Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: SC457272 1 SC457272 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

This privately owned home provides care for up to three children aged between 11 and 18. The home’s aim is to provide care and support to children who may have experienced abuse, neglect and exclusion in the past.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 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: 11 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: SC457272 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/12/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/11/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC457272 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home reopened in 2020 following a period of closure and refurbishment. The environment is homely, newly decorated, clean and welcoming. Both children’s bedrooms are personalised to their tastes. One of the children has designed his own pattern on his bedroom wall, which he is very proud of. The large garden has a vegetable patch that the children grow their own vegetables in. This environment creates a real sense of home for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage with education. Both children have education places. The staff are sensitive to children’s individual needs and are aware of other influences that have an impact on the children’s ability to learn. The staff support children at school and use opportunities at the home to encourage informal learning. The staff’s understanding and support enable the children to progress and learn at a pace that is appropriate to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have positive relationships with the children. They work hard to ensure that the children feel trusted and valued. The staff use trust exercises with children. Children feel proud that the staff take regular opportunities to show them that they are trusted and give them opportunities to earn trust. This approach helps children to build positive and respectful relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff manage extremely sensitive situations very well to help children to maintain time with their families in difficult circumstances. Staff understand the importance of children’s time with their families and give good support to help maintain relationships that are important to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to develop independent living skills. They also encourage children to spend time with friends in the community. Well-assessed positive risk- taking enables children to maintain appropriate and important friendships and develop the skills that they will need as they become more independent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have not ensured that the records that they keep to provide children with memories of their time at the home are easily accessible to the children. This means that children cannot easily keep track of their individual journey when they wish to.

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

Children are safeguarded and feel safe at the home. The manager has ensured that the staff have appropriate training and that they understand safeguarding procedures. The staff are confident and well equipped to manage safeguarding incidents, which helps keep children safe.

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

Effective protocols give good guidance to staff on managing incidents of children going missing. Staff manage such incidents well and with sensitivity. Staff always Inspection report children’s home: SC457272 4 welcome children back to the home and ensure that children receive an independent return interview. Children feel listened to and supported following these incidents and this has led to a reduction in the frequency of children going missing from the home.

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

Staff understand that physical intervention should only be used as a last resort. They use their positive relationships with the children to prevent unnecessary physical interventions. Staff support children after an intervention and encourage them to manage their feelings safely. This practice has led to a reduction in physical interventions.

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

Staff take bullying incidents seriously and support the children involved. Staff take appropriate action to reduce the likeliness of recurrence. They help children to understand the impact of bullying and to explore their feelings and emotions. Children feel safe to talk about bullying because the staff act and listen.

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

The manager ensures that allegations made by children are investigated promptly and that children are kept safe. The manager informs relevant professionals about allegations. However, the senior management team, on one occasion, did not ensure that a consultation with the designated officer was recorded. Lack of recording makes the effectiveness of action and any outcome difficult to establish.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has ensured that the staff have accessed specific training to enable them to meet the children’s individual needs. Staff said that they have a good understanding of the children’s needs due to the thorough training provided. This means that staff can provide a good level of effective care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they feel valued, respected and empowered by the manager. Staff have good-quality and regular supervision. The manager supports staff and, in addition, they have access to an independent phone counselling service. This support helps to create a stable and resilient staff team that can provide good care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Social workers said that the manager is a strong leader and keeps them updated of the progress that children make. They feel that there are effective levels of communication and that the manager is open to trying different strategies to support children. The manager ensures that he works in consultation with social workers and adapts practice to meet children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the home. He has regular support from an internal quality assurance manager. This support helps the manager to continually improve the service for the children living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not ensured that records are always accurate. One incident report had incorrect information about when professionals had been contacted. One child’s plan for staff supporting him in the community has unclear guidance for staff. Poor Inspection report children’s home: SC457272 5 recording means that the children’s records are inaccurate. Unclear guidance means that staff may use inconsistent approaches, which at times lead to the child concerned becoming frustrated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not ensured that information from an education meeting for a child was added into the child’s plans. Without this information, the staff do not have all the relevant details to ensure that they are supporting children towards the correct education goals. Inspection report children’s home: SC457272 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any allegation of harm or abuse is addressed in line with the home’s child protection policy. Specifically, ensure that consultations with the designated officer are recorded. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.17)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Specifically, ensure that records reflect actions from children’s meetings and that information is consistent across children’s records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff keep, and encourage children to keep, appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. Specifically, ensure that memory books are

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Recommendations

accessible to children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: SC457272 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: Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Amy Miles, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457272 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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