Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Barnsley

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 1 SC482419 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

A private company owns and runs this home. The home provides short-, medium- or long-term care for up to three children.

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Information about this children’s home

The staff help the children to recover from earlier disruptive life experiences. The staff prepare the children for their next move; this may be to go home or on to independence.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is experienced and appropriately qualified. She has been managing the home since September 2014.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/03/2022 Full Good 26/11/2019 Full Good 25/06/2018 Full Good 25/07/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the strong relationships they have with staff. This has a positive influence on children being able to trust the adults who care for them and to accept the advice, guidance and care provided in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress at this home. They respond well to the consistent care provided by staff, along with the support, structured routines and clear boundaries that make them feel safer and more secure. Children’s behaviour is more settled. They regularly attend school and health appointments. Children’s self-confidence and social and independence skills have also increased since living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff give great attention to making sure that a child’s admission and discharge from the home are positive. Children have the opportunity to meet staff, visit the home and stay for tea, before they come to live at the home. In addition, children have a planned transition when they leave. This includes visits to their new home, farewell parties and celebration of their time at the home. This helps children to prepare and feel less anxious before a significant change in their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Staff guide and assist children to attend all routine health appointments and assessments, for example dental and optician check-ups. Children frequently participate in social and leisure pursuits that promote physical activity. Children are provided with meals that they enjoy that promote a balanced diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff swiftly organise new schools and/or alternative education placements with other professionals if children arrive at the home without one. This helps to limit potential disruptions to the children’s learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in increasing their attendance and improving their academic achievement. Some children have passed GCSE exams, and others are achieving the targets set by school. This means that children start to thrive and are achieving in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children give their views routinely when talking to those who care for them. Staff respond well to children’s suggestions and requests. This helps to make children feel listened to and valued. Children make decisions about the activities they wish to do, meal choices, how they personalise their bedrooms, and when they want to see those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Photos, ornaments and soft furnishings help make the house feel homely. Any building repairs are quickly addressed to maintain a safe environment. Furthermore, the home is clean and well decorated and furnished, providing children with a pleasant home environment to live in. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 4 Staff are fully aware of the children’s individual needs, and how they should be caring for them. This matches with the written care plans and supporting records. This assists staff in providing children with good, consistent care that supports them to thrive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have been pursuing the implementation of identified recommendations made in a child’s statutory review and in an assessment. However, these have not yet been implemented. This has the potential to limit the child’s progress in this area.

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

Children benefit from the calm, nurturing approach of staff. Staff have clear rules and boundaries individual to each child. This helps to support children to feel safe.

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

Written risk assessments identify children’s vulnerabilities, potential risks and presenting behaviour. Staff consistently implement the strategies that assist in protecting children from harm and help them to manage their emotions better. There are frequent reviews of risks, and staff make changes when necessary. This helps to ensure that children continue to be protected and kept safe from harm.

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

Staff receive a range of training in safeguarding areas, including safeguarding, first aid, medication, missing-from-care procedures, and health and safety. This makes certain that all staff know how to keep children safe.

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

Children are cared for by staff who have been through safer recruitment checks. These include undertaking Disclosure and Barring Service checks, taking up references and reviewing employment history. This ensures that staff are suitable to work with children.

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

Appropriate action is taken following any allegation of poor practice, following safeguarding policies and procedures. This is done without delay, involving outside professionals to support transparency and scrutiny. This makes sure that children are protected and kept safe.

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

Children are only held when they are in danger of hurting themselves or others. The frequency, type and duration of physical interventions used are low. Children’s views are sought and staff discuss and have a debrief after each incident, to try and prevent reoccurrence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager demonstrates strong leadership, good knowledge and management skills. She has good oversight of the care of children and staff practice. Staff follow the manager’s lead, providing child-centred, nurturing care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established detailed recording, reporting and monitoring systems that staff follow. Internal and external monitoring detects shortfalls that are quickly Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 5 addressed. The requirement and recommendation made at the last inspection have been implemented. This assists in maintaining continued good-quality care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are child-focused and benefit from regular formal supervision, in which they reflect on the needs of children, their practice and development. Staff say they receive positive support from managers. There is good morale and teamwork. As a result, this enables staff to work consistently with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from having daily shift handovers and regular staff meetings. These positive, detailed communication methods support the provision of consistent care to children. In addition, these also keep staff up to date on matters to ensure the effective running of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well trained. All staff receive a detailed induction. Most staff hold the level 3 qualification in caring for children, along with receiving mandatory and more specialist training, for example autism spectrum disorder, childhood trauma, self- harm, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and foetal alcohol disorder. This provides staff with the knowledge and skills to care for and meet the needs of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of life- story work or other direct work with children. In particular, staff should continue to pursue the completion of the identified life-story work and the specific assessments as set out in statutory review recommendations and other reports. These should be completed within a reasonable time frame in the best interest of the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.14)

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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: SC482419 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Caretech Estates Ltd, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Susan Fitzsimmons

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Amber Walker-O’Brien

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Inspector

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482419 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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