Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 1 SC481152 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is owned and managed by a private company. The registered manager has been in post since July 2014.

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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: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/01/2019 Full Outstanding 20/06/2017 Full Outstanding 18/01/2017 Full Outstanding 04/08/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that records kept in the children’s home are signed and dated by the author. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) With reference to young people signing and dating their record sheets.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion, and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including

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Recommendations

under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) With particular reference to regulation 44 reports avoiding duplication and being submitted to Ofsted in a timely manner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people live in a safe and structured environment. The full integration of, and the consistent use of, a well-researched therapeutic model which includes a multi-agency safety plan, helps young people to build safe and secure relationships with staff and other young people. The therapeutic model provides young people with the opportunity to successfully engage positively and safely in the wider community. Young people arrive at the home with highly complex emotional and behavioural needs that need close supervision. They leave the home with qualifications, independence skills, aspirations and confidence. Young people leave the home with a thorough understanding of their behaviours, which are often the result of very complex family dynamics. They have a much better understanding of their behaviours and triggers. Young people make outstanding progress. One young person has lived at the home for some years and is now leaving to live in his

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

own independent accommodation. He spoke proudly of his achievements and of the support from staff. ‘First of all, I wouldn’t have been able to get where I am if it wasn’t for staff. They’re really helpful. They helped me with school and got me to where I am now. Staff were there when I needed them. Staff made things easier for me. I am Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 4 planning to move now, and I am looking forward to this.’ This young person has made exceptional progress along his journey from his initial starting point. His progress is down to his hard work and the consistency and commitment of the staff team. Young people can safely engage in several social opportunities. Young people enjoy the cinema, theatre, paintballing, biking and walking. Young people are active and are involved in sports and attend the local gym. Some young people are members of a football team and played their first competitive football match in the local community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Other young people watched their first live basketball match. One young person received his first achievement belt in boxing. Young people learned about food from other cultures and attended a six-week cookery course. Young people are supported to work towards a positive outcome and achieve measurable goals. The on-site education provision, recently rated outstanding by Ofsted, provides a safe and secure environment for education and learning. Strong relationships and excellent communication links between the home and education provision ensure a consistent approach to helping young people to achieve with their education. Young people are inspired and nurtured to complete their education and continue to further education colleges. One young person will progress to a further qualification in animal care, having already completed one year at college. Another young person is following his passion in performing arts and performed in his end-of-year play. Due to a dip in one young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

person’s emotional state, he has had a relapse in his education. Despite this, he has kept up with his school work sent home by the school. Staff are persistent in maintaining and increasing motivation for school and learning. On- site education provision maintains the excellent relationship between both settings. School staff and staff at the home communicate clearly and are sensitive to the emotional needs of young people. Young people make measurable progress to achieve and do well in their education. Young people benefit from a healthy and active lifestyle. Young people are registered with local health and dental services. All health assessments are updated by the nurse for children looked after from the placing authority. Alongside this, the highly skilled and experienced therapy team provides emotional support to young people and staff. Young people can then focus on strategies that they have developed with the therapist.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people can explore their identity and sexuality in a safe and secure setting. Young people discuss inequality and discrimination in group settings with their peers. Cohesive and strong professional relationships, alongside the nurturing and supportive relationships with young people, and the embedded therapeutic model in the home, all ensure that young people have sustained improvement and make excellent progress in their lives. The mantra of the home is to give young people aspirations and opportunities to enhance their lives so that young people can achieve and live fulfilled and enriched lives in society.

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

Young people are happy, feel safe, and feel cared for. The structured environment and dedication of the experienced staff team ensure that young people feel safe and make progress. One young person said, ‘I’ve worked through stuff in therapy and things have Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 5 progressed. I’m happy here. Staff are helpful and supportive.’ Young people receive help and support from staff overseen by a highly experienced therapeutic team, and led by a consultant psychologist. Young people know that staff are committed to supporting them to manage very difficult feelings and behaviours. Young people are helped and supported to overcome experiences of neglect and trauma in a safe, supportive, and non- judgemental environment. The therapy service is now in house. This helps to closely monitor, and tailor support to, the needs of young people. The home has a recently refurbished therapy room that

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

young people use for their therapy sessions. The frequent multi-agency team ‘around the child’ meetings maintain continuous and clear dialogue about a young person. This highly effective planning helps to minimise risks both in the home and in the community. Behaviour plans and risk assessments are very clear and frequently updated following a change in behaviour. Staff carefully measure outcomes as part of the therapeutic model, to track progress. Effective and clear multi-agency communication enhances the understanding of the needs of each young person. Working through the therapeutic programme allows young people the opportunity to sustain improvement. The bespoke programme ensures that young people progress at their own pace. Young people are given bite-sized achievable goals that are carefully measured, discussed, and evaluated at each stage. Staff will discuss with young people their progress through structured key-work sessions. Young people will only progress to

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

the next phase of the in-house programme following a successful spot check in the community. Any setbacks are discussed with the multi-agency team and the young person. This ensures that young people fully understand areas that require further development and that they are confident in understanding their achievements. The therapeutic model develops young people’s independence skills and enables them to have everyday positive experiences. A young person said, ‘Being here has taught me a lot about myself, but about others as well, and that is what I’m most pleased with.’ Sometimes, young people do not sign their direct-work sessions, which means that their understanding of the work is not always checked. Some staff recordings appear negative in the choice of language used in write-ups. In the absence of an aftercare worker, staff have supported a young person to move to independent living. The young person felt thoroughly supported by staff. This also

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

ensured that the young person could move into his new property without delay. Staff have since helped and supported this young person to settle into his new home. The young person now understands about budgets, managing household bills, shopping for food and cooking. Some young people have unresolved legal cases, and staff have been instrumental in supporting young people through the judicial process. Young people understand their care plans. Staff use a format after every meeting that records the young person’s understanding of the meeting in a child-centred way. The format helpfully explains the outcome of the meeting so that young people have a better understanding of the decision-making process. The home is focused on developing child-friendly care plan review documents. Young people are supported to maintain contact with family members across the country. Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 6

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

Staff promote contact in a safe environment to ensure that young people have positive experiences with their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is a highly knowledgeable and experienced manager. He is exemplary in his firm-but-fair management style of the home. Due to the young people’s complexities, this style is to ensure that young people are safe, and that staff have confidence in their own abilities to continue to provide excellent support, guidance, nurture, and management to young people. The registered manager has been qualified in leadership and management for several years. His enthusiasm and passion for his work permeates through to an equally enthusiastic and committed staff team. Staff report feeling ‘really happy at work and love coming to work’. One staff member said, ‘We never give up, there’s always more we can do.’ The staff team is a committed and hard-working team that feels empowered to make safe and secure decisions on behalf of young people. Staff support and encourage one another, and young people

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

benefit from staff stability and consistency. Staff know the children well and have extensive knowledge of the research-informed therapeutic model and how this framework fits in to the day-to-day running of the home to keep young people safe. Staff also ensure that young people achieve their personal goals and have positive experiences in the community and engage in activities that mean they have fun. The registered manager is careful about recruiting the right calibre of staff who have experience and knowledge to maintain high standards. New staff are nurtured through a thorough probationary training programme within the wider organisation. Staff also complete a bespoke training package relevant to the home. The manager is clear about his high expectations of his staff team. The registered manager and his team create detailed and dynamic risk assessments to ensure the well-being and safety of young people and to ensure that safeguarding

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

procedures are robustly followed. The assessments are kept up to date and regularly reviewed. The registered manager completes detailed impact assessments to ensure that young people coming to the home are aware of the home’s expectations. This careful matching process ensures that the home can fully meet the needs of a young person before moving to the home. This also ensures that the current residents are fully aware of any changes and that staff are able to manage the changes. The home now has an in-house therapy team that supports the practice of the home. Staff and the registered manager say that this bespoke service has many benefits. The registered manager and his team have an excellent working relationship with the therapeutic team and the on-site education provision. This collaboration ensures clear, consistent, effective and structured support for young people. More importantly, daily communication and handovers between the school, the therapist and the home ensure

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

that staff are fully aware of how to support young people. Any issues are addressed by the most appropriate professional promptly and efficiently. The registered manager is a strong advocate for young people and will challenge partner agencies when required. The registered manager utilises internal and external monitoring to continue to improve practice in the home. An independent visitor completes a monthly report and evaluates Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 7 the progress of the home. It is important that this report avoids duplication and is completed in a timely manner.

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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: SC481152 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tustin Court, Port Way, Ashton-On-Ribble, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Kamal Bhamra, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC481152 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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