Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 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

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2022. There were two children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel that their carers understand their circumstances. The manager meticulously learns about the children’s unique situations. In doing so, carers are better able to understand and empathise with the children’s emotional and practical needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment reflects the personalities of the children and their carers. There are framed photos of the children and their carers sharing special moments together. The culture in the home is family orientated and promotes a sense of belonging for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspectors saw supportive and loving interactions between the children and their carers. Children told the inspectors that they feel safe in the home and that their carers are kind and helpful. Carers are committed and focused on supporting the children, which enables the children to form trusting bonds with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers support the children to pursue their interests and hobbies. Carers naturally take photos of the children enjoying various experiences. Each child has a memory book that their carers have creatively compiled. This helps the children to reminisce and cherish special moments from their childhood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a good focus on promoting the children’s access to education. If a child is not accessing formal education, carers structure the child’s day. In this instance, there is good collaboration with the child’s virtual school. These efforts better support the children to overcome barriers that have affected their resilience and ability to cope in an education setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager supports the carers to better understand the children’s physical and mental health needs. Children have good access to all healthcare providers and attend their appointments. When children are anxious to receive specific forms of healthcare, the manager is effective at seeking the right support for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Important conversations that take place between the children and their carers are recorded in the children’s written records. However, the children’s written records do not reflect the empathetic approach to care that the children receive. Consequently, the children may incur a distorted view of their care when they read back their written records.

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

The manager carefully considers whether the staff are equipped to meet the child’s needs before the child moves in. The manager is effective at seeking any information that is missing from the child’s initial information documents. This Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 4 ensures that the manager has a full picture of the child’s needs so that she and the staff are better prepared to care for the child effectively.

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

The children have not gone missing from the home. Despite this, there is good anticipation of risk from the manager. Carers are aware of how to apply the missing- from-home protocol if the children’s whereabouts are not known. This means that unnecessary delay can be avoided if carers need to report the children as missing to the police.

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

The manager has cemented a safeguarding culture in the home. Carers are knowledgeable about their duty of care to the children. Carers have no hesitation in highlighting poor or abusive practice in the home to external safeguarding agencies. This better protects the children.

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

Carers try to be good role models to the children, and they use their relationships to teach the children socially acceptable behaviour. Although the carers’ methods to achieve this are appropriate, children’s written records miss the opportunity to provide the child with clarity. This means that the children’s written records do not completely reflect the learning and values that carers are trying to instil in the children.

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

Carers respond quickly and consistently when the children are at an increased risk of harm. However, in one instance, there was a lack of clear planning around an important care practice issue. A child’s risk assessment did not accurately address the known vulnerabilities that the child was exposed to. Although this has not had a detrimental impact on the child, the lack of clear direction prevents the staff from providing the children with a consistent response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the deputy manager work collaboratively. Together, they have created a child-focused culture. Carers feel that they are supported to flourish in their respective roles. This sense of togetherness inspires learning and development and enhances the children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The organisation’s psychologist works in a coordinated manner with the children’s carers. This reinforces the carers’ understanding of the children’s support needs. However, the organisation has failed to ensure that the psychologist has the appropriate accreditation to use specific assessment models. This oversight misleads placing local authorities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager takes effective action and addresses shortfalls in the staff’s practice. Team meetings and carers’ supervision sessions are used to good effect to achieve this. Therefore, carers are clear about the expectations of them as practitioners. This promotes better accountability throughout the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that she has the necessary statutory documents from the children’s respective local authorities. The information recorded in these documents Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 5 is cascaded to the carers. This ensures that the risk of miscommunication or information being misconstrued by the child is reduced. Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons, such as the organisation’s forensic psychologist. As part of this, the registered person must ensure that the services that are being offered to local authorities by the organisation have been accredited by the appropriate body, such as the undertaking of Assessment Intervention Moving on assessments.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)  The registered person should support staff to record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2699129 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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Inspectors

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Lisa Finch, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2699129 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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