The location of staff on shifts hinders how well they deliver consistent care that keeps all the children and young people safe.

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improvement to be good

The way that the staff based in different houses are to support each other during front ground hold physical intervention is not well planned. This potentially leaves children and young people and staff at risk. The manager is not ensuring that staff learn from incidents of physical intervention and how to avoid unsafe situations from re-occurring. Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 6 The new approach, since the last inspection, to the management of risk is being sustained. This ensures that risk assessments are up to date and staff have good access to key records, such as safety plans. This has promoted a reduction in the severity of self-harming incidents.

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improvement to be good

Staff are more knowledgeable about the room search procedures and ensure that appropriate searches take place in line with risks to individual young people. This has improved the safety of the children and young people.

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improvement to be good

There have been no missing from home incidents. Appropriate staffing levels and the supervision of the children and young people have sustained the decline in missing from home incidents from the last inspection. The staffing levels and support for the children and young people are also leading to a decline in the number of behavioural incidents.

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improvement to be good

The manager is aware of trends in the numbers of behavioural incidents and of instances of physical intervention. She is putting plans in place with input from the clinical team to further reduce these incidents.

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improvement to be good

There is a good system for alerting senior staff to concerns about a child’s or young person’s welfare. The manager ensures appropriate action and any necessary monitoring takes place to help keep the children and young people safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered provider carefully monitors the management arrangements of the home. There are several areas that require improvement for the home to be good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The monthly management audit system demonstrates a weakness in the registered manager’s oversight of staff practice and record keeping. This lack of oversight reduces how well the manager understands the quality of care and the impact it has on children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager’s understanding is limited in relation to how staff respond to the challenging behaviour of children and young people. This is because the debriefs with staff lack depth. These do not provide opportunities for staff learning and improving practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The supervision of staff is task focused and does not have a reflective nature which would help staff consider the quality of their practice. The registered provider has introduced a new supervision system. On its own this will not bring about improvement without a leadership commitment to be more reflective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The work of the care team, teaching staff and clinical team is not integrated effectively. Although there is a vision and strategy in place to achieve this, the required changes in practice to make this happen have not yet taken place. Consequently, the support for the children and young people is piecemeal rather than joined up. Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 7 The tracking and monitoring of the children’s and young people’s progress with regards to the impact made by the residential care contribution is weak. This is recognised by the registered manager, who aims to provide a better system of checking how well the children and young people achieve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some staff training is out of date, such as the advanced Team Teach training. This was due to take place at the time of the inspection and was postponed. However, the manager had left this right up to the deadline date to action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The level of staff turnover has an impact on the ability of the staff to form a cohesive team and provide the children and young people with consistently good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered provider does work in partnership with other agencies, such as placing authorities, the host local authority, police and local health services. The provider has been proactive in finding an alternative placement for a young person for whom there were significant risks to his safety. For another young person, however, the manager has not escalated concerns in a timely manner to support a planned transition. This is causing delay in working towards a positive move.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The provider has taken on board feedback from the last full inspection. Subsequent improvements are being sustained and there are plans for further development. This is helping ensure the safety of the children and young people and has improved their experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The provider has appointed an in-house clinical psychologist and a mental health practitioner to strengthen the clinical team and to provide a more responsive service for the 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: 1227060 8 Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 9

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Autism Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London W6 9RU

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Inspector(s)

Simon Morley, social care inspector Ian Young, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1227060 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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