Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2536761 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children's home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children's home

There were three children living in the home at the time of this inspection. All three children, and a child who has recently moved on from the home, spoke to the inspector about their experiences of living in the home.

p.1

Information about this children's home

The manager of this home registered with Ofsted in July 2020.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2536761 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/03/2023 Full Good 25/01/2022 Full Good 04/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2536761 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a large home that is safe and clean. They have the opportunity to contribute their views about the home and are encouraged to personalise their living space. Staff create memory boxes and photo albums for children to remember the experiences they have in the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate a genuine passion for working with the children and supporting them to achieve their goals. They celebrate children's progress and achievements and tell children every day what they are proud of them for. This supports children to understand their value and improve their self-worth.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to remain active and to pursue their interests. Staff take children to routine and emergency health appointments, and support older children to begin to make routine appointments themselves. Staff educate children on the dangers of smoking but do not consistently challenge or support them to reduce their use of e-cigarettes. This does not ensure that children receive clear and consistent messages around smoking cessation or how to make safer choices.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their education and aspirations. They challenge professionals to ensure that children's needs are best met and advocate on children's behalf. Professionals say that staff work with them collaboratively and respectfully, referring to the staff team as fantastic.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to identify their skills in preparation for becoming more independent and encourage older children to do more for themselves. However, children's independence abilities appear to be primarily self-reported by the child with limited evidence to show how staff are supporting them to further develop these skills. Children who are working towards becoming more independent do not always feel that they get the same level of nurture as other children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with people who are important to them. Children invite their friends to spend time together in their home, and staff take children to visit friends and family further afield. This supports children to maintain and develop social relationships.

p.3

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

Children feel safe living in this home because of their trusting relationships with staff. One child referred to their favourite member of staff as 'an angel sent by God', while another referred to the staff team as 'amazing, perfect really'.

p.3

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

Managers and staff have an excellent understanding of children, including their needs and strengths. Staff provide consistent boundaries and nurture to children Inspection report for children's home: 2536761 4 and teach children how to manage their emotions. This helps children to improve their ability to cope with distress. As a result, children's risks have reduced.

p.3

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

Children do not go missing often from this home. When children do go missing, staff are proactive in searching for them. Staff work well with other professionals to keep children safe. When children's risks change, paperwork is updated to ensure that staff have the most up to date information.

p.4

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

Staff are skilled in responding to children’s behaviours. When children become distressed, staff use empathy and humour to reconnect with the child and help to calm them. This playful approach often reduces the need for staff to hold a child to keep them safe. When this does happen, staff talk to the child after to reflect and discuss what staff could have done differently to support them.

p.4

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

When incidents occur, staff respond quickly and effectively to keep children safe. Children have not made any allegations against their staff team. When complaints have been made, these have been responded to appropriately.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and suitably qualified for the role. Staff feel valued and say that the support from the manager is excellent. One member of staff said of managers, 'they're so encouraging… it's such a lovely place to work'.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers support the staff team to develop within their roles with ongoing training that is relevant to children's needs. In addition, managers encourage staff to consider their next steps and provide additional support and training to enable staff to achieve their career goals. This provides children with a knowledgeable and stable team of carers.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are reflective in their approach and support staff and children to reflect as well. Managers provide a high level of scrutiny and challenge staff when needed to ensure that they are providing the standard of care expected. Managers are evaluative and consider trends and patterns when incidents occur.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers makes good use of internal and external monitoring to continually improve the service. They identify the homes strengths and areas for development and ensure that children’s needs are being met. Inspection report for children's home: 2536761 5

p.4

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all children receive high levels of nurture and support and that staff evidence how children are meeting their independence goals. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 17, paragraph 3.27)  The registered person should ensure that staff respond consistently to children who use e-cigarettes. In addition, that staff work with children’s placing authority, relevant health services, and external agencies to ensure that children are actively discouraged from smoking and ensure that children have access to smoking cessation services. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 34, paragraph 7.10)

p.5

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: 2536761 6

p.5

Children's home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

p.6

Children's home details

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

p.6

Inspector

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2536761 7 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.

p.6

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7