Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Durham

Inspection report children’s home: 1236026 1 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 registered for four placements of children and/or young people who have primarily emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home provides long-term/short- term or emergency placements. The manager has been registered since 2018.

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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 outstanding

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1236026 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/07/2018 Full Good 08/08/2017 Full Good 31/01/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1236026 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are respected as individuals. Their placement plans and supporting records are individualised and represent their views and opinions. The plans include lots of photographs that capture the children’s positive experiences and progress made. The children are settled and relaxed in the company of staff. The relationships observed during inspection were warm and friendly. The staff are skilled in developing positive relationships with parents, carers and professionals. A social worker said, ‘The staff are great, and the manager is brilliant in communicating with [child].’ The staff develop effective relationships with professionals to promote good health. Children have effective personalised healthcare plans. Where specific healthcare needs are identified, staff support and encourage children to attend appointments. The children eat well and they put forward their choices and opinions when planning menus.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children make progress in their education from their starting points. The effective and open communication with schools and local authority educational professionals supports and maintains attendance for children. The staff support educational activity throughout the day in times of need. They are creative and innovative in their ideas to help and support children. For example, they put together a ‘salon’ for a child to support and encourage her engagement in a vocational element of education. This was based on her personal interest and future aspirations. This proactive practice means that children’s confidence and knowledge is developed to inspire them and help attain next steps. The culture in the home is based on respect for one another. The ‘expression room’ continues to be used for education and to enable children and staff to come together to explore the world and its diversity. The children are supported to ask questions and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

explore different cultures, often through seasonal celebrations. This enables children to have fun while learning. The staff ensure that children have access to family time with parents and extended members of the family. Children and families are able to repair fractured relationships over time because of the support that they receive. Effective planning in collaboration with social care professionals and families has resulted in very positive family time. Staff give support through supervision, transport and maintaining open lines of communication with both children and adults during visits and sleepovers. This helps children with their identity and feelings of belonging. The children have all taken part in short trips away with staff since the last inspection. These trips have been based on their choices and an array of photographs have provided positive memories for children. This supports the development of the children’s

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

confidence and promotes their well-being.

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

Children feel safe and are protected from harm. Highly effective planning and strategies support the reduction in harmful behaviours. The staff team works proactively with the Inspection report children’s home: 1236026 4 police and a range of social care professionals. This helps when reviewing and maintaining individual risk management plans. The plans are followed by staff which ensures that children are helped to keep safe from harm. Children rarely go missing from the home. If they do, the staff follow clear protocols in partnership with the police to ensure that they are returned safe and well as soon as possible. The staff go out and search known areas and make welfare calls to children throughout the period of being missing from the home. This contributes to children feeling cared for and safe. Children who have complex emotional needs have opportunities to access appropriate services to protect and improve their emotional health and development. Staff are

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

knowledgeable about children’s individual needs and are appropriately trained to recognise harmful behaviours. Children develop trust in the adults who sensitively protect and support them in the management and reduction of harmful behaviours. The staff use a range of incentives to support children to change their behaviour where needed. This is also achieved through purposeful one-to-one discussions that children have with key workers and other members of the team. This is helped by the staff team being consistent in its practice. This enables children to hear the same messages about what is acceptable behaviour and this helps them to develop personal safe care. Investigations into allegations and complaints are thorough. The home’s effective links with local authorities, designated officers and other safeguarding agencies support safe care. The level of recording and communication in these cases is very good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is well organised and ensures that her staff are supported to achieve positive outcomes for children. She is a positive person who is respected by a committed staff team. They collectively have created a culture of high aspirations and positivity where children are able to flourish from their starting points. The staff team is stable, suitably vetted and qualified. Staff replicate the manager’s nurturing responses to children. This is shown in the respect and sensitivity that she demonstrates on a day-to-day basis when responding to children in her care. She spends time getting to know the children. The respect that the children show for the manager was seen during the inspection visit through the positive chats that took place between them. This supports and strengthens children’s resilience and confidence. Supervision is effective and supportive. The staff value the accessibility of the manager

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

and her leadership team. Comments from members of staff include, ‘I always come out of supervision feeling positive’ and ‘There is nothing I cannot speak to the manager about.’ Monthly team meetings comprehensively discuss the care needs of the children. They also allow for additional training to take place, provided by the organisation’s mental health clinician. This supports the staff team’s knowledge of self-harm and its theoretical approaches to maintaining the well-being of children and helping them to regulate their emotions. Daily, weekly and monthly evaluative reports are shared with social workers. They show Inspection report children’s home: 1236026 5 progress achieved and are often supported by photographic evidence of the children having fun through learning. The manager recognises and understands the challenges that the children face. She accepts that there are times when children’s behaviour will

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

relapse. However, the standard of care does not. The manager has worked with the provider’s leadership team to ensure that the home environment has improved massively both internally and externally. The communal areas and bedrooms show the influence of the children in their design and presentation. There were no requirements and recommendations made at this inspection.

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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: 1236026 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: Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Road, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Michael Dack, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1236026 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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