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

Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 1 SC396721 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

The home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide 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 home is led by an experienced manager, who registered with Ofsted in December 2012.

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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: 15 February 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2022 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Outstanding 03/12/2018 Full Good 30/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has recently moved out of the home. They had been living there for over two years. One child has been living at the home for two weeks. The inspector took both children’s experiences into consideration during this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The progress and experiences of children who live in this home are good. Children feel happy, secure and safe because of the trusting, connected and loving relationships that they have with staff. Children receive consistent, high-quality, individualised care from a dedicated, highly skilled and experienced staff team. Staff work extremely well together. They are well organised, proactive, sensitive and insightful. Because of this approach, the child who has recently moved out made significant progress in all areas. The child who has recently moved in has also made progress, despite living in the home for a short period. Both children said that they were happy living at the home and liked the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff show great care when supporting children to move in or out of the home. They support children to visit their potential new homes and communicate with social workers and housing support agencies to ensure that children are getting the right help when they move out of the home. Staff ensure that children have detailed written care plans in place. These plans ensure that the staff have an in-depth knowledge about the children, their previous experiences and their current needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make excellent progress from their starting points in their education. Staff use an integrated approach to care, education and therapy. Staff support children when they are in school. They go into lessons with them. This promotes consistency for children and helps them to feel safer in the school environment. As a result, children’s attendance and attainment improves. One child who has been out of school for a prolonged period has been supported to go back into full-time education. Another was supported to gain full-time employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in their support of children’s health and well-being. Children benefit from having comprehensive individual healthcare plans. Staff follow plans to ensure that children’s health needs are met. Staff have sought specialist medical advice and help when required. They have undertaken research into one child’s specific health needs. This has enabled staff and the child to have a better understanding of their condition and the actions they need to take to keep the child healthy. This approach enhances positive health outcomes for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to access regular therapeutic support. This enables children to begin to address past experiences and current concerns about their emotional health. This means children can gain a better understanding of their own emotions and develop their own coping strategies. This collaborative approach means that children’s emotional health needs are met effectively. Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 4 Children’s views are highly valued by staff and the manager. Children have multiple opportunities to have their say, for example, through children’s meetings, reflective sessions and extensive key-working sessions. This allows the children to share and talk about their achievements, reflect on events and learn how to manage conflict. These opportunities provide valuable life experiences for children to learn how to communicate and listen effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence skills. Staff help the children to progress towards adulthood with appropriate life skills, including budgeting, cleaning, cooking and managing their personal time. This supports children to make plans for their future and make informed decisions about their life, and develops their resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well decorated, clean and homely. Staff work with the children to make the environment feel like a home. Children have chosen the wallpaper and helped staff decorate the lounge. Children are also supported by staff to personalise and redecorate their bedrooms as soon as they move in. This supports children to quickly gain a sense of belonging and pride in their environment.

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

Safeguarding and risk management are effective. Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Children are safe and say they feel safe.

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

As a result of the close and nurturing relationships that children have with staff, children feel able to share their worries and concerns. Staff are confident and skilled when managing allegations or disclosures and ensure that the appropriate agencies are swiftly notified. Consequently, children feel listened to, supported and safe.

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

Children are safer because of living in this home. Both children’s risks have reduced. Staff are successful in supporting children to address their individual needs and reduce their risk-taking behaviours. As a result, there have been no significant incidents in the home and incidents of children going missing from home are minimal.

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

Staff ensure that there are comprehensive risk assessments and behaviour support plans in place. These are regularly reviewed and include individually tailored strategies that help to keep children safe. Staff have a clear understanding of the risks of the children and have implemented effective strategies to reduce and manage the risks.

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

Staff were creative when one child was living away from the home. They worked closely with other professionals to develop clear plans to keep the child as safe as possible. Due to the excellent relationships the child has with staff, these plans have worked well. They have given the child the time to build a close network around them, which will keep them safer in the future. All professionals spoken to said that staff knew the children well and that staff do safeguard children. Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 5 There are few incidents of children going missing from home. When they do occur, staff take immediate action. They follow detailed missing-from-home protocols, liaising with other professionals until children are found. On children’s return, staff are caring and talk to the children, so that they can understand why the child went missing and what they can do to support the child to prevent it happening again.

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

The manager ensures that return home interviews are completed by an independent person when the child has returned.

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

Staff manage behaviour positively. Physical intervention has not been used in this home. Staff are remarkably knowledgeable about the children. They have a good understanding of their behaviours, triggers and risks. Staff use this knowledge, along with reflective intervention, to de-escalate incidents. The manager has thorough oversight of incidents and ensures that staff and children reflect on all incidents. This creates a culture of reflection and learning for all. It supports children to feel safe, secure and more confident in their relationships with staff.

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

Staff ensure that children live in a safe environment. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks, including holding fire drills, to ensure that the premises are safe and the child can respond in an emergency.

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

The manager follows safer recruitment practices. This ensures that only vetted individuals work at the home and provide care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An extremely dedicated and proactive manager leads the home. She has high aspirations and is ambitious for children and staff alike. The manager has created an open and inclusive culture that places children at the front and centre of practice. The manager and staff have an excellent knowledge of the children’s starting points and what they have accomplished since living at the home. Staff go above and beyond in ensuring that the service that they provide meets the needs of the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager shows high ambition for the home and where it aims to be. This ethos is shared with the staff and children, resulting in high-quality care. The manager completes quality of care reviews that are thorough, thoughtful and reflective. They include a child-centred analysis of the care and support available for children. Managers continually plan to improve the services to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager shows good insight into the strengths and areas for development of the home. There are highly effective monitoring systems in place. The manager completes regular audits to scrutinise the performance of the home and children’s outcomes. She acts quickly to address any shortfalls or areas for development. The home can evidence change in the children’s outcomes through a variety of systems.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff retention is excellent and staff morale is high. Staff say that they enjoy working at the home and they are positive about the support they receive from the manager. Staff receive high-quality supervision and annual appraisals. Team meetings are Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 6 regular and highly reflective. Staff receive regular consultation with the home’s therapist. These practices enable staff to feel developed, supported and valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff hold a level 3 diploma and most staff are working towards level 5. Staff are also provided with a wide range of training that informs their practice and meets children’s individual needs. All staff have received training in the home’s therapeutic model. This means children receive care from staff who are highly skilled and able to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager takes responsibility for her own learning and development, including keeping up to date with new initiatives. She has worked hard to truly embed the organisation’s reflective therapeutic intervention model of care into the core of staff practice. This is a strength of the home and has made a real difference to the lives of the children. They are now able to reflect on their behaviours and that of others to make more informed choices. This has also helped children to be more resilient and form trusting, positive relationships with staff and others around them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s views are central to the running of the home. Staff consult children on all aspects of their care and support them to take increasing control of the decisions that affect them. Children confirmed that staff listen to them and they feel supported. This ensures that children feel listened to, involved in their care and valued. This also supports children to build deeper, trusting relationships with staff. The manager ensures that children receive feedback about any requests they have made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and the manager work closely with other professionals to ensure that the care provided to children is well coordinated. The manager will challenge those who are not meeting children’s needs, or when she feels decisions are not in the best interests of the child. Feedback from professionals is excellent. One professional told the inspector, ‘She is the best manager ever. She has excellent communication and is proactive. The staff are excellent and committed to the kids.’ Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 7

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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 for children's home: SC396721 8

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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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Inspector

Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC396721 9 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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