Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Leeds

Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 1 SC428895 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children for a short-, medium- or long-term period.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in December 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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: 19 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Not applicable. Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2020 Full Good 28/08/2018 Full Good 21/11/2017 Full Good 05/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children in the home benefit from having positive relationships with staff. Staff have been effective in their efforts to provide children with a welcoming and nurturing environment. As a result, the children feel safe and secure, and experience stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make positive progress in all areas of their development. The support they receive from staff is individualised, carefully planned and consistent. This enables the children to begin to address their worries, fears and difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work with the children, schools, colleges and virtual schools to ensure that all the children have bespoke education plans to meet their learning needs. When there are barriers to accessing education, the staff advocate on behalf of the children. As a result, the children’s attendance and engagement in education have improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to develop independent living skills. Children make progress in learning to cook meals, travel independently, manage their own medication and develop their domestic skills and safe-care skills. They continue to develop these skills in line with their age and ability, and carry them into adulthood. As a result, the children are well prepared for future transitions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with health professionals and the in-house clinician to prioritise the health needs of the children. Staff have worked creatively and resourcefully to ensure that the children engage in health appointments and assessments of their health needs. Children who have specific health needs are supported by staff to develop a good understanding of any diagnosis. This helps the children to become more aware of their health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff have provided emotional support to help the children understand and manage the restrictions. As restrictions have changed, the staff have ensured that leisure opportunities for children have continued. For example, the children have celebrated birthdays, gone on a group holiday and had themed events such as Halloween and a Hawaiian night.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to share their views, wishes and feelings through key- work sessions, group work and weekly children’s meetings. These opportunities have enabled the children to discuss equality and diversity issues, and learn about Remembrance Day, World Braille Day and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have also completed excellent work with staff on capturing their experiences of living through the pandemic with a ‘my COVID-19-time capsule’. These memory capsules demonstrate the activities the children have engaged in and the experiences they have had during the pandemic. Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 4 Staff have helped the children to stay connected with their families during the pandemic. They have facilitated direct and indirect contact with the children’s family members. This has contributed to improved relationships between the children and the key people in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is welcoming and spacious. The children have personalised their home and their bedrooms. However, at the time of the inspection, there were some noticeable wear and tear issues. For example, some kitchen appliances needed cleaning and updating. These matters detract from the overall presentation of the home.

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

Staff follow policy and procedures and demonstrate good knowledge and understanding of risks, all of which help them to protect the children more effectively.

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

Staff respond effectively when children go missing from the home. Staff carry out local searches, contact the children, visit known addresses and encourage the children to return home. Staff have a good understanding of the children and their triggers for going missing. As a result, they know what action to take to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

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

Missing-from-home return interviews are undertaken. This helps staff to identify children’s risks and vulnerabilities. Staff use the information from return interviews to update risk assessments and reduce risks.

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

Professionals say that when the children are in crisis, the staff support them well. Staff action has contributed to a significant reduction in disruptive behaviours and has helped the children to develop alternative coping strategies. For example, one child would previously self-isolate in their bedroom when feeling anxious. However, now they freely seek staff support and are more able to regulate their emotions.

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

Staff have regular input from the in-house clinician. This enables the staff to provide the children with an environment where they can express their feelings and develop strategies to manage their emotions. As a result, the children are settled and benefit immensely from the nurturing and therapeutic care they receive.

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

The children engage well in key work and group work where they are able to address behaviours and risks with staff in a safe environment. Key work has been completed on smoking, substance misuse, racism, criminality, emotional well-being, safe sex, episodes of going missing from home, education, bullying, health needs and immunisations. Key-work sessions are focused and provide the child with an opportunity to reflect and learn. They are recorded well and capture the voice of the child. Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 5 Communication with children’s social workers and other professionals is good. There is a real sense of a ‘team around the child’ approach. This collaborative approach provides better support and guidance for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified manager. She has been in post since December 2020 and has demonstrated that she aims to achieve good outcomes for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works with her team leaders to help provide structure and support through monthly supervisions, focused supervisions, team meetings, handovers and consultations with staff and other agencies. This helps to ensure that staff are able to meet the holistic care needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides regular training and development opportunities for the staff. The training provided is bespoke and this helps to shape and improve staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they are supported in their roles by the manager. The staff spoken to during the inspection came across as passionate and motivated. There is good staff morale and the team provides consistency of care for the children. As a result, the children say they feel safe and well supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager advocates and challenges other professionals to ensure that there is no drift or delay in the progression of children’s care plans. For example, when it was needed, she contacted a placing authority to escalate concerns around education and pathway planning for the children. This helped to ensure that the children received the support they needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good management oversight of the home. She completes monthly audits and spot checks, and has oversight of all assessments, care plans and incident reports. This helps her to shape practice and improve the outcomes for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are updated home development and workforce development plans in place, and these are reviewed regularly by the manager. The manager also makes good use of the monthly independent quality assurance visits to the home. However, the manager has not routinely provided the regulator with a six-monthly review of the home. This is a breach of regulations and prevents external oversight of the care provided for children. Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 6

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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 registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. 30 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 7 (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that—

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the kitchen appliances are maintained to a high standard and home decor is improved and routinely cleaned. 30 June 2021

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC428895 8

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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 Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Susan Fitzsimmons

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Inspectors

Noel Cooper, Social Care Inspector Brian Wood, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC428895 9 to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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