Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Cambridgeshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 1 SC456911 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 home is privately owned by a national provider. It provides care and accommodation for up to six children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living at 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: SC456911 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/08/2023 Full Good 20/09/2022 Full Good 09/12/2021 Full Good 10/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, four children were living at the home. Three children were spoken to during the inspection. One child was in hospital for the duration of the inspection. Since the last inspection, three children have moved into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are trained to understand how adverse childhood experiences may affect children’s ability to trust adults. Staff spend a lot of time with the children, building consistent and caring relationships that help the children to trust adults. Children respond positively to this approach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to be active and healthy. They provide children with a varied diet and encourage them to try new foods. One of the children has worked with staff to develop a healthy eating plan. This helps the child to maintain their fitness goals. Staff are experienced in supporting children to manage their anxiety and emotional well- being. Staff attend appointments with children and act as their advocates. When children feel overwhelmed, they trust staff to help them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise children’s education. All the children attend education and are positive about their experiences. One child has just finished full-time education and is preparing to apply for jobs following a move to independent living. The child has talked to staff about their future aspirations. This helps children to plan for their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team is culturally and ethnically diverse. The children and staff freely engage in conversations about community, culture and tolerance. Staff talk to children about life experiences and how to embrace difference and be accepting in their responses to others. This provides children with the opportunity to be open and mindful of the people they live with and to celebrate diversity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children all engage in a variety of activities. Some of the children enjoy riding their bikes, visiting parks, seeing friends and doing arts and crafts. The children have all been on a week-long holiday with staff. Children are encouraged to plan their own activities and understand how to budget for days out. Two of the children have cats that they have learned how to care for. Staff are helping children to build positive memories that they will remember into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from families and professionals is positive. They appreciate the good communication from the manager and staff. One family member said that staff always make them feel welcome when they come to see their grandchild. They said, ‘It’s like a second home to me.’ These positive relationships help children to know that their families are welcomed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 4

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

When children have been missing from the home, staff have responded in a timely manner. Risk assessments are individualised and provide staff with current information. Managers have updated the location risk assessment with details of the local bridges, following an incident. Strong staff responses have contributed to a reduction in missing- from-home incidents.

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

Staff receive regular safeguarding training. The staff explore strategies to help them manage children’s behaviour. There is a culture of professional curiosity and staff encourage children to talk about their feelings. Staff respond with empathy and compassion when children are upset. Consequences regarding poor behaviour are natural and restorative. At times, children are invited to mediation meetings to help repair relationships.

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

Children said that they feel safe living at the home. They talk about the good relationships they have with staff. Children can talk to the staff about any worries they have. Two of the children enjoy free time in the community as part of their increasing independence. The increase in free time is due to the children showing an understanding of personal responsibility and safety. Staff support children to learn a range of new skills, including money management and managing friendships.

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

All the children are provided with details of advocates. Currently, one of the children is receiving specialist advocate services for their mental health. This provides an additional layer of support for the child.

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

The children’s guide is child friendly and gives children a sense of what it is like to live at the home. The guide contains information to help children to understand who to speak to if they are worried or in need of support.

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

On the day of the inspection, staff left the cupboard containing hazardous cleaning products open, despite children being at risk of self-harm. This could have had serious consequences for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and holds the required qualifications to manage the home. An experienced responsible individual and area manager support the manager. There is a new deputy manager in post who has a breadth of experience. Managers know the children well and are ambitious for them. Staff said that they felt well supported by the managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular, reflective, individual and group supervision meetings that provide opportunities to talk about any concerns and their professional development. Leaders use scenario-based training in team meetings, which staff enjoy. This supports staff to Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 5 provide a consistent approach. A member of staff said, ‘I feel like my opinions are valued and I am listened to.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring tools in place to review the quality of care provided. There have been improvements to daily recordings and reporting. Patterns and trends in children’s behaviour are identified. This helps to support staff development and identify appropriate training to help meet children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On one occasion, leaders and managers did not fully consider known risks when planning children’s moves to the home. As a result, staff did not successfully monitor the relationships between the children, and risk-reduction strategies were not effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On the day of the inspection, there was only one member of staff at the home. Staff failed to contact the on-call manager to report a member of staff who had phoned in sick. A team leader left the home to collect a member of staff who was unable to get to work. This meant that children were not cared for by the required number of staff during this period. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are enough staff on duty to provide safe and individual care to children. 23 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all relevant information is gained about children moving into the home, and the other children are considered before placing children together. 23 August 2024

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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— 23 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 7 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

In particular, ensure that hazardous cleaning materials are not accessible to children.

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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: SC456911 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 EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Trudy Potter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC456911 9 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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