Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC476267 1 SC476267 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 provides care and accommodation for up to five children and young people, aged between eight and 18, who have complex behaviours due to childhood trauma. Staff work therapeutically in a nurturing environment. The home is privately owned.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in August 2017 and has completed her level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 July to 1 August 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 requires improvement to be 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: 30 January 2019

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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: SC476267 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/07/2018 Full Good 13/03/2018 Interim Not judged 20/11/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC476267 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

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care 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)(2)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 23/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 23/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC476267 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have decorated their bedrooms and created their own play areas in the house and garden. Staff ensure that photos are put up around the house that show the varied activities that children have enjoyed. As a result, children contribute to the development of their home and invest in it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff listen to children and act on their requests. For example, children asked for a paddling pool at a children’s meeting. The paddling pool is now proudly placed in the garden and enjoyed by all the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well. Children have individual needs, which the staff anticipate and respond to well. Staff break children’s routines down and provide them with visual planners. This helps children to know what they are doing on any given day and gives them the structure that they need to feel safe and to make progress with their development and behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have experienced some members of staff leaving and new members of staff starting. The registered manager tries hard to minimise the impact of this on the children by promoting positive endings, including a leaving meal with present exchanges. Although this helps children to learn to understand and cope with change, staff leaving has been unsettling for them at times.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s school attendance is excellent and they receive certificates for working well. This encourages and promotes children’s learning and they make good progress at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has been involved in a school project gathering supplies for people who are homeless. She prepared information leaflets for neighbours and organised a local collection. The child then wrote individual letters to the neighbours thanking them for their contributions. This awareness and confidence to try to improve the lives of people less fortunate in her community shows the social and emotional progress that this child has made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with individualised support based on their age and needs and this promotes their development and independence. For example, staff help children to manage their pocket money when shopping and children gradually increase the time they spend with friends in the community.

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

Staff keep children safe by appropriately managing identified risks. Staff obtain information from previous carers and case records to get to know children’s histories. This helps staff to understand children’s risky and challenging behaviours and the potential reasons behind these. Inspection report children’s home: SC476267 5 Children engage in therapy with staff from the psychological support service or undertake work with their key carer. The direct work that staff and psychological professionals do with children helps the children to understand their past experiences and identity. It also helps them to develop skills, including making friends and managing their anger better.

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

Children do not go missing from the home. They are currently not at risk of child sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, or radicalisation. The registered manager is careful when considering new children for the home and confirmed that the continued stability and safety of the current residents is paramount.

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

Staff encourage children to develop positive behaviours by providing incentives, which children work towards. Staff rarely use consequences when children show challenging behaviour. Instead, they use the positive relationships they have with children to talk about what has happened. Staff use physical interventions only when necessary to keep children and others safe. Staff talk with children after a physical intervention and this helps children to reflect on what has happened and talk about any worries they may have about this. There have been two occasions when the same child has been involved in a physical intervention, which was triggered by her upset at a staff member leaving. The registered manager monitors all physical interventions. She acknowledges that staff changes unsettle children and she is working to maintain stability in the home.

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

The registered manager recruits staff safely. Staff receive the necessary training to enable them to keep children safe.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been a significant number of experienced staff members leaving and new staff starting. This has been unsettling for children, despite efforts to mitigate the impact of this on children’s experiences and emotions. The registered manager is proactively recruiting new staff and is likely to have a full staff team by September.

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

Staff receive a comprehensive induction, which includes clinical training to understand the emotional and behavioural needs of the children. The registered manager is discussing with staff in the psychological support service how to develop further training and guidance to care staff.

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

Staff do not always receive supervision as often as they should. In particular, new staff have not had sufficient opportunity to reflect on their practice and on the emotional impact that caring for children can sometimes have. In addition, existing staff have not had their performance reviewed in an appraisal. As a result, they do not have the opportunity to reflect on their development needs and plan how these will be met.

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

Some aspects of management monitoring require improvement. A deputy manager has recently been appointed to support improvement in this area and increase the capacity Inspection report children’s home: SC476267 6 of the manager to effectively oversee children’s progress, staff practice and the quality of record keeping.

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

The registered manager advocates for the children and acts quickly, when needed, to ensure that the right decisions are made in the best interests of children. This promotes children’s welfare and helps children to have their voices heard.

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

The registered manager and staff work well with children’s families. They enable children to spend positive and safe time with their families and previous carers. This helps children to understand their histories and maintain relationships with people who are important to them. Positive working relationships with professionals also help children to receive coordinated care.

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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: SC476267 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: 4th Floor Waterfront, Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RH

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Inspector

Joanna Warburton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476267 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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