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

Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 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

This privately owned home provides care for up to two children who may have social or emotional difficulties. This home uses a therapeutic model of care.

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered on 29 July 2023. This is its first full inspection. The manager started work at the home on 5 February 2024 and is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: not previously inspected

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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: 2728549 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the home was registered, two children have lived here. Children said they are happy with the care they receive and have good relationships with staff. They benefit from the homely environment and feel comfortable living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know that staff care for them and support them well. For example, one member of staff gave a child a teddy bear to keep when they were going to be absent from the home for a long period of time. The child said that this lets them know that staff are thinking of them when they are not at the home and reassures them that the staff member will be returning to the home to care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in their education. One teacher said that one child’s engagement with learning and their attainment and attendance have significantly improved. This is a result of the strong working relationships that teachers have with the staff at the home, which promote the educational needs of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children well to understand their adverse childhood experiences. Children have access to weekly therapy sessions to support their emotional well- being. Staff work very closely with a therapist, through monthly therapy consultation meetings. These meetings help staff to understand how they can tailor the support they provide to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good health. Children’s health needs are well considered and met by staff. Staff work closely with a variety of health services and professionals. Staff support children to attend all their healthcare appointments. This has helped to maintain children’s physical well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with a wide range of activities. For example, children enjoy going to the cinema, horse riding, skateboarding and karaoke. This supports their overall development while having fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to create positive memories and there are photos of children enjoying activities on display around the home. This helps to provide children with a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Partnership working with external agencies is good. One social worker commented on how well the children’s care is coordinated, and that children have positive relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to helping children to see those people who are important to them. The manager and staff have a very good understanding of the children’s relationships with family members. This has resulted in children having family time that remains in their best interests. Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 3 Children’s care plans are not personalised, as both contain similar information. As a result, they do not accurately reflect children’s care or their behavioural, identity, educational and health needs. Despite this recording shortfall, staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs.

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

Staff use professional curiosity and look beyond children’s presenting behaviours. Staff have been successful in using various de-escalation techniques. As a result, the severity of incidents has reduced, and incidents are becoming infrequent.

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

Support plans provide staff with the guidance to help children when they are feeling they want to cause harm to themselves. Staff use various therapeutic interventions to help children with alternative coping strategies. As a result, incidents relating to self-harm have reduced.

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

Staff use a reward system to encourage positive behaviours. Staff praise and celebrate the children’s efforts and achievements. This helps children to feel valued and respected.

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

Staff help children to have a positive self-image and take pride in themselves. This has resulted in children having a better understanding of their identity and what makes them unique. As a result, children feel free to express themselves without judgement and fear.

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

Staff use restraint in a reasonable and proportionate way. After incidents of restraint, staff reassure the children that they are still cared for and valued. They give children the opportunity to share their views about what happened. Staff reflect on events and managers have oversight of these incidents. Managers have identified additional training needs, which have not yet been acted on.

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

When children leave the home without permission, procedures are followed by staff. All children have a missing-from-home support plan, with clear steps for staff to take should they go missing from home. Children are given opportunities to reflect following these incidents. Missing-from-home incidents have reduced over time.

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

The managers and staff have not ensured that children have access to age- appropriate content on TV. The manager said they were unaware of the age restrictions for some of the programmes streamed online. This means children have access to programmes that may contain age-inappropriate content.

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

The quality of staff’s direct work with children is mixed. It is not always evident that staff have spoken to children about personal safety and stranger danger. This is because clear records are not kept. This is a missed opportunity for the manager and staff to demonstrate how they have been supporting children to understand how to keep themselves safe. Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 4

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good

The registered manager resigned from his post on 5 February 2024 to become the deputy manager. A new manager was appointed immediately and has submitted their application to register with Ofsted. The responsible individual has been absent from the home for two months and the manager has been supported by an interim senior manager during this time. Despite there being a period of change, this has not had a detrimental impact on the quality of care children receive.

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good

Management monitoring and oversight of the quality of care require improvement. Managers do not always address shortfalls quickly and do not capture lessons that have been learned, to inform their future practice.

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good

Staff do not receive consistently good supervision that promotes their continuous professional development. For example, although staff receive group supervisions, they do not always receive regular one-to-one supervision with their line manager. In addition, managers do not always record staff supervision. This does not enable managers to clearly monitor and review staff practice and development.

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good

Staff do not receive all the training they need to fully understand and respond to children’s needs. For example, staff recognise that their understanding about identity is limited and would benefit from some further training in this area.

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good

Monthly monitoring by the independent visitor is not robust. They have only seen the children once as they visit the home when children are at school. The independent visitor does not always share their findings promptly with the home or with other relevant professionals. These shortfalls do not support the development of the home or give confidence in the external monitoring arrangements.

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good

The responsible individual is aware of the shortfalls identified at this inspection and has started to take swift action to address them. Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 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

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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff receive all necessary training to meet the needs of children. In addition, that more rigorous monitoring systems are implemented to help to bring about continued improvement in the quality of care provided to children and in children’s records and plans. 30 April 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced. 30 April 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 6 The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5) (7)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that an independent person undertakes a robust evaluation of the service each month.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff receive regular supervision that promotes learning, development and reflection. In doing so, staff should receive support that promotes their overall continuous professional development. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff provide children with key-work session support on how to keep themselves safe when out in the community, stranger danger awareness, and to behave in a way that does not cause harm to themselves or others. This will help children at risk of, or involved in, exploitative or damaging relationships with others and where possible prevent these types of relationships. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.10) Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 7  The registered person should ensure that children have access to age-appropriate

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Recommendations

and child-centred resources, including television series, movies and content streamed online. In doing so, children should have access only to age-appropriate content that supports their emotional well-being. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.21)

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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: 2728549 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: Unit 1, Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2728549 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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