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

Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 1 SC457137 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 operated children’s home provides care and accommodation for one child with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/04/2019 Full Good 08/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 31/07/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child currently living in this home has made good progress. Having experienced significant trauma and placement breakdowns previously, the consistent and nurturing care provided by staff has helped the child to settle and progress in many areas of their life. One professional commented, ‘Overall, staff have continued to offer excellent support to this child. They provide us with prompt updates and alerts to any changes, concerns or issues as they arise. They work effectively within the multi-disciplinary team. The child has some strong attachments with staff, particularly the registered manager, and this has been a strength in understanding this child and working with them through challenging periods. ’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with family members to help children maintain and enhance relationships with those important to them, when it is safe to do so. Staff are flexible in organising family time, especially for family members who live some considerable distance from the home. This enhances the number of opportunities for this child to have a more secure link within the wider family network now and in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff meet the child’s physical and emotional needs by supporting their attendance at routine health appointments and encouraging fun activities. The child engages in a wide range of age-appropriate hobbies, they keep fit, they have learned to play a musical instrument and they are supported to socialise with friends. Consequently, this has supported an increase in this child’s confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Attendance at school has not been achieved during the pandemic, despite the best endeavours of the manager, who has strongly supported and advocated for the child with education providers. In dealing with a highly unusual set of circumstances, as an alternative, the manager and staff have creatively engaged the child in a range of educational activities, to optimise their learning opportunities in preparation for entering and engaging with an education provision of their choice in the near future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is fully respected and valued, with staff listening carefully to the child’s views in respect of the day-to-day running of the home. The child is also fully involved in the review of their plans, with their wishes and feelings used routinely to update risk-management plans, which are written in a child-friendly format. As a result, the child is motivated to work towards goals that they have identified and want to achieve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transitions are particularly well managed, with open and supportive conversations that reference the child’s own decisions and positive achievements in this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Physically, the home is not well maintained. The decor, the garden and, in particular, the bathroom fittings in the home need urgently improving. Despite these flaws, the home is relatively welcoming. The child’s bedroom is well equipped and Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 4 decorated in colours chosen by the child. This helps them to feel valued and improves their self-esteem.

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

Staff support children effectively when they arrive at this home with a history of violence and aggression, including risk-taking activities, self-harm and mental health distress. Staffing levels in the home are always sufficient to meet the complex individual needs of children.

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

The staff are skilled and calm. The restorative approach used by staff in relation to challenging behaviours means the child learns how to respond differently when upset. There is rarely any recourse to physical intervention. This is testament to the skills of the staff team in de-escalating challenging behaviours and helping the child to regulate their emotions.

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

Staff keep children safe through the consistent implementation of routinely updated risk assessments. Staff are clear and confident about how to respond to complex situations. As a result of this consistent approach, risks reduce. This has enabled this child to resume appropriate free time to develop their independent life skills.

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

Incidents of the child going missing from the home have significantly reduced. Staff use information from return home interviews to update risk assessments and safety plans. The manager’s analysis of the ‘push and pull’ factors around missing-from- home incidents informs staff’s direct work sessions with the child to explain the risks. The positive relationships the child has with staff, the high levels of supervision in the home and work undertaken with the child by the staff have supported this child to understand risk better and reduce their frequency of running away.

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

Staff are well trained in, and alert to, risks associated with contextual safeguarding, including county lines in this locality. The close liaison with local specialist police teams means that the locality risk assessment is an invaluable tool which enables staff to know where the local hotspots are. Such knowledge informs the child’s risk assessment and the work staff do to keep them safe. Staff swiftly respond to safeguarding concerns, by appropriately alerting partners, such as the police, to protect the child effectively from further harm.

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

Safe and robust recruitment practices help to ensure that only those adults who have been assessed as suitable to work with children are employed in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is confident, inspirational and highly ambitious for children. She is highly respected by her staff, and partner agencies hold her in high regard. She leads by example, modelling an open culture. One new member of staff explained, ‘All questions and views are welcomed, even from me who has just arrived.’ Staff feel valued and share the same compassionate desire to improve children’s Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 5 experience and outcomes. The manager is diplomatic but persistent in her challenge when children receive a poor service from any agency. Her meticulous approach evidences her forward-thinking and resourceful attitude to getting the very best level of support to improve each child’s lived experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good support and positive challenge to maintain and improve their practice. This is evident from the high level of knowledge within the staff team about the complex needs of children who have experienced trauma. Record-keeping is highly organised, so it is easy to monitor that improvements are on track.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The regular supervision staff receive is usually of a good standard, but this needs to be more consistent from all members of the management team. The use of supervision sessions helps the staff to develop the insights and skills required to meet the specific needs of the current child and future children who come to live in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is reflective and uses incidents as learning opportunities, to improve the outcomes for children. Following the previous inspection, the manager and her team looked at ways of not only addressing the requirements and recommendations effectively but also improving all areas of their professional practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well trained. All mandatory training is up to date, and they receive regular refreshers in safeguarding. Staff undertake additional training relevant to the range of issues that affect children who live in the home. As a result, staff are well equipped to meet the needs of children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring systems in the home are comprehensive and accurate. These range from practical safety checks of fire equipment to feedback from the child. They also include month-by-month charting of specific high-risk areas of safeguarding concerns to ensure improving experiences and progress for the child, which staff share with the child each month in a beautifully prepared, colourful child-friendly format. As a result of this effective partnership, the child, as well as the adults in their life, can see the progress that they are making. Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii)) 30 July 2021

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are staff are supervised regularly. A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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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: SC457137 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: Cambian Childcare Limited, 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicola McClements

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Inspector

Joy Howick, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457137 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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