Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Warwickshire

Inspection report children's home: SC476249 1 SC476249 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 privately owned and provides care for up to five children aged between eight and 18 years, irrespective of gender, who have complex behaviours due to childhood trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has an interim manager due to the registered manager leaving.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 14 and 15 September 2020. 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

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 28 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC476249 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 24/07/2019 Full Good 29/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/05/2018 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC476249 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by staff who want the best for them. Staff are calm, caring and nurturing in their approach, and children told the inspector that they like living at the home. Consequently, most children are settled and have lived at the home for several years.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to understand the importance of education. Children have good attendance and engage in their learning. During periods of illness or due to COVID- 19 restrictions, staff have helped children to do schoolwork online at home. As a result, children have continued to progress and are achieving academically.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to socially engage with others away from the home. For example, they take part in swimming clubs, brownies, horse riding and youth groups. Staff also support children to develop their skills. One child has one-to-one singing lessons. These opportunities help children to develop their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to the children and work hard to reassure and nurture them, especially through difficult times. This shone through when one child needed extensive medical treatment; staff made sure that they were there at the hospital day and night. The staff used incentives to encourage the child to keep going with their treatment even when the child felt they could not do it anymore. This helped the child to make a full recovery, and they have since returned to school and they are more positive about their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move from the home, staff proactively plan for the move so that it is a positive experience and individual to the child’s needs. For example, for one child who could not be told about their move too far in advance, staff were proactive in getting leaving gifts and photo books prepared beforehand. Staff prepared how they would tell them and had all the information the child would need to know about the new placement. As a result, the child left happy. This support helps children to settle well in their new homes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide consistent care to support children’s progress. However, staff do not regularly review children’s plans to show how the children have progressed. As a result, children could have made more progress than what is recorded.

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

Staff have developed detailed risk management plans for children. These ensure that staff respond consistently when managing children’s behaviours. These plans are reviewed following incidents, and new strategies are added. This approach has helped reduce the number of incidents in the home. Inspection report children's home: SC476249 4 Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, staff take appropriate action and follow the children’s missing-from-care plans. As a result, children are only missing for the shortest time possible.

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

Staff’s use of physical intervention is proportionate and appropriate. However, managers have not used their professional curiosity to ensure that physical interventions are only used when necessary. Debriefs are not always undertaken by someone independent of the incident. Consequently, children may not feel able to express their concerns. This does not ensure that managers have all the available information to review and take action to improve the care received by children

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

Children know how to raise concerns and make complaints. Managers take action to report and investigate concerns. However, managers do not always show sufficient professional curiosity to satisfy themselves about children’s allegations of harm from staff. This could compromise children’s safety.

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

Staff have undertaken additional learning following allegations. This includes training, discussions, and reflection in supervision and team meetings. The manager has also used quizzes to test staff’s knowledge. As a result, staff are more aware of their responsibilities to report concerns and safeguard children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has recently left, and an interim manager is in post. The interim manager is an experienced and skilled practitioner who has previously worked at the home and knows the children well. This has meant that the transition to the new manager has been positive and has not had a detrimental effect on the home or the care of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child focused and, despite only having been in post for a short time, has consulted with children about the home. She has listened to their requests and responded by writing personalised letters. As a result, children feel listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been several members of staff who have left or begun working at the home. As a result, most of the staff are new to residential childcare and are not yet qualified. This has meant that, at times, the continuity of care has not been maintained and children have received care from inexperienced staff. This can compromise the quality of care given to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide support to staff through frequent supervision and training. Staff receive a comprehensive induction and a wide range of training opportunities to develop the skills they need to care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have developed robust systems to monitor the home. This has enabled them to identify shortfalls at the home and develop plans to improve the care provided to the children. This means that, overall, children receive good-quality care that supports them to progress. Inspection report children's home: SC476249 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 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. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered persons are to ensure that children’s plans are clear about children’s targets and how staff should work to meet those targets so that children reach their full potential. 24 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers clearly showing what they have done to satisfy themselves that staff have not intentionally harmed children. 24 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 24 March 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC476249 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered persons should ensure that there are sufficient staff who are experienced and qualified to care for children living at the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers using their professional curiosity to ensure that physical interventions are only used when necessary and that records of physical interventions include full details.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, this relates to debriefs for children and staff being carried out by someone who was not involved in the incident 24 March 2022

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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: SC476249 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

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC476249 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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