Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children’s home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people benefit immensely from the high aspirations that the staff have for them: to be safe; to feel cared for; to enjoy new experiences; and to be happy.  Young people have a desire to learn and are making very good progress from their starting points. Their attendance at school has greatly improved.  Young people have very strong attachments to and enjoy trusting relationships with the staff who care for them.  Young people see this as their home and wish to stay here in the long term.  Young people are kept safe through the robust action that the staff take to protect them from harm, particularly when they go missing.  Young people engage in a wide range of social activities and have developed hobbies and pursuits in the community. This enables them to enjoy life, have fun, and build self-confidence and friendships.  Staff members’ collaborative working with other professionals is extensive.

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The children’s home provision is outstanding because:

Social worker and teachers confirm that staff are always proactive in making sure that young people receive the best support. They keep all parties well informed about the young people’s progress and safety.  There is excellent management oversight. The registered manager leads by example. Well-established and robust communication, consistent care routines and boundaries, along with good ambition for children ensure that the care delivered to young people continues to improve.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  For the children’s home to be a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments.(‘Guide to the children’s home regulations quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, there should be a sufficient number of matching dining chairs to seat all young people and staff at the dining table during mealtimes. The downstairs shower room requires good ventilation and refurbishment.

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home that provides accommodation for up to six young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 09/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/08/2015 Full Good

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Outstanding

Young people make excellent progress over time due to the consistent and nurturing care that is provided by a highly motivated staff team. Young people respond well to the high aspirations that staff have for them. A young person said: ‘This is my home and I feel safe here’; ‘I don’t want to leave here, it’s a great place to live’; and ‘The staff care for us here.’

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Outstanding

Young people benefit immensely from the strong and trusting relationships that they have built with staff. They respond positively to having clear routines and boundaries. This makes young people feel safe and secure. The young people develop trust in those who care for them; this enables staff to advise young people and guide them to make positive choices and decisions.

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Outstanding

Young people’s health thrives as they access routine health checks and specialist services promptly. A health worker said: ‘Staff are proactive and contact me to visit to support young people. I do drop-in sexual health sessions, awareness work and one-to-one sessions with young people.’ Young people receive advice and guidance on living a healthy lifestyle, along with information on the dangers of smoking and other risks. This ensures that young people’s current and long-term health outcomes improve.

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Outstanding

Young people have a desire to learn. All are on a journey that has seen their participation and attendance in education increase. Staff work with determination to ensure that young people recognise the importance of going to school. This has resulted in some young people going to summer school. An education provider said: ‘Staff are so supportive to X to attend school. Their attendance has now increased to 91%. The staff communicate well with us, so we can best support X, we sing from the same hymn sheet. This benefits X greatly.’ This provides young people with enhanced opportunities now and as young adults to access further education and employment.

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Outstanding

All young people commit to and engage in learning life and independence skills. They take part in doing chores around the home that include preparing snacks and meals, cleaning their bedrooms and processing laundry. They follow house rules and boundaries, travel on public transport and learn to manage and budget money. This ensures that they have the necessary skills to care for themselves as young adults.

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Outstanding

Young people benefit greatly from accessing a wide range of social and leisure activities. Staff are proactive in encouraging them to have hobbies and interests. This helps young people to build their self-esteem and confidence. A young person said: ‘We have great opportunities here. I have done things here I would have never have done at home. I’ve been abroad on holiday and I go to the gym.’

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Outstanding

Staff work tirelessly with young people to rebuild and maintain the relationships that they have with those who are important to them. A young person said: ‘I was not seeing my mum, but I am now. This is good.’ A social worker said: ‘Staff are very supportive in X seeing their parent. This is really positive.’ This provides young people with positive family connections and a valued support network.

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Outstanding

Young people benefit tremendously from the staff listening to them and consulting with them on a frequent basis. A young person said: ‘We have a weekly meeting. We now give scores weekly on what we think about the menus and activities; we score them out of 10’; and, ‘There is always someone to talk to. They listen and sort things out for me.’ This demonstrates that the staff place a lot of importance on young people’s views and opinions and that these are taken seriously.

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Outstanding

Young people who leave the service receive continuing support from staff. Their outreach work includes ongoing assistance, guidance and advice. This increases the success rate of young people’s transitions when they go to new placements or move back home.

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Outstanding

Young people enjoy living in the comfort of a well-presented home. There have been improvements made to the home recently. These include the decoration of some rooms and the installation of a new conservatory. The personalisation of rooms enhances the home further. An array of photographs of young people enjoying leisure activities and their summer holidays emphasise that this is the home of the young people who live here. However, there is not a sufficient number of dining chairs for young people and staff to all dine together. The ground-floor shower room is in a poor state of decoration, and a lack of ventilation means that the room has a damp odour.

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Outstanding

Young people’s safety and well-being is given the highest priority by the whole staff team. Staff are clear that it is everyone’s responsibility to safeguard young people. They are fully aware of the individual risks and vulnerabilities for each young person in their care. Staff meticulously follow the detailed individual risk assessments, missing-from-care protocols and safeguarding strategies. Young people’s risk of being vulnerable to child sexual exploitation and the risk of them going missing from care have reduced. This is due to the home’s work with professionals and the advice, guidance and support that young people receive from staff. Therefore, young people become increasingly safe.

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Outstanding

Professionals say that staff do all that they can to keep young people safe. Staff closely monitor and supervise young people. This ensures that when there are incidents of bullying, staff intervene promptly and take action to stop these incidents in order to protect young people from harm. Young people say that there have been bullying incidents and that the staff have taken immediate action to stop them. Direct work with those involved has taken place swiftly to ensure that all young people understand the impact of such actions and are aware that there is zero tolerance for such behaviour.

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Outstanding

Young people benefit from living in a safe environment. There is frequent monitoring of the environment that includes all relevant health and safety checks.

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Outstanding

Young people respond to the home’s range of positive support approaches. Staff implement effective behavioural strategies and debriefs occur after incidents. This allows staff to reflect on where improvements and changes are required, which effectively assists them in preventing further occurrences. Young people have individualised positive incentives that support them to engage in socially acceptable behaviour. Staff notify and consult all appropriate agencies when there are safeguarding concerns and agree further protection strategies. The well-established relationships between staff and young people enable the young people to trust and follow the advice and guidance that are given to them. This results in young people being further protected from harm.

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Outstanding

The registered manager has been in post since June 2016. He holds a level 5 diploma qualification. He has over eight years’ experience of working with children and young people and has several years’ experience of working in managerial positions.

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Outstanding

Young people benefit tremendously from the manager’s distinct focus on providing them with excellent care. He has an inspirational vision about the care that is to be delivered to young people and wants only the very best outcomes for all of them. This approach sets the standard for staff and is disseminated to them.

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Outstanding

The manager and staff team are clear about the strengths of the home and the areas that they are keen to improve further. The care delivered to young people reflects the home’s statement of purpose well.

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Outstanding

Staff work in an exceptionally supportive environment and they receive effective formal and informal supervision. This helps them to work cohesively. Communication between staff is excellent. Staff are invested in, and their training is prioritised. Mandatory training and more specialist training are provided to staff so that the needs of young people can be met. Although most of the staff hold the level 3 diploma in caring for children and young people, two staff members are currently working towards this qualification. This ensures that staff are fully equipped to meet the needs of young people in their care.

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Outstanding

Superb and proactive collaborative working with other professionals and agencies makes certain that young people receive prompt and excellent support to meet their specific and individual needs. Professionals said: ‘The staff are brilliant, their communication is excellent. They do all that they can to keep X safe. They called a meeting a couple of months ago. They recognised the need to keep X safe’; and ‘Staff communication with us is very, very good. They attend all meetings, even when these are called at extremely short notice. The staff are very supportive to X.’ Consequently, staff have established – and continue to maintain – excellent partnership working practices, which lead to swift interventions. Consequently, young people receive excellent care and support

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Outstanding

There are robust and thorough auditing systems, including internal monitoring by the manager and external monitoring by the provider. These quickly detect any shortfalls, enabling the manager to respond immediately to address them. This maintains the excellent standard of care that is provided to young people.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place. However, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or that result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference that adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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