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 Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide residential care for one child who has had adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2022 and has a leadership and management qualification at level 5.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/06/2019 Full Good 07/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home. The child has made good progress. They are attending school daily, building positive relationships with staff and starting to re-engage in therapeutic support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to attend and make progress in their education. When the child was unable to attend their previous education setting, the manager worked with professionals and advocated on the child’s behalf to ensure that a new school was found quickly. Since starting at the new school the child has attended every day. The manager ensured that tutoring and online support were in place for the child while a new school was found. This ensured that the child continued to stay engaged with learning. Furthermore, the home’s therapist offers guidance and support in school and at home by meeting with care and education staff regularly to ensure that there is support available for the child and that staff practice is consistent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the child to develop their own hobbies and interests. Staff have supported the child to enjoy a wide range of activities, including bowling and visiting escape rooms. The child is also learning how to ski.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to maintain good physical and emotional health and well- being. Staff ensure that the child is supported to access specialist services and seek support from medical professionals when required. Medication is safely stored, and records are maintained on the administration of medication. This means that the child’s health and well-being are promoted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is supported by the staff to spend time with their family. This ensures that the child continues to build relationships and attachments with people who are significant to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager does not consistently ensure that the child’s views about the home are considered. Children’s meetings are weak. They do not capture the child’s views on the home’s care, and it is not clear that their views regarding the care provided have an impact on the quality of care they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has not ensured that the home is maintained to a suitable standard. The downstairs area of the home is clean and tidy, and the lounge has been newly decorated. However, the upstairs areas are not as well looked after. Paintwork is damaged and there are spiders and cobwebs in hallways. Similarly, the child’s bedroom is dirty and needs cleaning. There are clothes all over the floor and some items of furniture are broken. In addition, the paintwork on the front door is damaged and scuffed. This does not ensure that the home is a welcoming and homely environment. Before the end of the inspection the manager had taken action to rectify these shortfalls. New bedroom furniture had been ordered and the Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 4 child had been shopping with staff for new bedding. Maintenance staff were at the home

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improvement to be good

Overall, staff and managers take appropriate action when safeguarding concerns arise. However, inspectors found that, on one occasion, managers did not take appropriate action, which has impacted on the judgement in this area.

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improvement to be good

On receiving information about a member of staff being subject to criminal investigations, managers failed to identify this as safeguarding concern. This was not referred to the local authority designated officer, Ofsted was not notified, and the staff continued to lone work with children without a risk assessment in place. This approach to safeguarding fails to protect children and staff.

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improvement to be good

Managers have not monitored the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies. The policy does not include the actions that staff are expected to take if there are allegations against staff which do not involve children.

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improvement to be good

Risk is reducing for the child currently living at the home. Incidents of self-harm have reduced. Behaviour is managed positively with the use of rewards and incentives. Physical intervention has not been used and there has been no use of consequences. In addition, there have been no incidents of the child going missing from home.

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improvement to be good

Staff manage concerns around online safety well. When the child was sent inappropriate images via social media, staff immediately reported concerns of bullying to police and school. However, staff have failed to ensure that direct work has taken place with the child around these risks. This does not support the child to keep themself safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff manage incidents of self-harm well. Staff have received specialised training to help them to know how to respond to incidents of self-harm. They were able to explain to the inspector how to use this training, should the need arise. When incidents have happened, staff have accessed medical treatment for the child and increased support, as required. This has helped to keep the child safe overall.

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improvement to be good

The manager has responded to and reported a historical allegation made by the child. Safeguarding procedures were appropriately followed. The child was supported well throughout this process. This demonstrates that managers take appropriate action when children raise complaints.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide a safe environment for children to live in. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks to ensure that the home is safe. Staff and children take Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 5 part in regular fire drills to ensure that they know how to evacuate the home in the case of an emergency.

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improvement to be good

The manager ensures that a location risk assessment is carried out, which is regularly reviewed. This highlights risks in the local area. However, the manager has not fully considered the isolated location of the home and has therefore not developed strategies to mitigate the risk of isolation for any children and staff at the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager follows safer recruitment processes to ensure that children are kept safe. The home does not use agency staff. When cover is required, this is facilitated by staff in the organisation. These measures promote the safety of the children by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them.

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good

Leaders’ and managers’ monitoring systems are ineffective. On one occasion leaders and managers failed to identify as a safeguarding issue criminal investigations concerning a member of staff and ensure that the relevant people were notified. This shortfall has impacted on the judgement in this area.

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good

Staff attend regular team meetings and have received monthly supervision, that include practice-based discussion. Staff told inspectors that they feel supported by the manager Staff also receive an intensive induction into the organisation, as well as an induction into the home. However, cover staff do not receive home-specific induction, participate in team meetings or receive any reflective practice feedback after working at the home. While this has not impacted on the child, it is a missed opportunity to ensure that there is effective oversight and review of staff practice.

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good

The manager advocates well for children. Following a complaint from the child about her dissatisfaction with her social worker the manager advocated on her behalf and escalated her complaint within the local authority. This led to a change in social worker and the child went on to chair her looked after children’s review when she had previously refused to attend.

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good

The manager ensures that staff receive training to meet the child’s needs. As staff lone work with the child, the manager completes a lone-working risk assessment prior to any staff working at the home. This ensures that all staff have the necessary skills and training to work with the child.

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good

The registered manager has ensured that the home’s statement of purpose is up to date and forwarded to Ofsted. This ensures that children, parents and professionals are informed about the aims of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 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)(b)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the environment is improved and meets the needs of the children living in the home. 28 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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— 28 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 7 regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that children are consulted regularly on their views about their care.

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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—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager’s consideration of incidents or allegations that staff may be involved in outside the home from a safeguarding perspective. Additionally, child protection policies must be reviewed to consider how they view safeguarding from a position of incidents that might happen away from the home or not directly involving children. Furthermore, risk assessments must contain all identified strategies to enable consistent practice. 28 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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; 28 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 8 ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(e)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that monitoring systems are effective in identifying and responding to shortfalls and evaluating the care provided.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should consider the isolated location of the home and develop strategies to mitigate the risk of social isolation for any children or staff at the home. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: SC366112 9

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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: Fitzroy Academy, Cruckton, Shrewsbury SY5 8PR

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Inspectors

Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Jessica Forshaw, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC366112 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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