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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 1 SC480704 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 by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, five children were living in the home. Four children spoke with the inspectors about their experiences living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/05/2023 Full Good 18/05/2022 Full Good 15/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say they like living at the home. They are looked after by staff who are child focused and clearly care about them. All staff are aspirational for children and want them to do well. As a result, all children living in the home are making good progress from their starting points. One child has ambitions to work with children who are looked after when he is older because of the care he has experienced in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently promote the value of learning and have developed collaborative relationships with education providers. As a result, children thrive in this home. Children who have missed a significant amount of school are now doing well in both school and college. One teacher praised the home and the support for children in their care stating, ‘I’ve taught for ten years, this is by far the best home I have ever worked with’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to develop independence skills. They have the responsibility of chores in the home and are supported to develop cooking and budgeting skills. Children are supported to develop the confidence and skills to seek employment, attend interviews and complete driving lessons. This level of support is invaluable in supporting children’s transitions in preparation for them becoming more independent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in a variety of activities such as paintballing and attending football matches. Children also have opportunities for fun experiences together and have enjoyed holidays abroad and attending theme parks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health and are supported to attend regular appointments ensuring that their emotional and physical health needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with people who are important to them. Staff are keen advocates for children and have appropriately challenged placing authorities to ensure that children’s views and wishes are heard and that their family time is promoted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and spacious. It is comfortable, homely and personalised. Photos of shared experiences are proudly displayed, and children have been supported to personalise their bedrooms. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging and to take pride in the home.

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

Staff are trained in a therapeutic model of care that is used in their day-to-day practice supporting children. Appropriate and consistent boundaries are in place, and positive behaviour is routinely encouraged and rewarded. Consequently, children respond well, and consequences are rarely required. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 4 There have been two occasions when children have had to be held to keep them safe. On both occasions the holds were effective, and children were supported.

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

Children rarely go missing from this home. When incidents have occurred, staff understand their responsibilities and have been proactive in searching for children and working with other services to encourage their safe return. When children return home, staff talk to them about the dangers of going missing and provide them with the opportunity to talk to an independent person.

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

Staff understand children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. However, risks are not consistently identified across plans and there is a lack of guidance for staff to follow in the event of a concern involving children’s mobile phones. The risks around the use of e- cigarettes had not been included in the plans for one child who vapes. This is something that the manager took action to address during the inspection.

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

Structural repairs have been planned to take place at the home for some time. However, the manager had not identified arrangements to keep children safe when repairs are ongoing.

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

Staff work together to support children to identify and take risks safely. They complete direct work with children around topics such as internet safety, healthy relationships, and consent. However, on occasion, opportunities to have key conversations with children have been missed. Records of direct work lack oversight by managers and vary in quality and detail. This reduces opportunities for managers to ensure that work completed with children is effective.

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

The manager ensures that any allegations and concerns are thoroughly investigated and there is good partnership working with statutory agencies.

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

Safer recruitment practice is in place and staff have received appropriate induction and training for their role. However not all staff have completed training such as supporting children who may display harmful sexual behaviour despite this being care plan specific. This reduces opportunities to ensure that all staff have the necessary skills and experience to support the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has led the team since the last inspection. He strives to offer long term care to children in an environment that they can call home. He is child-centred in his day-to-day practice and values the views and wishes of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from families and professionals is overwhelmingly positive, with one family member describing the level of support delivered to children as transformational. One professional said ‘[Name of child] has thrived since the day he moved in. I feel that staff have a good understanding of his needs and have supported him well, this has made him settle, he has been inspired by the staff at the home’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 5 Team meetings take place regularly, they are well attended and provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoke of feeling valued and are supported with regular supervision. However, minutes are not always individualised and do not consistently demonstrate opportunities for staff to reflect on their work with children or to develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring systems are not fully effective. Monthly managers audits are completed but are often repetitive and do not always demonstrate how they support the development of the service and care for children. The manager has completed a review of the quality of care which is detailed and celebrates children’s achievements. However, there is little evaluation of the impact of changes made and the actions are not set in a way that allows their success to be easily measured. This limits opportunities for leaders and managers to continuously improve the quality of care provided to children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 6

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that all staff complete training specific to children’s individual needs in a timely manner. In addition, that there is clear guidance in risk plans for staff to follow in the event of an incident, particularly in relation to the monitoring of electronic devices and e- cigarettes. In addition, that robust risk planning to support decision making and the safeguarding of children is undertaken prior to structural work being completed in the home. 18 August 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties, reviewing incidents and improving record keeping. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learnt and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person should ensure that staff supervision records are individualised and support staff’s professional development, providing an opportunity for staff to reflect critically on their practice, the needs of the children and how they discuss their Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 7 learning from training and its impact on their work with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home’s Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs

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Recommendations

13.2 and 13.3)  The registered person should ensure that the quality of the recordings of direct work sessions are purposeful, evaluative and non-stigmatising, so that they are helpful to children. (‘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: SC480704 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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Inspectors

Kelly McCurdy, Social Care Inspector Caroline Bertram, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: SC480704 9 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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