Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC457012 1 SC457012 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

The home is owned and managed by a private organisation, providing care for up to three children with complex needs who require specialist support.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2020.

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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

Date of last inspection: 20 January 2025

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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: SC457012 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/01/2025 Full Good 26/09/2023 Full Good 27/02/2023 Full Good 14/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC457012 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, 3 children have moved into the home and 3 have moved out. At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living in the home. Two children received planned moves back to their local areas and 1 child returned to stay with family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children benefit from a homely and inviting environment. Children are encouraged to personalise their bedroom, which fosters a sense of ownership and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children maintain links with those who are important to them. Staff support children to visit family, who live a considerable distance away. Children have friends to visit the home. Staff are knowledgeable and curious about children’s friends to ensure that children are safe when out in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to take part in education. Strong liaison and communication with education professionals helps ensure that each child has education arrangements in place. Incentives are in place for the children to attend education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take part in activities they enjoy and to pursue their individual interests. For example, one child has a keen interest in animals so became a zookeeper for the day. Children are supported to have an annual trip of their choosing, which consisted of theme park breaks and visits to a caravan park.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who come to live at the home are welcomed sensitively. When children leave the home, there are planned moves that reflect the children’s needs. Staff prepare children for the moves and create positive endings commemorated with individual photo books.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are understood and met. Children are registered with health services and staff encourage them to attend routine appointments and engage with specialist services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers have a good understanding of services and support in the local community. Staff carry out one-to-one sessions with children to explore issues. When needed, appropriate referrals have been made to relevant agencies to further support children. External professionals consistently feedback that communication is good and the staff have developed effective working relationships with them.

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

Staff have a good understanding of children’s risks and vulnerabilities. The children’s risk assessments have clear strategies. These help staff to reduce and manage identified risks. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457012 4 Physical intervention is rarely used. When they are necessary and proportionate. There have been two uses since the last inspection. The records are detailed and include the views of both the child and members of staff involved.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff actions are appropriate and clearly recorded. Staff search local and known areas to try and locate the children. Afterwards, children are provided with an opportunity to speak to staff and an independent person. This provides space for children to talk about the reasons for going missing.

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

Staff respond sensitively and effectively to incidents of self-harm. Referrals are made to relevant agencies to seek appropriate support.

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

Staff use incentives and rewards to encourage positive behaviour. Negative consequences are also used in response to some behaviour. However, leaders and managers do not consistently review these. This limits the manager’s understanding of their effectiveness and whether they are always being used fairly and appropriately.

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

On one occasion, staff lacked sufficient awareness of what children were doing, meaning they were unaware of children going missing for a short period of time. The manager took appropriate actions in response to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and qualified for the role. Leaders and managers have a good sense of the ethos they aspire to embed in the culture of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, there have been several staff changes. These have resulted in a largely new staff team. Despite this, there is a good atmosphere in the house and morale is described as good. This culture promotes healthy working relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is generally aware of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. However, on two occasions staff failed to show appropriate curiosity when children appeared to potentially be under the influence of unknown substances. Although no harm resulted, leaders and managers had not recognised this shortcoming and, therefore, had not taken action to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are regular and effective. They cover important topics, such as children’s needs, staff practice and safeguarding. Staff receive regular supervision, where they can discuss personal and professional issues. Staff say they feel well supported by the manager and that she is available and present in the home. As such, staff are provided with a range of opportunities to raise concerns and seek guidance on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff are appropriately vetted and appointed in accordance with safer recruitment procedures. There is a robust induction and training programme in place for all new starters. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457012 5

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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, 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff show curiosity and respond appropriately when there are indications that children may be at risk of harm and that leaders and managers monitoring identifies when staff fall short of this and results in actions to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence. 19 January 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. In particular, when consequences are being used these are to be reviewed to monitor their effectiveness. Inspection report for children’s home: SC457012 6 (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: SC457012 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: 4th Floor Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge, England UB8 1UX

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Inspector

Naomi Starbuck, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC457012 8 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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