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

Inspection report children’s home: SC366104 1 SC366104 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

The home is registered to provide care for up to four children who have social and emotional difficulties and who may also have a learning disability. The home has an annex within the grounds which supports children to develop their independence skills.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and forms part of a large social care organisation, which offers an education service and therapeutic support.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since April 2017. He is suitably experienced and holds a level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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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: SC366104 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/10/2018 Full Outstanding 27/11/2017 Full Good 10/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 31/10/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC366104 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 registered person must ensure that all employees have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(c)) 14/12/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make significant progress in all areas of their development. Their day-to-day experiences are immensely positive. This is because staff consistently provide nurturing care, which focuses on meeting children’s individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children take part in a wide range of social, leisure and educational activities. Staff continually encourage children to try new things and to make the most of facilities and opportunities in the local community. This helps children to grow in confidence and to develop their social skills. Staff share children’s hobbies and interests such as playing football, going canoeing and camping. This enables children to develop meaningful relationships based on shared interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff quickly identify the physical and emotional barriers that impact on children’s learning and find creative ways to help each child to overcome these barriers. For instance, staff have helped one child to improve his reading skills by regularly sitting down with him and reading a book. Staff have creatively made a ‘pointy finger’ to help him to be able to follow the lines in the book when he is reading. For another child, staff have purchased a fishing magazine on a regular subscription so that he can learn more about his favourite hobby. He looks forward to receiving his magazine and, in turn, this is helping him to improve his reading.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are in good physical health. Staff educate children about healthy eating and the importance of having a varied diet. Staff have helped a child to grow their own vegetables which the staff and children have proudly used when cooking their meals. Staff support some children to lose weight. One child proudly told the inspector he has lost three stone in weight. He now looks confident and takes pride in his appearance. Inspection report children’s home: SC366104 4 Children are exceptionally well supported with their emotional well-being. Staff work closely with clinicians to help them to understand the impact of early childhood experiences, including neglect and abuse, on children’s behaviours. This guidance has helped the staff to develop their practice. Children say that discussions they have with staff about their feelings and emotions are extremely important to them and have helped them to cope with difficult situations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff ensure that every child is consulted about their day-to-day care. This means that children develop a sense of belonging and feel safe and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff understand how important children’s families are to them. When appropriate to do so, staff consider children’s wishes and work closely with placing authorities to facilitate regular family visits and social occasions. This partnership working helps children to maintain safe family links.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff ensure that children’s experiences are fully captured. For example, staff make sure that they maintain informative records of children’s daily experiences and take photographs and short videos of children. These captured experiences help children to understand their journeys and to celebrate their successes. Positive memories like these help children to feel loved, to be happy and to be able to thrive physically, emotionally and socially.

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

Children are safe and protected from harm. Managers and staff work closely with the clinical team to devise comprehensive risk management plans that help the staff to understand better children’s behavioural triggers. This approach means that children begin to recognise their own triggers and start to make safer decisions.

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

Leaders and managers use monitoring systems to identify antecedents to children’s challenging behaviours. This helps staff to deploy personalised diversion techniques to distract children and help them to refocus their attention. Consequently, staff very rarely use physical restraint.

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

Staff follow children’s risk management plans and remain highly vigilant when supervising children in the home and during activities. Staff ensure that each child has an individualised missing-from-care protocol that reflects their vulnerabilities. These protocols are promptly shared with the police. Because staff understand children’s vulnerabilities and the importance of providing nurturing care, children rarely go missing from the home and instead are happy to be with staff.

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

Staff manage children’s moves in and out of the home extremely well. Children who leave the home have exceptionally positive endings. They keep in touch with staff and share news about their progress. The registered manager carefully assesses the risks for children already resident when deciding whether it is the right time for a new child to Inspection report children’s home: SC366104 5 move in. This exceptionally careful matching ensures that children’s progress and positive experiences are not compromised.

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

Staff receive training on online safety and use this acquired knowledge to help them to educate children about the risks when accessing online social media sites.

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

Leaders and managers take their responsibility to safeguard children very seriously. Allegations are quickly and thoroughly investigated, and action taken to ensure that children are safe.

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

Staff recruitment is safe. Staff undergo a rigorous recruitment and selection process. This helps to protect children from possible harm or abuse.

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

Children live in a well-maintained and welcoming home. Staff carry out health and safety checks and quickly address any concerns. The home is safely located, and staff maintain good relationships with the police, who give regular updates about emerging risks in the local area. This creates a comfortable and relaxing home for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has the qualifications, skills and experience necessary to manage the service effectively. He is enthusiastic and passionate in his resolve to provide exceptional care and support to children. The registered manager promotes a culture among staff of continuous learning and professional development. This includes encouraging staff to do their own research and using online resources to educate staff about the risks to children from gang culture and county lines.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is a strong advocate for children and he works exceptionally well with other professionals to ensure that children have all their needs fully met. This included challenging other professionals to ensure that a child was allocated an appropriate school placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

New staff have a comprehensive induction which includes training in the company model of care and twice-monthly supervision. Staff supervision focuses on the needs and progress of the children and the staff member’s own development. However, one member of staff has not received their yearly appraisal on time. This limits the staff member’s opportunity to review their practice and performance with their line manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All staff have completed mandatory online training which includes training in improving staff awareness of the risk of child sexual exploitation, the Prevent duty and county lines. Staff have also received face-to-face training to help them increase their knowledge of playfulness, and sexually harmful behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Excellent and effective attention to quality assurance means that the registered manager maintains a close oversight of the quality of care and can quickly identify when and where improvements are needed. Inspection report children’s home: SC366104 6 Children are cared for by a team of experienced and well-qualified staff. Most of the staff have the level 3 diploma in residential childcare. All remaining staff are quickly enrolled when they start working in the home and are in the period set by regulation to achieve the award.

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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: SC366104 7

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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: SC366104 8 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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