Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 1 SC480854 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

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and has been registered at the home since May 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on the 17 March 2020.

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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: 10 December 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/12/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Full Outstanding 30/08/2017 Full Outstanding 15/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop positive and trusting relationships with staff. They know their carers well and develop confidence in the staff team. The warm and nurturing home environment provides children with a solid foundation that helps them to achieve and do well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good health. They are supported by staff to attend routine appointments, eat balanced and healthy meals, engage in physical activities, and access the health support they require. Consequently, children have improved health outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are aspirational for the children and work in partnerships with the schools, virtual schools and special educational needs coordinator. This ensures that the children access education that meets their developmental and learning needs. These partnerships ensure good communication and help to improve children’s school attendance and attainment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have been supported to access activities within the home and in the wider community as government guidelines have allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The children have enjoyed baking, cooking, gardening, cycling and going for walks. These opportunities have supported the children’s emotional well-being and kept them occupied during periods of local and national restrictions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children told the inspector that the staff listen to them and will advocate on their behalf. They have weekly meetings with their key workers, where they can contribute to activity planning, weekly menus, share their wishes and feelings, and are regularly consulted by the manager. As a result of these opportunities, the children are able to have a say in the way the home is run and they feel valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with families and key professionals to support the holistic care needs of the children. This has been evident when they have supported children’s transitions to the home and on to future placements. When children move on from the home, staff continue to remain in touch with them. As a result, children are supported well to manage difficult transitions and are able to maintain positive relationships with key adults in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is generally well maintained in most areas. However, children’s bedrooms are not all personalised, bathrooms need some levels of repair and the garden is overgrown and in need of tidying up. This detracts from the overall homeliness of the environment. Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 4

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

Staff have completed relevant training which meets the individual needs of the children. Staff are supported to develop in their roles through supervision, team meetings and regular daily handovers. This helps them to provide the children with the consistency of care that they need.

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

There are high staffing ratios in place to meet the needs of the children. Staff implement good routines, which ensures that children have a predictable structure to the day. This means that children know what to expect and has resulted in a settled home.

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

Staff have good knowledge of the children’s emotional and behavioural needs. As a result, they are able to use de-escalation strategies to good effect. This helps the children to emotionally regulate and express their feelings in a positive way.

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

There are few incidents of children going missing from care. When children go missing, staff follow policies and procedures to help reduce the risk. Staff work in partnership with other agencies and families to ensure the safe return of the children. Children receive return home interviews and staff have key-work discussions with the child to help reduce risks. These sessions ensure that staff can ascertain key information from the child to help inform their risk assessments and reduce episodes of missing from care.

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

Staff utilise key-work sessions to support the children’s understanding of risky and concerning behaviours. The children are supported through targeted incentives and rewards to help improve behaviours and engagement in their care plans. The children are responding well to these incentives and gain a sense of achievement when they meet their personalised targets.

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

Restorative practice is in place to help the children learn positive behaviours and reduce risk-taking or concerning behaviours. As a result, the children have begun to make good choices about their behaviours and develop positive social skills.

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

There are good risk assessments and behavioural support plans in place, which are regularly reviewed and updated as the children’s needs change. All risk assessments have management oversight and staff are able to follow these plans. This helps to better protect the children as staff know what action to take.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and ambitious for the children and is supported by the deputy and senior managers to provide consistent care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides regular reflective supervisions and annual appraisals to the staff. There is a robust induction for new starters, and the manager and deputy Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 5 work alongside staff to support their development. As a result, staff develop in their roles and are more able to respond to the care needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child centred and role models positive practice to her staff. She ensures that the staff follow the ethos of the home. As a result, the children receive a good level of care and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works with human resources to ensure that safer recruitment is in place and that any safeguarding or practice concerns are managed effectively to safeguard the children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that staff practice is supported and when there are gaps in staff practice, she implements improvement plans to support staff development. This ensures that staff practice is reviewed and monitored to ensure that the children receive good levels of individualised care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals say that the manager works effectively in partnership with all agencies to ensure that children can access the specialist support that they need. When needed, the manager challenges and escalates concerns to other professionals to ensure that the children have the support they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are robust monitoring systems in place to ensure that the children’s progress and staff development needs have effective oversight. This level of oversight supports the manager’s understanding of the strengths and areas for development within the home. However, the manager cannot be fully reassured of the quality of the independent visitors’ reports as there have been several virtual visits and limited consultation which should contribute to the development of the service. Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 6

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

Understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

Use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(vii)) 31 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)) 31 August 2021

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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: SC480854 7

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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: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Thomas Cappleman

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Inspector

Noel Cooper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC480854 8 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 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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