Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 1 SC1264333 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

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to three children who may have experienced social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2018.

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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: 16 February 2023

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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: 1264333 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/02/2023 Full Good 23/11/2021 Full Good 28/08/2019 Full Good 05/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress when living in the home. They are helped to build trusting relationships with staff, who care about them. Both children have lived in the home for a number of years and benefit from stable, nurturing care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a modern and well-maintained home. They are supported to develop a sense of belonging and to take pride in where they live. Children’s pictures, artwork and positive affirmations are on display in communal areas, and their bedrooms are personalised. This provides children with a secure base.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the children’s physical and emotional health needs. Children are supported to attend regular health appointments. The staff work alongside the organisation’s therapist and use a therapeutic model of care to consider the underlying causes of children’s behaviours and to help them to manage their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children attend school. However, their progress is varied. One child’s attendance has recently declined. The manager and staff team had identified that pastoral support was poor and was impacting on the child’s attainment. However, they had not escalated their concerns or advocated for the child about the pastoral support to ensure that her educational needs are being met. This does not support children to achieve their academic potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop and maintain friendships and spend time with people who are important to them. They are encouraged to engage in activities and to enjoy hobbies. Both children had recently returned from a holiday abroad together with staff. One child spoke with the inspectors about the holiday and how much fun everyone had.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are regularly sought. Their feedback is used to inform staff practice and contributes to the care they receive. This enables children to feel listened to and ensures that their voices are heard.

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

Children feel safe. Their individual risks and vulnerabilities are well understood. Children’s risk plans are detailed and provide staff with clear strategies to keep children safe.

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

Staff are skilled in using a range of de-escalation techniques to support children to regulate their emotions. Consequently, there have not been any incidents of children needing to be held to keep them safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 4 Behaviour management is a strength of the home. Staff use a system of rewarding children for making positive choices and reinforce positive behaviours. Negative consequences are rarely used.

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

Children do not go missing from this home and incidents are rare. When there have been concerns, staff have responded appropriately and have educated children on topics such as online safety, stranger danger, and the impact of vaping. This supports children to be safe and make informed choices.

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

Safeguarding concerns are well managed. There is oversight from the manager and consultation with relevant safeguarding professionals to ensure that children are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced and qualified registered manager. Staff described the manager as ‘supportive and always wanting the best for children’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good-quality supervision that is focused on the children’s needs as well as their own development. Supervision records are detailed, and new starters receive more-frequent supervision in line with the provider’s supervision policy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly. They are well structured and well attended by the staff team. Staff are encouraged to reflect on their practice and on the work undertaken with children. This helps to ensure that the care provided to children is kept under review.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have undertaken a range of training to ensure that they can meet the needs of the children in their care. Staff are appropriately qualified to work with children. New staff are enrolled onto the relevant qualification following the end of their probationary period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal monitoring systems are not robust. Children’s case files are disorganised, and it is not always clear who has completed records. The organisation’s escalation processes have not been routinely followed when requesting documents, and not all children had up-to-date care plans or personal education plans. This reduces opportunities to ensure that staff provide consistent care for children and that records are accurate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s rota does not include the hours spent by the manager in the home. This limits oversight of who is working in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 5

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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, The 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is appropriate challenge to other professionals when children’s needs are not being met. In addition, ensure that when copies of children’s up- to-date statutory documents are requested, the organisation’s escalation policies are followed. 29 December 2023

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each 29 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 6 child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; 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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that they have oversight of practice in the home to identify patterns and trends, and to ensure that any learning is identified and used to improve the quality of care provided to children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 29 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the rota accurately reflects the hours spent in the home by all staff. 29 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 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: 1264333 8

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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: Hexagon Care, 1 Tustin Court, Port Way, Ashton- on-Ribble, Preston PR2 2YQ

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Inspectors

Kelly McCurdy, Social Care Inspector Zillah Brooks, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1264333 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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