Children's home run by Reflexion Care Group Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 1 SC366080 Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is run by a private company. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have learning disabilities and social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 November 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

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

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/10/2017 Full Outstanding 28/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/09/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 3

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards,’ page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being to enhance, and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards,’ page 35, paragraph 7.18) Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff know the children and young people exceptionally well. Staff develop trusting relationships through spending time with the children and young people. They are taught to be independent and confident individuals and to maximise their experiences. Staff create new experiences daily. For example, children and young people enjoy activities such as playing football, visiting stately homes and engaging in imaginative play. Staff encourage children and young people to do voluntary work that helps them to contribute to their local community. Consequently, staff promote children and young people’s interests and help them to be outward looking and socially aware.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are committed to helping every child and young person to achieve academic success. This starts with helping children and young people to sustain good school attendance. The staff work extremely closely with schools and colleges to support each child and young person to make educational progress. They support children and young people with their homework in the way a good parent would, and they help young people to search for college places when the time is right. This excellent support enhances children and young people’s achievements and life chances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff understand the impact of children and young people’s early childhood trauma. They use this knowledge to help children and young people to develop self-esteem by celebrating and rewarding their achievements. Children and young people say that they feel staff care for them and are interested in them. This excellent care helps to enable children and young people to form and sustain positive attachments and to build emotional resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff help children and young people to express their views and explore their behaviours by having day-to-day discussions and regular planned meetings. Staff support children and young people to contribute to their care plans. Children and young people know how to complain, and staff actively encourage them to talk with their independent advocate. This means that they have many opportunities to have their views considered and contribute to decisions about their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff manage children and young people’s moves in and out of the home exceptionally well. They encourage children and young people who are new to the home to display family photographs and to bring familiar toys with them for comfort. Staff have information about children and young people’s background, including their likes and dislikes. Preparation for young people to become independent is guided by following plans that staff and young people monitor and discuss together. When children and young people leave the home, the staff celebrate children and young people’s success. These positive endings build in positive experiences to children and young people’s life story and add to their sense of identity and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage children and young people to personalise their bedrooms according to their own tastes and needs. The home has a warm and lively atmosphere and children and young Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 5 people say that they enjoy living there. However, on a few occasions staff have restricted children and young people’s access to communal areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage children and young people to lead healthy and active lives and plan meals with the children and young people. At times, staff do not provide children and young people with enough advice on dietary needs. This is a missed opportunity to promote the importance of healthy eating. Children and young people’s emotional health is closely monitored, and staff encourage them to attend therapy and are enthusiastic about the benefits this support can bring. Young people’s sexual health needs are appropriately discussed.

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

Staff have an excellent understanding of the importance of safeguarding and the need for vigilance so that children and young people stay safe. Well-informed risk assessments, that are specific about what action needs to be taken, help staff to keep children and young people protected from harm. Staff support children and young people to take age-appropriate risks as part of their development of independent living skills. As a result, children and young people are supported to develop the essential skills they need to make safe decisions.

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

On the very rare occasions when children and young people go missing from the home, staff follow missing from care procedures effectively. Staff use a wide range of methods to contact the child or young person and search all known places where the child or young person may have gone. When children and young people return home, staff always make sure that children and young people receive a warm welcome. Staff will tell them that they were worried about them and that they care about them. This is followed by appropriately talking with children and young people about why they went missing from home. Staff skilfully encourage children and young people to think about other ways of dealing with their problems. These conversations significantly help children and young people to think about their actions and to develop safe coping strategies for the future. As a result, the number of times they go missing from the home quickly reduces.

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

Children and young people are not always offered a return home interview by someone independent.

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

Staff deal with bullying or unkind behaviour from children and young people swiftly and effectively. They promote positive relationships in the home by talking to children and young people in a way that encourages personal responsibility and understanding of the feelings of others. This means that children and young people learn to understand the importance of tolerance and kindness in social relationships.

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

Staff follow well-developed strategies that help to keep children and young people safe when using social media. Staff are highly skilled in understanding the risks that children and young people can face. Their understanding of the risks of child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and gang culture is very good. Risk assessments are age-appropriate and staff are highly vigilant when young people have access to the internet through their mobile phones. Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 6 Staff have strong working relationships with the local police to help to support and protect children and young people. Regular updates from the police ensure that staff are kept well informed about any criminal activity, including gang-related activity, in the local area. Staff use this soft intelligence to update risk assessments and independence planning for each child and young person. As a result, staff successfully keep children

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

and young people safe, particularly young people who are working towards independence and can be easily influenced by external factors, such as friendship groups.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is an excellent leader who works in effective partnership with agencies and schools. One headteacher told the inspector, ‘Staff take their responsibility as corporate parent very seriously; I could not praise them highly enough.’ The independent visitor notes the excellent cooperation between one particular school and staff at the home. Social workers are equally impressed with the service. One social worker told the inspector that staff are extremely diligent in following the child’s care plan, and as a result the child’s progress has exceeded their expectations. The impact of excellent practice in all areas of care is that children and young people make significant progress in all areas of their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers ensure that staff receive appropriate training and have the required qualifications. Staff training meets the needs of the children and young people in the home. As a result, the staff deliver high-quality care and keep children and young people safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Any shortfalls in staffing are covered by staff from other homes in the company.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers ensure that the integration of the company’s therapeutic model of care helps strengthen the approach of all staff to looking after children and young people, including introducing research-based practice. This has helped to create a highly competent staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager leads by example. He talks passionately about the children and young people in his care and he is proud of the difference the excellent care by his staff has made to the lives of children and young people. He understands each child or young person’s care plan, oversees the implementation of each effectively and will challenge other professionals when necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager supports staff to make sustained progress in achieving important goals for children and young people, including permanence for their futures. Children and young people benefit from this clear vision and purpose, which helps them achieve stability. This significantly increases their overall future quality of life in all areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager uses good-quality systems to monitor the quality of care given to children and young people. Staff say that they are well led and managed, and they appreciate the registered managers’ support and guidance. Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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 children’s home: SC366080 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Black Birches, Hadnall, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 3DH

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC366080 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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