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

Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 1 SC366112 Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group 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 privately operated children’s home is registered to provide care for one young person who has social and/or emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home aims to provide an integrated approach for the young person within a safe and secure environment that affords young people educational and therapeutic opportunities that support them to achieve positive social integration.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager started in October 2018 and has applied to Ofsted to become the next registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2018 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/10/2016 Full Outstanding 18/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 3

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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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(vi)(x) 01/03/2019

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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 that staff—

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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; 01/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 4 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

and 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(vi)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is with regard to ensuring that risk assessments are up to date, accurate and available to staff, and that staff are following them. The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 01/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that each child’s relevant plans are followed.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(c)) 01/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 5

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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

This is with particular regard to ensuring that the home is clean, tidy and welcoming, and that any damage to the home is repaired quickly.

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)

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Recommendations

This is with regard to ensuring that all staff, including occasional staff, have access to and read amendments to important documents before they work with young people.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one young person has left the home and one young person has moved in. In recent months the home has been in a period of crisis. Although the previous young person had initially made considerable progress, his risks increased, and the young person was moved onto an alternative setting where he could be kept safe. In the early stages of her placement, the new young person has also displayed challenging and risk-taking behaviours. This has resulted in the home experiencing a challenging period that has resulted in some staff leaving and the quality of care being compromised.

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improvement to be good

The new young person is not yet making sustained progress in her learning. Despite staff support, the young person is often late to school and her attendance requires improvement.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage the young person to participate in varied activities, including going swimming, visiting local attractions and attending play centres.

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improvement to be good

Staff assist the young person to maintain good health. For example, the staff have supported her to lose weight. Staff understand the importance of helping young people to develop essential life skills. The young person told the inspector, ‘I like the food here. I can choose what I want to eat and help cook the meals.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 6 Staff support the young person to maintain contact with her family. This support has helped relationships to improve. The young person’s parent told the inspector, ‘The manager is brilliant. She is open and honest.’

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to keep the young person safe. At times, staff have used physical restraint to prevent the young person from hurting herself or putting others at risk. When young people have gone missing from the home, the staff have taken prompt action. They liaise with the correct professionals and follow agreed care plans. This swift action helps to safeguard young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff hold conversations with the young person about her behaviour and try to support her to make safer decisions. Despite these efforts, incidents still occur. Although the manager ensures that after these incidents the staff and the young person are offered a de-brief session, the log of these sessions is not always completed in sufficient detail to enable learning to take place.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that risk assessments are in place for each new young person. However, the manager does not ensure that these assessments are always kept up to date and made accessible to all members of staff. This means that some staff do not always have all the information they need to keep the young person safe.

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improvement to be good

The staff ensure that the home’s environment is safe. However, not all areas of the house are welcoming and homely. For example, there are no curtains or a blind in the young person’s bedroom, and no storage for her clothes and personal items. There is also considerable damage to parts of the home that is still waiting for repair. Despite the efforts of the maintenance staff, the young person has caused damage on a regular basis.

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improvement to be good

Managers ensure that staff who work in the home are safely recruited. This helps to ensure that young people are looked after by suitable adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager started in October 2018 and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Several staff have left in recent months. Staff have reportedly left because of the increased levels of challenging behaviour, despite staff receiving regular supervision. To cover the gaps in staffing, the manager has used staff from other homes in the organisation to ensure that shifts are covered. This means that at times the young person has not known the members of staff looking after her. This inconsistency in staffing has, on occasion, compromised the young person’s quality of care. Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 7 The manager has focused her time on providing day-to-day support for both young people in recent months. This has resulted in the manager not having sufficient time to monitor and review each young person’s progress, and not being able to assess the quality of care. This leaves gaps in the manager’s understanding of the difference that the staff have made to young people’s lives, and in their learning from the endings of

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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: SC366112 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

Debbie Holder, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 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 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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