Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1241776 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered for four children. The home provides care for children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours. The registered manager has extensive experience and is appropriately qualified. She is registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 30 January 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1241776 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2019 Full Outstanding 05/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/07/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1241776 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from warm and supportive relationships with staff. Staff are patient, caring and sensitive to children’s needs. This helps children to make progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children experience planned moves into the home, which helps them settle quickly. They are actively involved in the process and report that they receive a warm welcome from staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaging in education. Where children are not in school, the manager and staff are active in ensuring that they have access to alternative educational provisions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good health monitoring remains central to care practice. Staff actively engage with specialist services such as the child adolescent mental health services, to ensure that children receive appropriate support to meet their emotional health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take part in new activities. Children experienced their first holiday abroad last year with staff. Children take part in a wide range of social activities and leisure pursuits. This allows them to learn new skills, develop new hobbies and grow in confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to develop their independence skills, such as shopping and cleaning, to help to prepare them for their adult life. Staff work well to support children who move to alternative placements, to ensure that they have a smooth transition into their new homes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to contribute their thoughts and ideas in children’s meetings. Children engage well in key-work sessions with staff. These sessions focus on identifying and prioritising areas of need and risk. Consequently, staff help children to improve their behaviour and discuss any worries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain positive relationships with their families and friends. Family members are warmly welcomed into the home. One child’s younger sibling has stayed overnight, which they both enjoyed.

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

Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities and the risks that some behaviours may pose to their welfare and safety. Good levels of supervision and support, alongside good-quality risk assessments, are used to protect children and minimise the risk of harm.

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

The manager ensures that children have individualised risk management plans that are developed and reviewed with advice from other professionals. This ensures that Inspection report children’s home: 1241776 4 staff understand the risks posed to children and what they need to do to help reduce risk.

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

Staff know the children well and boundaries and expectations are clear. Incentives and consequences are used to encourage children to behave positively. Staff are skilful in defusing situations and managing behaviour that can be challenging. The manager has developed a restorative approach to help children repair relationships where their behaviour has caused harm. Staff are trained in physical restraint but use this only as a last resort.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff respond promptly, in keeping with agreed protocols. Close working with partners, such as the police, helps to ensure that children stay safe. Staff recording of incidents, however, does not consistently reflect the action taken by staff in response to the incident.

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

Safe recruitment practice ensures that everybody employed to work in the home is safe to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high expectations of herself and others. She is child focused and advocates strongly on behalf of the children in her care. She is confident in challenging other professionals when their actions or inactions have a negative impact on children. She recently escalated her concerns about poor-quality information-sharing from a placing authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the running of the home. This ensures that she has a clear understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Staff are motivated and feel well supported by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and annual performance appraisal. They reported that this supports their practice. Most staff are qualified to a level 3 diploma in residential childcare. Those who are unqualified are in the regulatory period to obtain their qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good training opportunities, in addition to their mandatory training. Managers supplement this training with workshops from specialist services and team discussions. These develop the staff’s knowledge of the issues that affect the children who they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works extremely well with other professionals involved with children. They spoke positively about her enthusiasm and commitment. Social workers said that staff keep them up to date with any developments and they always feel welcome when they visit the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1241776 5

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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 maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This is in specific reference to ensuring that children’s records consistently reflect staff actions in response to an incident. 31/03/2020

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 1241776 6

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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 PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Anne Daly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1241776 7 to 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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