Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 1 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 and managed by a private provider. It provides care for two children who may have behavioural, social and emotional difficulties.

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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: 19 October 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/10/2021 Full Good 13/09/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 16/04/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children live in this home and inspectors spoke with them both during this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in all aspects of their lives. One professional said that [child’s name] has made ‘amazing progress’ since moving into the home. This is due to the staff’s commitment to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children describe positive relationships with the staff, who they enjoy spending time with both in and out of the home, often experiencing new activities and events. Children freely tell the staff what they would like to happen in the home, which has resulted in the children having their bedrooms redecorated and personalised three times since they moved into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is staffed by a dedicated and stable staff team that provides continuity of care for the children. The children benefit from a staff team that has a wide variety of skills and knowledge. This enables the children to identify and seek out the staff who they feel most comfortable with, to discuss any worries they might have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school and college, and the staff support the children to access work experience placements. One child successfully returned back to full-time education and achieved their GCSE exams. Children are well supported to plan for their future and they learn the necessary skills that they will need to live in the community independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff and the manager know the children’s friends and family well. This enables the staff to help the children to maintain positive relationships, and allows the children to have friends and family visit their home. This knowledge assists the staff to support the children to make safe decisions, and helps the staff to keep the children safe.

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

Children say that they feel safe in the home. Children have trusting relationships with the staff. This means that the children can tell the staff about any difficulties that they have, when they are struggling emotionally, or when they have intentionally hurt themselves. This helps to improve the children’s safety.

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

Children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans are personalised and they reflect all the known risks that the children face. These risk assessments are regularly updated, to ensure that the staff have access to the most current information about how to help to keep the children safe. However, not all of the staff understand all of the risks that the children face. Therefore, the manager cannot be Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 4 assured that all the staff are consistently taking sufficient action to safeguard children.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home because of the sense of belonging that the staff create for the children. When children do go missing from the home, the staff follow the appropriate safeguarding procedures.

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

When a child is known to be at risk of harming themselves, staff complete room searches to locate and remove any hazardous items to help to keep the child safe. However, these searches are not correctly recorded by the staff in line with the regulations.

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

The home environment is generally safe for the children. However, despite one child’s safety plan identifying that they should not have access to a hazardous item, this was overlooked by staff. This oversight exposes children who are known to hurt themselves to the risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager is aspirational for the children in her care. She is passionate about ensuring that their needs are met. When education providers, and services which support the mental health of children, fail to fully meet the children’s needs, the manager successfully challenges these providers. This ensures that the children receive the support that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads by example. She has a visible presence around the home and role models positive behaviours to the staff. Staff are equally passionate about the children and they provide a good level of care. When a member of staff does not perform their expected duties, the manager is sensitive towards understanding the reason for this and she supports the staff member to make the necessary improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has audit systems in place to ensure that the children’s care plans and risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated. This includes the children’s targets that are in place to support the children to make continued progress across all aspects of their lives. However, the manager’s auditing systems have failed to identify the shortfalls in the records of consequences that have been used to address the children’s behaviour. This prevents the manager from being assured that the consequences used by staff are appropriate, and that the children have been consulted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have completed the provider’s mandatory training programme. The manager is enthusiastic about creating learning opportunities to develop the staff team’s skills and knowledge base. When the children face new risks, the manager quickly identifies training for the staff to access. This helps the staff to keep the children increasingly safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 5 Supervision is regular and reflective. The staff say that they value their supervision sessions, which consider the needs of the child, the needs of the organisation and the needs of the staff. The staff feel that their supervision sessions provide them with an opportunity to contribute positively towards the development of the children’s care and the development of the organisation. Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 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 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(d)) 10 January 2023

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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 for children’s home: 2496625 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: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Laura Grundy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2496625 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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