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

Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 1 SC476286 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 run home provides care for five young children who may be experiencing emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since January 2021.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 2 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2020

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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: SC476286 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2020 Full Good 16/10/2018 Full Good 04/05/2017 Full Good 19/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy their life in this happy home. They run around and ‘let off steam’ in the garden, play games and are always busy with either their education or enjoyable activities. The homely and relaxed atmosphere has enabled children to make progress in many areas. They have very good relationships with the adults around them. The adults help children to understand why they are not living with their family and to make sense of what has happened to them. Children receive very good support with their worries and problems. The very child-friendly approach of staff really does suit this group of younger children. There is an abundance of play equipment for children to enjoy, including a trampoline and bicycles for everyone. The garden currently looks unsightly and has developed large patches of mud on the grassy area. Some of the dining chairs are broken and need to be repaired or replaced. Otherwise, the house is well furnished.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s bedrooms are sensitively personalised. The children are proud of their home. Children have education packages and school placements that meet their individual needs. Several children are making particularly good progress at school. However, one child has a long journey and has found this hard to manage. It has been decided that additional staff are required to help him to cope with the journey. During the last two weeks, he has missed some school days because there were not enough staff to take him. Managers of the home have not been proactive enough in resolving the staffing issues. As a consequence, the child has missed some schooling, which has the potential to hamper his educational progress.

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

Children say they are safe and happy. They feel safe around the adults who work with them. Recruitment processes are generally sound, although one staff member’s recruitment file was found to be very confusing and the manager did not have a full understanding of the relevant information. The manager and staff have learned from previous mistakes, where safeguarding matters were not handled well. There has been a significant improvement in this area. The safeguarding procedures for the home and the local area are now used effectively so that children are safe and protected. The adults supervise the children well according to their needs and risk assessments. Behaviour management is also good. Children receive a lot of support in this area. They are helped to develop their own strategies to manage situations better. Restraints only happen when necessary. Staff never lose sight of the importance of the voice of the child. They have shown some very good practice in relation to

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

listening to what children have to say after they have been restrained. Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has learned a lot from previous shortfalls. The home is steadily improving in her care. She is confident, manages the home well and is happy to reflect on how to improve practice further. The manager is also very good at advocating for the children in her care. After much change in the staff team, this is now settling down. Most staff have now passed their probation and are well established in their roles. There are several staff who do not yet have the required qualification, but this is improving as they are now enrolled and starting the relevant training. The staff team is starting to gel. They are working a lot of hours to provide consistency to the children, but the organisation is recruiting more staff to alleviate the pressure. Performance management of staff is good. Staff receive induction, and ongoing support from their manager. Supervision meetings are used to support staff and to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

keep an eye on their performance. This works well to make sure that the children are safe and protected. Staff training is organised well and mandatory training, such as around safeguarding, behaviour management and first aid, is up to date. However, there are gaps in some staff’s understanding of how to care for children with autism spectrum disorder, which have not been addressed by training. Also, although the children are very young, they are at a point where they should be learning about online safety. Staff have not been fully trained in this area. The requirements and recommendations from the last Ofsted visit are all met. There have been improvements to safeguarding practices, to the maintenance of the building and to the alarm monitoring system, which is used to supervise the children at night. Communication with parents and professionals has also improved and the statement of purpose is regularly updated. The organisation’s arrangements for

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

independent monitoring of the home are also improved. Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 5

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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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of 17 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 6 exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to one child’s education placement, which is compromised because of the long journey to and from school.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming and supportive and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to children’s behaviour. This is regarding broken dining furniture and the grass in the garden, which looks unsightly. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. This is in relation to the registered manager’s oversight of recruitment records, one of which was found to be very unclear. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities

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Recommendations

and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This is about further staff training needed in relation to autism spectrum disorder and online safety. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 7

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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: SC476286 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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Inspector

Caroline Brailsford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476286 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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