Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2502314 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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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 is a privately owned home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people. It provides a minimum 12-month, full-time treatment programme for young people who have experienced, or are at risk of, sexual exploitation. No registered manager has been in post since March 2019. The current manager is in the process of registering with Ofsted.

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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

Date of last inspection: N/A This is the first inspection since this home was registered in January 2019.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2502314 2

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure— that staff— are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)(iv)(iv)) 18/10/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which details the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) In particular, ensure that all staff undertake refresher training in fire safety within the agreed timescales.  Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in 40(4)(a)-(e) occurs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the registration in January 2019, two young people have lived at the home. Both young people have recently left the home. Consequently, there were no children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Evidence was gathered by talking to young people who had moved on, staff and the manager. Documents were also viewed to help gather evidence. Inspection report children’s home: 2502314 3 Young people received good support from staff to access health services to meet their physical and emotional needs. Staff provided young people with a range of physical and social activities of their choice that improved their health and levels of social engagement. Relationships between the young people and staff were generally good. Young people talked to staff about the day-to-day running of, and experiences of living at, the home during key-work sessions and house meetings. This open sharing of views, wishes and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

feelings helped to shape the service to meet young people’s needs. Young people’s education outcomes improved while living at the home. As a result, young people’s career prospects and learning opportunities widened. Staff helped young people to move on from the home in a planned and sensitive manner. As a result, young people had a positive and safe transition to their new homes.

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

Staff effectively used maps to consult with young people to understand where the safe areas were in the community. This helped to reduce young people’s anxieties when going on contact because the highlighted red areas on the map would be avoided. As a result, young people felt safe when accessing the community There was one incident of missing from care since the home was registered, when both young people were reported missing while at a theme park. Appropriate action was taken by staff to help the young people return to their care safely. The manager reviewed the risk of this activity following the incident and considered the views of young people about what could be done better to ensure that they are not separated from staff at theme parks in the future. As a result, staff changed the risk assessment to ensure that there is a single meeting point identified for young people to go to if they are separated from staff.

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

Young people receive praise and rewards for good behaviour. Sanctions are fair and proportionate. This approach helps young people to understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others and helps them to behave more appropriately. One staff member has not refreshed their fire safety training that is required annually. All other staff are suitably trained, and the manager and staff regularly monitor the fire equipment and complete fire drills. As a result, the home is protected against the risk of fire and staff understand what action to take in the event of a fire evacuation. On one occasion, the manager did not follow the home’s safeguarding policy and refer a potential safeguarding concern to the appropriate external agencies. This was a missed opportunity to ensure that he had sought guidance and had sought all the necessary information from the designated officer as to how to proceed. The manager is acting on

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

this retrospectively to ensure that the designated officer is aware of, and happy with, the action taken. An internal investigation was carried out into the concern raised by a young person and the matter resolved to the young person’s satisfaction. That said, not following the home’s safeguarding policy has the potential to undermine children’s safety. Inspection report children’s home: 2502314 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This is the first full inspection since the home was registered in January 2019. The manager and staff team are passionate and dedicated in their roles. Staff spoke highly about the manager’s leadership and support. Staff receive good-quality supervision from the manager. Regular supervision helps staff improve their practice and identifies any additional support staff may require. As a result, staff provide good-quality care to young people and staff practice continues to develop. The independent visitor provides monthly reports about the home. These reports, alongside the monthly review of the quality of care undertaken by the manager, help provide information on what needs to improve and what is going well. Staff recruitment by the manager is thorough, which helps to ensure that those working with the young people are suitable and safe to do so. Due to staff vacancies, the manager is continuing to recruit staff. This additional support to the staff team ensures

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

that there are enough suitably skilled and qualified staff to support young people. The home is well maintained. Any damage or repair required is reported to the maintenance team and rectified within reasonable timescales. This ensures that any potential hazards are dealt with promptly to promote a safe physical environment for young people to live in. On one occasion, the manager did not notify Ofsted of a significant event in a timely manner. This means that inspectors cannot review information quickly to assess whether managers and staff have taken appropriate action.

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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: 2502314 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Metropolitan House, 3 Drakes Road, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Michelle Spruce, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2502314 6 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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