Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in York

Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care and accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, the home was providing care for three children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2023.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Ofsted issued a three-month condition following the provider’s decision to close the home after the last full inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/10/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has experienced significant change since the last inspection. The home reopened in May 2023, following a period of closure, with a new registered manager and new staff team. Since this time, three children have moved in to the home. Staff work hard to get to know these children and their likes and dislikes. As such, those relationships are appropriately developing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager ensures that children’s introductions to the home are carefully and sensitively planned. Children are offered a visit to the home prior to moving in and, where appropriate, an overnight stay. Staff spend time with them exploring their wishes for how they would like their bedroom to be decorated. Their bedroom is then decorated, ready for the children to move in. When they move in to the home, they receive a welcome pack. The attention to detail in planning introductions and getting to know each child enables the children to settle quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in a wide range of home-based and community activities. They also can travel further afield on holiday with staff. These activities are then captured in digital memory books, which beautifully document each child’s journey since moving to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a say in their care and planning, and their views are valued. Staff use a wide range of forums to capture their opinions, including monthly consultations, key-work sessions, and ‘you said, we did’ discussions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children spending time with the people who are important to them. Building relationships with family members and previous carers is prioritised by the staff. The staff transport the children to see their family and, when appropriate, stay with the children to offer additional support and reassurance. Encouraging the children to maintain links with their families supports their identity and develops their relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know that they can speak to staff should they want to make a complaint. However, the complaint forms are not accessible without the assistance of staff. This means that children are not able to raise a complaint confidentially.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard. The children’s presence is evident throughout the home. Photos of the children enjoying activities with the staff are displayed on the walls, along with one of the children’s artworks. However, none of the children have lockable cabinets in their bedrooms. This means that the children cannot store their personal items securely in their own bedroom.

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

Staff understand safeguarding procedures and follow them. Staff respond to immediate risks and act to reduce them. There have been many incidents that staff have de-escalated effectively. As a result, incidents requiring physical intervention Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 4 and the use of consequences are minimal. This helps children to develop their relationships with staff.

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

Children’s records, including risk assessment and risk reduction plans, are well written and easy to understand. They identify all known risks, are kept up to date, and include clear steps for staff to follow should the risks occur.

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

Children are helped to understand how to keep safe. Key-work sessions are undertaken with children following every significant incident. This supports children to discuss and reflect on their behaviour.

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

When children go missing from the home, which is an infrequent event, staff follow the individual child’s missing-from-home plan. Staff actively take steps to locate the child. This includes trying to contact them by telephone, contacting their families and associates, and driving to all known locations to find them. Once children are found, return-home interviews are offered to them.

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

Safer recruitment processes are followed when staff are appointed, which provide assurance that they are suitably vetted and qualified to provide care.

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

Before children move in to the home, the registered manager completes a ‘referral impact assessment’. It identifies the potential impact of known risks on the children already living in the home and the potential impact on the children coming to live in the home. However, some known risks have not been considered. This lack of analysis means that children have been placed together without consideration of how living in a group home will impact on them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a permanent, suitably experienced, and qualified registered manager. Feedback from the staff about the registered manager is overwhelmingly positive. Staff feel supported by the registered manager and are confident about seeking advice and guidance. Staff who worked in the home prior to its closure can clearly identify the progress that has been made since the registered manager’s appointment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate about her role and has high expectations of herself and her staff. She has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home, and she is willing to challenge other professionals to continually improve the care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that all new staff joining the home receive an induction and a structured training programme that are relevant to the individual needs of the children. The manager ensures that the staff complete mandatory training. Staff also have regular access to the services of a child psychologist, who supports them in the delivery of the home’s therapeutic model of care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 5 The manager has developed systems to monitor the effectiveness of the home and the performance of staff. She uses these processes to scrutinise the practice of the staff, and to make effective changes when she identifies shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. However, there is little focus on the individual needs of the children in the home and little evidence of reflective supervision. This means that staff are not consistently provided with the opportunity to reflect on their experiences of caring for the children and make changes to their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose has not been forwarded to Ofsted since the home has reopened. This means that Ofsted is unable to scrutinise information to ensure that children are cared for in line with the statement of purpose. Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children only move in to the home following careful analysis of their needs, alongside those of the other children living in the home. 15 January 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the statement of purpose is regularly reviewed and a copy sent to Ofsted within 28 days of the revision. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should ensure that children are provided with appropriate furniture, such as a lockable cabinet or drawers to securely store personal items, including any personal information. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.19)  The registered person should ensure that children are aware of the complaints procedure and are able to access the forms and make a complaint without the Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 7 need to ask staff, in order to protect their privacy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 22, paragraph 4.13)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there are systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them not only to reflect on their practice and development, but also to focus on the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: 2663174 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tustin Court, Port Way, Ashton-on-ribble, Preston PR2 2YQ

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Inspectors

Paula Shepherd, Social Care Inspector Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2663174 9 regulates and inspects 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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