Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Manchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 1 SC043972 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 one of a number of children’s homes run by a large private organisation. It provides care for up to five children. The provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide care for children with EBD (social and emotional difficulties).

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has recently resigned their registration with Ofsted but remains in post until the newly appointed manager starts so that a transition can be completed.

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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 in September 2020 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

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: SC043972 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/09/2019 Full Good 12/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff know the children very well and have positive relationships with them. Staff understand the effects of the trauma that children have experienced and provide therapeutic support. The manager ensures that children live in a home that is caring and nurturing, helping them to overcome adverse experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are advocates for children to find education and work experience and to gain independence. One child, from their starting point as an unaccompanied warzone refugee five years ago, recently moved into semi-independent accommodation and employment after completing their GCSE qualifications. This was a move to live near family, which the manager helped the child to find through initiating work with the British Red Cross.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children lead healthy and active lifestyles, including exercise and a balanced diet. Staff helped one child to find a martial arts programme, which they have excelled at. Staff support children to attend healthcare appointments. They know the children’s healthcare needs very well. There is a strong emphasis on supporting children to improve their mental health after experiencing trauma. The manager is proactive in finding specialist support services for children to access when they have experienced the trauma of war and violence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from having a settled and undisrupted experience of living at the home. Placement breakdowns are very unusual, and children normally leave as part of a planned move. Children who have had multiple placement breakdowns in their past have been able to enjoy living at the home for several years.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively encourage children to attend education at schools and local youth development programmes. Children are supported to find work experience and paid work, which has led to some children enrolling on work-related education courses. Staff coach children on how to perform well at job interviews. They help them to understand how they could improve if the interview was unsuccessful. This raises children’s self-esteem and independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in learning daily skills such as cooking, managing money and community responsibility. Two children have recently moved into their own accommodation, moving to areas that are familiar to them. Staff were instrumental in guiding children through this, working closely with families to plan and prepare for their moves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children enjoy regular and varied activities. Children are regularly asked in key-work sessions and children’s meetings what they would like to do. As children grow older, staff carefully assess their ability to gain independence safely, for example by spending time unsupervised in the community and with friends made outside of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 4 The home is a modernised older property in a busy urban area. Children said they enjoy accessing the opportunities and diversity in the local community, including worship, open spaces and entertainment. The home is spacious. Children are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms. There is an emphasis on building tolerance and respect between children, which includes shared mealtimes and activities which staff participate in.

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

Managers and staff understand safeguarding, bullying and exploitation risks to children and how to reduce the potential impact of these. Staff recently helped to protect a child from sexual exploitation through vigilance and taking immediate steps to alert the police, which safeguarded the child. The manager is very aware of the risks to children from gang culture and child criminal exploitation in the local community. All staff are alert to the signs that could identify when children are at risk of this. Ongoing education and mentoring from staff help reduce the risk of this happening.

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

When children engage in risky behaviours or criminality, staff quickly think creatively to analyse the reasons and try to disrupt patterns of offending. Managers from the provider’s other homes in the area provide priority support where they hold expertise in this, to try and reduce the risk of this happening again.

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

Risk management plans clearly identify any actions that staff need to take to help children to keep safe. Learning from incidents is used to further develop care plans and is discussed with staff in meetings and supervision sessions. For one child this has led to a significant reduction in episodes of going missing from home and engaging in criminal activities in the community.

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

Staff understand the risks posed to children when they use the internet and electronic devices. They help children to stay safe through good levels of supervision and talking with them about safety in key-work sessions.

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

Staff ensure that children understand the reasons why they have consistent boundaries and expectations of behaviour. This helps children to make progress, including in reducing smoking and the use of cannabis. Staff encourage and use rewards to help children to engage with specialist services to help them stop or reduce smoking.

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

Staff are successful at using de-escalation techniques to avoid physical restraint and verbal altercations. Children can engage in restorative practice when they have made mistakes. Staff encourage learning and embrace suggestions from children when they want to put things right. This helps children to feel valued and to develop compassion. Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and qualified for the role. He is dedicated to children making progress and reaching their potential. He is leaving the service soon but is committed to staying in post to support a smooth handover to the new manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is passionate about developing the staff so that they learn and gain experience to follow a long career path in social care. He has built a strong senior team that works closely with him to deliver the improvements made since the last inspection. Staff said that the manager was open, approachable and listened to their feedback.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children benefit from a consistent staff team that has the skills and experience to support them. Some staff have worked at the home for more than 25 years and remain committed to the welfare and progress of the children who live there. Newer staff all said that they benefited from the experienced staff’s mentoring, expertise and willingness to share their experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and leaders work hard to ensure that children maintain relationships with their families. Staff have helped several children re-establish relationships with families where they had broken down. This has been important for children when making decisions about where they will live as they approach adulthood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children’s needs well and how to support them. The manager considers in detail referrals for children to move into the home and the impact those new children may have on the children already living there.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring and assurance systems have improved since the last inspection. However, the six-monthly review of the quality of care at the home did not set measurable targets for development or include the views of children living at the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 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, the 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 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 quality of care provided for children;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (5)) 1 June 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) Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 7 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 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, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Jamie Cousins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC043972 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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