Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 1 SC479654 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to 6 children irrespective of gender. Children living at the home also have access to the organisation’s school and therapy departments.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector only inspected the social care provision at this site.

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Information about this children’s home

There were 6 children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Three of the children spoke with the inspector during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/10/2024 Full Good 14/11/2023 Full Good 19/07/2023 Full Inadequate 07/03/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care from staff who have a good understanding of their day-to-day needs and who ensure that these are met. Consequently, children develop trusting relationships with staff and view staff as dependable and reliable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop healthy lifestyles and are helped to access specialist services to improve their health and wellbeing. Staff actively support children to engage in these services. Staff enrolled on a weight management programme with one child to motivate them. The child spoke positively about this experience, which resulted in a significant weight loss for the child

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make measurable progress in areas such as education. There have been notable improvements to one child’s reading age. For another child, their engagement in education has improved since moving to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children can contribute to decision-making about their day-to-day care. Children confirm that they are supported to take part in activities based on their individual interests and their food choices are respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their family in a safe, well-planned way. As a result, time spent with family is meaningful and children are helped to maintain important relationships.

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

The number of safeguarding incidents is low. When they occur, they are managed effectively by staff. For example, there has been one incident of a child going missing since the last inspection. Staff actively searched for the child and facilitated their safe return. Following the incident, the child was offered the opportunity to speak with an independent person about why they went missing from the home.

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

Children receive effective support to manage their emotions safely. Staff and children have regular access to the home’s therapist, who provides practical strategies to help children to understand and express their emotions safely.

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

The use of physical intervention in the home is rare. Since the last inspection, there has been one incident requiring a physical intervention. This was necessary and proportionate to safeguard the child. Records demonstrate that staff and children were supported to reflect on the incident. However, the debrief with the child did not explore how they felt about being physically held.

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

Allegations are handled quickly and sensitively. Children are updated throughout the investigation process, and the outcome is shared with them. On one occasion, there was Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 4 a delay in notifying Ofsted when an allegation was made. This meant that the regulator did not have early oversight, to ensure that the regulatory processes were being followed.

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

Staff understand children’s risks and how to safeguard them appropriately. However, risk assessments do not accurately reflect all of the children’s current risks. Furthermore, existing strategies do not provide staff with clear guidance on the action they should take in response to incidents. This does not ensure that staff have access to guidance on how to provide a consistent, effective response to safeguard children.

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

Safeguarding measures, such as bag checks for one child are not reviewed regularly, to ensure that the measure is proportionate and does not impinge on the child’s rights to privacy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a registered manager who has a good understanding of the children and their needs. She promotes a culture in the home characterised by high expectations and aspirations for children. Consequently, children are making progress and have a positive experience of living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are effective support systems in place. Staff benefit from a comprehensive training programme that gives them the skills and knowledge required to provide effective care to children. They describe the registered manager as approachable and someone who operates an open door policy. Additionally, supervision takes place regularly. However, these meetings do not always prompt staff to reflect and learn from their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers develop effective and positive relationships with professionals and children’s family members. Social workers commend the staff team for their commitment to multi-agency working and their joint approach to ensuring that children receive care in accordance with their support plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are effective systems in place to monitor the quality of care that children receive. Incidents are routinely reviewed and evaluated by the registered manager, to ensure that staff have acted appropriately and any shortfalls are identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that the quality of care review report is submitted to Ofsted in accordance with regulatory expectations. However, the views of the children, their parents and staff are not consistently included in the report. Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 5

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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, The 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 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s support plans and risk assessments accurately reflect their current risks and vulnerabilities and provide clear guidance and strategies for staff to follow. 19 March 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff take part in supervision that is reflective and supports their learning and development. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that safeguarding measures, such as daily bag checks, are kept under constant review, to ensure that such measures are necessary and do not become an infringement of children’s privacy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should include up-to-date, recent feedback from children, their parents and staff in the quality of care review report. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 6

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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: SC479654 7

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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

Chibuzo Otache, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC479654 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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