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

Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 1 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 privately owned children’s home cares for up to 14 children with learning difficulties, sensory impairment, autism spectrum disorder and/or challenging behaviours. Young people may stay beyond the age of 18 to complete their education.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is split into five separate houses. Four houses can accommodate up to three children in each house, with one house accommodating two children.

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is situated on the same site as a special school. The inspector only inspected the social care provision on this site.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2022 and holds the appropriate qualifications.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This was the first full inspection of the home since it opened in September 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since opening, five children have moved to the home and one child has left. This child struggled with living on such a large site. Although the home and wider network had tried to support the placement, this was not effective, and the managers had to make the difficult decision to end the placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although children have only lived at the home for a few months, staff have formed positive relationships with children. As a result, children are making progress. For example, one child who can be extremely anxious and would not leave the home is now participating in trips into the local community and was able to visit their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some staff are creative and have developed strategies which help children learn new skills and address unwanted behaviours, for example, developing a personalised reward chart, knowing how best to wash a child’s hair and skills to prevent one child grabbing food from other children’s plates. However, this information has not been incorporated into children’s plans, which means some staff may not be aware of these strategies or may not follow them consistently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at the home attend the on-site education provision. There is good multi-agency working and sharing of ideas. This includes having speech and language professionals working across both the home and education provision so that children are helped by staff to use the same communication systems. The inspector observed staff using communication strategies such as symbols, pictures, signing, social scripts and ‘now and next’. However, some staff are not as proficient as others, which means children are not getting consistency in the approach from staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff engage children in a variety of activities. They have taken children shopping, out for walks, on holiday in a caravan during half term, and held Christmas celebrations and birthday parties with balloons and cakes. However, children have limited opportunities to socialise away from the home with others of a similar age who they do not live with. This restricts opportunities for forming new friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in helping children to stay healthy. Staff support children to attend appointments and seek medical advice when children are unwell. In addition, staff have plans to support children with conditions such as epilepsy and help children learn about healthy eating and choices. One child who was underweight is now eating much better and has gained weight.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents spoken to say they are consulted and kept up to date with what is happening at the home. Even though some children live some distance from their families, staff help children stay in touch through video calls and visits. This includes Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 4 staff taking children to see family, no matter the distance. As a result, children can maintain relationships with those who are important to them.

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

Children living at the home are vulnerable due to their disability and level of understanding. They are reliant on staff to keep them safe. Staff have developed plans which detail risks to children and strategies to keep them safe and these are regularly updated. However, some plans do not contain sufficient detail to help staff fully understand the risks and action to take. For example, one child had bitten another child, but plans do not clearly identify how staff will prevent this from happening again. Another child pulled a member of the public’s hair while out in the community, but this was not added to the child’s plan following the incident. As a result, incidents could occur again.

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

Before children move to the home, managers complete assessments to ensure that the home is suitable and to identify and plan for any risks. These assessments are comprehensive and consider all the risks to and from children, based on the information received. On one occasion, information shared with the home by the placing authority was not as detailed as managers would have hoped. Only after the child had been placed did new information about the child’s needs come to light. Staff worked hard to try and support the child. However, despite staff’s dedication, the risks posed to other children meant managers had to make the difficult decision to end the child’s placement.

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

On occasions, staff need to use physical intervention to keep children safe. Records relating to the use of physical interventions are clear and show that staff use de- escalation techniques, with physical intervention only used as a last resort. Following any intervention, there is good oversight by managers, who check that the intervention was used appropriately.

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

Children at the home receive high levels of staff supervision and as a result children do not go missing from the home. However, if they were to go missing, there are detailed plans in place to report and locate children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have worked hard since the home opened. They have acknowledged it was initially challenging, with some staff deciding the role was not for them. However, managers are positive about what the home has achieved in such a short space of time. Children are settled, happy and progressing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers use their monitoring systems well. Following a placement breakdown, they reviewed what went well and what they could do differently to prevent future placement breakdowns. Managers also use their internal monitoring to check on the quality of care given so that standards do not slip. This oversight ensures that children are provided with the best possible care. Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 5 Staff receive a comprehensive induction which includes online and face-to-face training. New staff have opportunities to observe experienced staff working with the children and have time to get to know children and their care plans and understand their routines. Staff are yet to have training on understanding the impact a hearing impairment has on children. This means staff do not fully understand how best to support children with a hearing impairment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have provided information to children on how to make a complaint and who they can complain to. However, managers have not fully considered how children who have significant learning difficulties and limited or no verbal skills can make a complaint. This could mean children are unable to express their worries or concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have developed positive relationships with families, education providers, children’s medical professionals and the in-house professionals, such as psychologists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. As a result, there is good multi-agency working to ensure children’s care plans are progressed. Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 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 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers must ensure that children’s risk assessments and behaviour plans are promptly updated with new risks and the strategies staff need to use to reduce those risks. 19 March 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should set out the expectations of staff in building a positive relationship with each child and helping the child develop skills to have positive relationships with others. ‘Others’ includes individuals both inside and outside the home. Specifically, that children have opportunities to meet and mix with other children away from the home who are of a similar age. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.6)  The registered person should ensure that the care meets each child’s individual needs and promotes their welfare. Specifically, making sure changes to care practice are recorded in children’s plans so that staff provide consistency of care. Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 7 (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)  The registered person should ensure staff are ambitious for every child in the

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Recommendations

home and gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential. Specifically, that staff understand how to support children with a hearing impairment and have all the skills they need to implement the total communication methods used at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)  The registered person should ensure that children who cannot or choose not to verbalise have the opportunity to have their views, wishes and feelings heard and respected in the same way as other children. Specifically, that the registered person finds creative ways for children to express their views about their care and that they are helped to make complaints. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.24)

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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: 2677057 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited

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Inspector

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 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 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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