Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Somerset

Inspection report for children’s home: 2614511 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is part of a large private organisation. The company employs its own clinical team.

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children and specialises in supporting children who have experienced significant trauma and have been the victims of exploitation.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were three children living in the home. One of the children was living at a different temporary address at the time of the inspection and was due to move to a new home on 15 October 2024, and therefore did not contribute to the inspection. Since the previous inspection, three other children have moved on from the home. Records relating to these children were reviewed as part of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home has been registered with Ofsted since December 2021.

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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: 2614511 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/08/2023 Full Good 08/11/2022 Full Good 14/12/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2614511 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children receive good-quality, personalised care. Staff and managers update the plans for the children regularly so that they reflect the current needs and risks. Staff understand the children and provide warm, nurturing care for them, resulting in positive relationships. Staff use a trauma-informed approach to manage behaviour in the home, and this supports the positive relationships between the adults and children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated to a high standard and is warm and welcoming. There are photos of the children throughout and artwork they have completed is displayed on the walls. The bedrooms are personalised, and the children take great pride in them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to progress in education. Leaders and managers advocate effectively on behalf of children when education provision is not provided and work hard to ensure that children who are out of school still take part in educational activities. One child who was out of school for a year is now successfully attending a new provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are creative in their work with the children and engage them in activities that are relevant to their hobbies and interests. Staff regularly take children out to explore the local area and encourage them to be active and engage in fun experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met, and appointments are made when required with local services. Staff have regular conversations with children about their physical health and well-being. This supports children to develop a positive mindset around the importance of health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support family time for children when this is safe and appropriate to do so. A parent said that their child feels happy and safe in the home, although they added that they would like more communication from the staff team. Leaders and managers do not always ensure that plans around what information is shared with family members are reviewed on a regular basis.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers promote the importance of children developing independence skills. Staff ensure that children learn essential life skills prior to moving on to semi- independence. Leader and managers take steps to make children’s journey of moving on from the home as positive as possible, even when these moves are unplanned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The open culture in the home means children feel safe enough to share their wishes and feelings directly with staff and managers. Children are also provided with alternative methods of sharing feedback with leaders, managers and staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 2614511 4

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

Staff support children to understand the risks around drugs and alcohol and make appropriate referrals to support agencies. Staff are persistent and encourage children to engage with this support.

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

Staff manage incidents when children are missing from home effectively. Records of these incidents are clear and show that staff are persistent in their approach to finding children and using disruption techniques to prevent further episodes of going missing. Staff and managers have been successful in significantly decreasing the number of incidents for children going missing, compared with when they first arrive at the home. Staff and managers use reflective conversations with children to explore why they are leaving the home and consider what can be done differently to prevent this.

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

Staff work with children to help them to understand consent, healthy relationships, and the risks associated with the use of social media. Staff provide clear plans for children to begin to use their mobile phones safely.

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

Staff take children’s mental health and well-being seriously and are creative in their approaches to supporting them. When one child was struggling with sleep, a member of staff made a bedtime sensory box for them. Leaders and managers ensure risks around self-harm are appropriately assessed and managed. Managers update assessments to safely manage risks in an age-appropriate way.

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

Children say that they feel safe in the home and that they like living there. Staff understand that the children have experienced trauma and provide a safe space where they feel supported enough to explore some of these experiences.

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

Staff and managers show a good understanding of risks and safeguarding and how to manage this within the home. Staff focus on the relationships they have with the children to support them in keeping children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A competent and experienced management team lead this home effectively. The registered manager is very present in the home and has strong oversight of the day-to- day care provided to children. Management oversight of the home is effective, and managers have excellent insight into the needs of the children. Managers, and staff, talk about the children in a way that shows genuine love and care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide effective supervision for staff. It is reflective and enables staff to talk about the specific needs and risks for the children. Staff describe supervision as being a positive and useful experience in developing their learning. Managers are ambitious for the staff team and provide opportunities to enhance staff development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2614511 5 Team meetings are used well to meaningfully explore how previous trauma may be affecting children’s behaviour, including practical steps on how to support children with this. Leaders and managers use reflective tools to assess whether their approach to specific incidents has been effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they are happy working in the home and have not raised any concerns. Staff report that they value the support they receive from leaders and managers as well as from other members of the team. The induction process is effective in supporting new members of staff to develop the skills required to undertake their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers consider the competing needs of children when assessing the impact of new children moving into the home, often through verbal discussions. However, managers do not always provide clear written evidence of how they will ensure that children will not be affected by competing needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers take complaints and concerns raised by children about staff practice seriously. This further supports children feeling safe in the home, and that their views and opinions are valued. Management investigations relating to concerns about staff practice or conduct are clear and show the process that has led to the final conclusion.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers undertake appropriate checks in relation to recruitment and ensure that documents provided by potential new staff are adequately scrutinised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The feedback from external stakeholders is very positive and further highlights the passion and dedication of the team to provide consistently good care for the children. Partnership working with external agencies is effective and constructive. Inspection report for children’s home: 2614511 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure they have fully considered and documented the impact that a new child moving into the home will have for the children who already live there. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that the arrangements for contact and communication between the home and family members is regularly updated to reflect the current agreed plan with the placing authority. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.15)

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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: 2614511 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: Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Helen Cushnie, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2614511 8 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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