Children's home run by Reflexion Care Group Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC366080 1 SC366080 Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to three children who may experience emotional or social difficulties or have special educational need and/or disabilities (SEND).

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home. All of the children were involved in the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2024.

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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: 14 January 2025

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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: SC366080 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/01/2025 Full Good 29/11/2023 Full Good 29/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC366080 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

No children have moved in or out of the home since the previous inspection. The children who live here have all lived here for almost a year or more. They have a clear sense that this is their home. Children have positive relationships with the staff. Two of the children spoke about liking the staff and being able to talk to them. All the children said that they like living at their home and rated it highly. Two of the children expressed that improving the WI-FI would make it better.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children are in full-time education and are achieving. One child completed their GCSEs in the summer and has started a college course. Another child started secondary school in September and has 100% attendance so far.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children know how to make a complaint. When one child raised a concern, this was responded to quickly and sensitively. As a result, work was carried out with all the children to improve their relationships with each other. Staff encourage children to come together for family meals and to play games.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to be healthy and exercise. Healthy main meals are on the menu. One child has difficulties sleeping. Staff have worked hard to support this child to have a good bedtime routine. They have worked closely with health to understand and support the child’s sleep. However, staff have not considered links to foods that could help this further or make this worse.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s particular health needs are understood well. Staff are curious about one child’s needs and are tracking patterns and behaviours to support them. The team access the in-house therapist to understand and support this child’s needs better.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have fun. Lots of activities are on offer and all the children enjoyed a short- break or holiday earlier this year. Each holiday was specific to the child’s wishes, and one child has a photo book of the holiday to look back on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the home is clean, comfortable and welcoming. The manager has worked hard to make such a large house cosy. Children’s bedrooms are personal to them. One child’s bedroom had a stale odour, which is not in keeping with a nurturing environment.

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

Children say they feel safe. Two of the children were able to identify staff they can talk to if they are worried. The children appeared comfortable around the staff, and they approached them to talk about their day or for support. Inspection report for children’s home: SC366080 4 Staff know the risks to the children and follow the processes to keep children safe. There have been very few incidents since the previous inspection. Plans to manage risk are generally clear and staff know them well.

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

None of the children have gone missing from the home. However, staff can describe what to do should children go missing. On one occasion, a child left the home at night without staff knowing and returned by themself. As a result, a sensor has been installed on the stairs temporarily, so staff are alerted if anyone leaves the home. Work has been done with the child to understand the risks this presented, and the child has not repeated this. Plans are in place to review the use of the sensor.

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

There have been six incidents of physical intervention since the previous inspection. Children are offered conversations with a member of staff who was not directly involved following these. This provides children with the opportunity to talk openly about what has happened. Conversations also take place with staff to help them to understand whether the intervention was effective. Staff also reflect on what else could have been tried instead. Staff have identified learning and requested training. The manager has actioned the training to support staff to develop.

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

Staff are aware of online dangers, and conversations with children take place to promote children’s safety and understanding of safe internet use. On one occasion the parental controls did not work effectively on one child’s device. Guidance for the staff team is not explicit about how to check children’s devices with an overreliance on parental controls.

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

The team has close working relationships with other professionals relevant to children’s care planning. Information is shared quickly. This enables decisions to be made with others to keep children safe effectively.

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

There are some restrictions at the home. For example, some items are locked away, and one child has a door alarm due to recent events. The restrictions are reviewed and discussed with children. However, the rationale for some of these restrictions is not clear, and what is needed to reduce or remove the restriction is not specified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by an ambitious and aspirational manager who knows the children well. She is suitably qualified and experienced and is reflective and caring. Staff report that having a consistent manager has greatly strengthened the team’s practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the care provided. She has systems in place to review and track patterns. She is proactive and seeks feedback from the children, professionals and family members regularly. She uses this feedback to improve the care provided to children. Incidents are responded to swiftly, and other professionals are notified when needed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC366080 5 Systems are in place so that staff supervision takes place regularly. Children’s needs are discussed, and consideration is given to how best each staff member can meet these needs. Team meetings take place monthly. This provides a consistent forum for the staff team to discuss each child and consider the approaches they are using to support them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals emphasises how well the team knows the children. One social worker described how invested the staff are and that they are always looking for different and improved ways to support the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are generally up to date and detailed. The manager has considered the use of child-friendly language and is attempting to make records clearer for children. The ethos of the home and the model of care is reflected in staff practice consistently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training is up to date. Specific training is identified to support the children’s needs. In-house therapists support the team to meet the individual needs of the children. This enables staff to understand and care for the children well . Inspection report for children’s home: SC366080 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming and supportive. Children’s bedrooms must be clean, supportive and nurturing. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that children are safe online. Staff should support children to be aware of and manage their own safety inside and outside the home. The registered person should ensure that staff have clear guidance as to how to manage online safety and the risks to be aware of. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)  The registered person should ensure that the reasons for any restrictions or monitoring in the home environment are recorded clearly. Timescales and mechanisms for review should be specified and children’s individual views on these

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Recommendations

measures should be recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: SC366080 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fitzroy Academy, Cruckton, Shrewsbury SY5 8PR

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Inspector:

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC366080 8 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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