Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Torbay

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 1 SC456910 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides care for one child who may have social and emotional difficulties or learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was not in work at the time of this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 27 September 2023

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/09/2023 Full Outstanding 02/08/2022 Full Good 09/12/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 3

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improvement to be good

Overall, since the child has lived here, they have made progress and had positive experiences. Carers have built strong relationships with the child. The child feels happy and loved in the home. Carers know how to communicate with the child and listen to them. The child has experienced a stable team of carers. Carers support the child’s interests, encouraging them to explore them in and outside the home.

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improvement to be good

However, since the last inspection, carers have not taken enough action to build on the initial progress and help the child to develop further.

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improvement to be good

Carers are not able to support the child successfully to maintain healthy routines, particularly around daily routine, eating and sleeping. There is limited structure to the child’s day. Carers are led by the child; they like to spend time in their room or out in the community. Carers do not do enough to plan in activities to progress this. Without clear plans and boundaries, regular meals are missed and sleep patterns are irregular. The lack of boundaries and routines is impacting on the child’s progress.

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improvement to be good

Carers do not have a robust plan in place to support the child to eat full balanced meals and not rely on snacks. The child has full access to snacks in the home and is provided with additional snacks by carers. There has been no ongoing assessment and evaluation of the child’s diet by carers. This has meant there has been little improvement made by carers to the child’s diet for their overall health.

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improvement to be good

Carers are not robust enough in their response to the significant barriers for the child attending education. The child is currently provided with minimal online tutoring. There are no clear expectations for the child to engage in additional learning in the home to support them not having access to full-time education. No plans have been secured for the child’s future education due to ineffective liaison with education professionals. This has impacted on their current progress and ability to achieve in the future.

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improvement to be good

The child has their yearly medical booked. However, the child has not been provided with access to routine health services. Carers have not identified the timeline for regular check-ups and the time frame for them has lapsed. There is no way for carers to know the condition of the child’s general health or promote it without effective relationships with health professionals.

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improvement to be good

Carers understand the importance of supporting the child to spend time with their family and friends. The child can spend significant and valuable time with people who are important to them.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 4 Carers understand the importance of the child’s ability to access social media. Carers have spent time developing plans to balance the child’s wish to have a phone, alongside implementing strategies to keep them safe while using it. While there are plans in place to attempt to keep the child safe online, there is not enough curiosity around what the child is viewing, who the child is following and the impact of exposure to the wealth of information available via social media platforms. Without this professional curiosity, the child may be able to access content which may cause them harm and be exposed to risks that may increase their vulnerabilities in the wider community.

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

Carers have supported the child to be increasingly safer outside of the home. When the child has gone missing, carers follow the protocol to ensure they return home safely as quickly as possible. After episodes of going missing, carers share information with relevant agencies to promote the safety and well-being of the child. Carers have used knowledge from previous episodes of going missing to inform practice on how to reduce them and this has resulted in no further missing episodes.

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

Carers are not aware of what the child is doing in their room. The inspector noted the following safety concerns: socks covering the bedroom fire alarm, a high level of rubbish all over the bedroom and mouldy, uneaten food placed under the bed. Carers sometimes talk to the child through the bedroom door or via text so do not have full and regular knowledge of what is happening in the child’s room. The child is not supported to create a safe and clean environment to spend time and sleep in.

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

Carers understand the risks arising from the child going missing and being exposed to unsafe situations, such as drugs and alcohol misuse. Carers have effective working relationships with the police and explore all possible options to keep the child safe. Carers follow up safeguarding concerns for the child with national mechanisms designed to protect children from exploitation.

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

There are no longer restrictions within the home at night. The level of risk around the child leaving the home at night has reduced. This has meant the child has been given the support to understand the need to keep themselves safe.

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

Carers record what the child has done and conversations they have had with them in a thoughtful and child-focused way. The child trusts the carers in the home to talk to them about things going on and how they are feeling.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not actively and regularly monitor the quality of care which is being provided to the child. Carers are not encouraged to improve practice through reflection on what the child has experienced and what the child needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not identify any patterns or trends in relation to the care provided to the child. They are unable to fully or accurately understand the value or impact of the care being offered. The child’s care has stagnated without effective management oversight. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 5 There is a lack of realistic aspirations for the child. In the absence of targeted and achievable plans for the child around all aspects of their life, there is no clear way for carers to drive achievement of important milestones in education, permanence, and the child’s future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Carers receive regular supervision sessions which focus on the child’s experience in the home. Areas of practice development are identified. Training for the carers is up to date. When staff have had to be placed on personal improvement plans, there is clear reasoning for this, timely action plans are put in place and they are reviewed throughout the duration of the plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Team meetings are held monthly. Carers are encouraged to discuss the child’s needs and what changes need to happen. Managers and carers identify what the child needs, specifically in relation to education and obtaining documentation for independence. These needs have remained outstanding for some months, without effective challenge to secure a resolution for the child. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child overcome such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing local authority to support the child’s education and training to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(viii)) 11 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 7 In particular, the registered person must ensure that a timetable of educational activities is implemented during the school day while the child is out of education.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should challenge services effectively to ensure that the child returns to school as soon as possible. The quality 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 the children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets the children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised plans that meet each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the child’s day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iv)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

This directly relates to the registered person ensuring that carers have clear direction and strategies to ensure that the child develops positive daily routines.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that robust plans are in place for carers to fully understand the child’s social media use so that they remain safe online. 11 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The health is wellbeing standard is that— 11 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 8 the health and well-needs of the children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice; services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This directly relates to the registered person ensuring the child has regular health appointments, in particular dental and opticians’ appointments.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should implement a plan to increase variety and healthier choices into the child’s diet and structuring mealtimes.

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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 the children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This directly relates to the registered person implementing an effective monitoring system to evaluate care to safeguard and promote the child’s well-being. 11 August 2024

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 9 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: SC456910 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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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

Hannah Spencer-Townesend, Social Care Inspector Paula Lahey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 11 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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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted Inspection report for children’s home: SC456910 12

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