Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 1 SC457500 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

This home is owned and operated by a large national provider. It provides care for up to six children with learning difficulties. The accommodation is split into the main house where four children can live, and an annexe attached to the home for two children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

Children were seen and spoken to as part of this 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: SC457500 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/07/2024 Full Good 21/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff enjoy positive and trusting relationships. Children and staff have lively conversations mixed with a lot of laughter. For example, one child returning from school was happy to tell the manager about their day while sitting on her lap. This shows that children feel comfortable and settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s health and well-being needs. They support children to attend their routine appointments and are proactive in meeting their wider health needs. For example, staff make referrals to specialist support services for children when they have identified needs. Staff help children to understand their emotions and feelings. One child said, ‘Staff understand me and have never given up on me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of children maintaining links with their family. Staff make every effort to ensure that children see people who are important to them. This includes travelling with children to spend time with their families and providing additional support when this is needed. One parent said, ‘They have really helped us as a family; we couldn’t survive without them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aspirational for the children. They want the children to take part in society and experience new things. Therefore, staff seek opportunities for the children that will enable this. This has included going to an agriculture show, attending a music festival of light in a nearby city, fundraising for a local charity, litter picking and working with an old people’s home to make cards for a resident to celebrate their 100th birthday. Children achieve this through staff’s encouragement and support. Trying new activities enhances children’s life experiences. Furthermore, it helps to boost their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational needs are met through attending school, having tuition at the home and exploring college courses and employment opportunities. One child had missed a lot of formal education before moving to this home. Staff have worked closely with the virtual school, identifying some imaginative education and training packages for children. For one child, this has included work experience at a farm and has sparked an interest in agriculture and animal care. Other children have worked with career advisers to explore what they would like to study at college moving forwards.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff communicate well with children and seek their views about things that are important to them. For two children, this has included discussions about moving on to adult provisions. However, despite the manager escalating concerns to the wider system, care planning for one child has not been sufficiently prioritised. This delay and uncertainty have caused the child great stress and anxiety. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 4 The frequency and quality of key-work sessions are variable. Key-work sessions identified to take place following incidents are not recorded consistently on children’s files. This may mean that alternative strategies identified to support children and reduce further risk may be missed.

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

Any incidents of concern are well recorded, escalated and shared with external multi- agency partners. Staff are clear about the actions they need to take to safeguard children. Although risk assessments are regularly reviewed, one child’s assessment did not provide clear guidance to staff on managing a specific risk.

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

Staff only physically intervene with children as a last resort to keep children and staff safe. The least force and fewest measures are used. Staff and children are spoken to afterwards to support their well-being. The manager reviews each event and considers what is going on for the child. Learning is used to inform practice and prevent further incidents. As a result, there has been a reduction in the need for staff to physically intervene when children are distressed.

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

The manager and staff check the home regularly to ensure it is safe and to prevent accidents. The home is clean and tidy. However, some areas of the home need painting to make them nice and comfortable for children. Some of this work has already started, with maintenance staff painting the hallway during the inspection. Managers say they will continue renovating the home until the planned work is complete.

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

There have been several concerns raised about staff practice. When this happens, the manager is responsive and investigates what has happened. Advice has been sought from external agencies when this is needed. When the manager has observed any concerns about staff practice, she challenges them appropriately and has ensured that lessons have been learned and changes made to practice.

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

Medication systems are robust and effective. Staff receive the necessary training and undertake competency assessments. As a result, there have not been any medication errors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since July 2015 and continues to remain fully committed to providing the children with individualised care. She has a good understanding of the team’s strengths and takes steps to continually improve the home. The manager is creative in achieving aims and seeks to overcome barriers, to make a difference to children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team has faced several challenges since the last inspection. Through these more challenging times, the manager has remained unwavering in her support for the staff and children. The manager has provided consistency and stability, which has been Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 5 valued by the staff and reinforced their continued commitment to the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is supported by a dedicated deputy manager. Together, they are ambitious for children, the staff and the home. They have built strong relationships with children, enabling children to speak openly with them. The manager has a caring approach towards the children and aspires for their futures. She understands that progress is different for each child and the importance of individualised care and providing opportunities for each child to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers work closely with a wide range of agencies. Regular meetings take place to consider the changing needs of each child. These meetings include social workers, health and education colleagues, as well as parents and carers. Agencies report good levels of satisfaction regarding the close partnership working. Managers challenge any actual or perceived failure to meet a child’s needs. One child’s social worker described the manager as ‘championing children’s rights’ and ‘holding professionals to account’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular opportunities for further training and development. Training is relevant to the needs of the children. Team members benefit from regular supervision and appraisals; however, staff do not always reflect on their practice in supervision is a missed opportunity to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring systems are effective and enable her to review the progress that children are making. Information from the independent person’s reports helps the manager to identify patterns and trends and to evaluate the quality of care for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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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. Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to risk assessments including up-to-date information and providing clear guidance to staff to keep children safe and staff remaining vigilant when supporting children. 1 September

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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.

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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

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. 1 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 7 Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(iii)

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager ensuring that there are robust plans in place to support children to successfully transition on from the home.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. It should be a homely, domestic environment. The home must comply with relevant health and safety legislations; however, in doing so, it should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that expectations of standards of behaviour are high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. Children should be supported to learn and reflect following incidents that occur through meaningful discussions with staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)  The registered person should ensure that systems are in place so that all staff,

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Recommendations

including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC457500 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: 4th Floor, Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge UB8 1UX

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC457500 9 and inspects 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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