Midmeadows

Inspection report children's home: SC457025 1 SC457025 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 home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who have been subject to early-life trauma, causing them to have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in September 2019 and has a level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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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 16 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 requires improvement to be 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: 13 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: SC457025 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/01/2020 Full Good 14/11/2018 Full Outstanding 22/01/2018 Full Good 12/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC457025 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children live in this home. One child has lived in the home for nearly one year and the other for about six months.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The most recent admission to the home was well planned. Staff have undergone the necessary training to help support this child’s needs. Staff are also working with external professionals to enable ongoing support for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with staff and each other. They have trusted staff that they can share concerns with. A child told the inspector that they liked staff as they ‘don’t lie’ and that staff help them if they make a mistake to put it right. The child also told the inspector that he liked living at the home and scored it 9/10, as staff are ‘fun and caring’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children make good progress from their starting points. One child is attending and enjoying school. The registered manager has advocated for the child to ensure he is getting the very best education. However, another child continues to struggle despite staff support. Various options and incentives have been explored in an attempt to break down the barriers to the child’s learning. This process is ongoing as staff have a never-give-up attitude to learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well together with parents, which benefits children. One parent told the inspector that she feels welcome in the home, cooks for everyone on a Sunday and supports her child in his night-time routine before returning home. The parent reflected that staff had supported her in the care of her son and as a result she had regained her relationship with him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a good range of activities available both in the home and in the community. One child uses the local gym and another child the local snooker club. Children have enjoyed using the new games room and one child was able to show off his skills by beating the inspector at a game of pool.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, the home has benefited from redecoration. A new bathroom, flooring and carpets have also been fitted. A child told the inspector that he felt listened to, as he requested a double bed for his room and now has this. This is a home that children can feel comfortable and at home in.

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

Risks reduce for children as a result of living in this home. For example, one child no longer goes missing, self-harms or misuses substances. Another child told the inspector he felt that he had made positive changes to his behaviour and swore less since living in this home. Inspection report children's home: SC457025 4 Staff understand children’s behaviours and how to support them. As a result, incidents are low in number and it is rare that children need to be restrained in order to keep them safe.

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

Both children smoke tobacco. Staff give clear messages to children about how this may affect their health. They use incentives to help to try and change this behaviour. This has had mixed results and work around this area is ongoing.

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

Staff are clear about their safeguarding responsibilities. When children raise concerns and allegations against staff, these are promptly shared with other professionals. Managers take effective action to help keep children safe.

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

The registered manager ensures that staff who are recruited to work in the home are subject to all the necessary checks. This helps to ensure that staff who work at the home are safe to do so.

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good

The registered manager is passionate about providing good care to children. To try to provide consistency of care for children, she has worked to help cover absences. This has taken her away from her management role and, therefore, a number of shortfalls have resulted.

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good

Records are not always compiled to a good standard. Although staff are knowledgeable about children’s care planning, this is not always reflected and kept up to date in children’s written plans. Some of the children’s records are not written in a way that is helpful for the child to understand. Children are regularly consulted but this is not fully captured in the home’s quality of care report.

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good

Staff are not receiving supervision in line with the organisation’s policy. Furthermore, records of supervision differ in quality. However, when practice concerns arise, these are dealt with quickly to enable the necessary changes to be brought about.

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good

Feedback from professionals is mixed. Some state that communication is good and others state that this is an area that could be developed. The registered manager has identified that this shortfall occurs when she is not in the home to oversee this.

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good

The registered manager is aware of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Audits have taken place, shortfalls have been identified and plans are in place to help make the necessary improvements.

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good

Staff say they feel supported by the management team and the registered manager reflects on the positive support she receives from the senior leadership team.

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good

Tolerance and equality are part of everyday life. Staff are good role models for children and answer children’s questions to help them to develop their understanding. Inspection report children's home: SC457025 5 The requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been met. For example, complaints are now quickly dealt with, staff training is up to date and the location risk assessment has been shared with the police. Inspection report children's home: SC457025 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 ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers ensuring the staff have supervision in line with the company’s policy of every six weeks. 22 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 22 October 2021

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

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 45 (1) (2)(b)) 5 November 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC457025 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that 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 home regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person should ensure that they have sufficient capacity to ensure that the quality standards are met for each child in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph

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Recommendations

10.7)  The registered person should ensure that they have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons, which may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies, organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community, e.g. police, schools, health and youth offending teams. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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: SC457025 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: Cambian Childcare Limited, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Louise Battersby, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC457025 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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