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

Inspection report children's home: 2677057 1 Registered provider: Reflexion Care Group 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 privately owned and provides care for up to 23 children with learning disabilities, sensory impairment, autism and/or social and emotional difficulties. Children may stay beyond the age of 18 years to complete their education.

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Information about this children's home

The home is split into 6 separate houses, one of which is used for short breaks. Four houses can accommodate up to 3 children in each house. One house can accommodate up to 2 children. One house can accommodate up to 9 children.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 14 children were living in the home, and 10 children were accessing short breaks. Six children were observed and/or spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The home is situated on the same site as a special school. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision on this site.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager is qualified to level 5 in leadership and management. He registered with Ofsted in March 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 Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/04/2025 Full Good 17/09/2024 Full Good 22/08/2023 Full Good 31/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 4

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Summary of findings

Children have positive experiences and are making progress from their starting points. Children have trusting relationships with staff. Children experience well-planned moves in and out of the home. Children's education and health needs are prioritised.

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Summary of findings

There is a positive safeguarding culture in the home. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. Reflection is embedded into practice, ensuring the continuous development of the care that children receive. Leaders and managers have good oversight of the home. They ensure that staff are well supported to enable them to effectively complete their roles and meet children's needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at this home have a good experience and are making progress. Staff have a good understanding of children's needs and provide safe and quality care. Children receive individualised care from an experienced, child-focused and nurturing staff team. They speak about children with genuine warmth and affection and are passionate about the children they care for. This supports children to build strong attachments with staff, helping them to feel safe and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience positive and well-planned moves into and out of the home. Staff provide children with information about the home and staff in a manner they can understand. In addition, where possible, children are provided with opportunities to visit prior to moving in. This approach helps to reduce children's anxieties and supports them to settle effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have clear targets in place, and their progress is kept under constant review. Children are making progress from their starting points and all progress is celebrated. Parents and professionals are unanimous in their praise for the progress that children make in areas such as communication, independence and socialisation. One parent stated:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

'Staff go above and beyond in every possible way to ensure that [Name of child] is safe, happy, included, and able to thrive. To [Name of child] and our family, it truly feels like a second home for him.'

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff embed routines in the home for children, and attending school is an integral part of this routine. Consequently, children have excellent school attendance. Staff work across both the home and school settings, so they have a good knowledge of children's school life. As a result, children also receive good, consistent care, which contributes to their feelings of safety and security. Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 5 Staff prioritise children's health needs. They work with health professionals when there are concerns around a child's emotional and/or physical health and support children to attend medical appointments when required. If children find it difficult to attend external appointments, staff ensure that health professionals visit children at the home. This helps children to have positive health outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult with children using a variety of communication methods. This enables children to make choices around activities, food and clothing. Managers have developed a communication aid to support children to raise concerns and are in the process of developing a total communication approach, to further enhance communication between children and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with an extensive range of activities, both in the home and out in the community. This has included children going away for short holidays and being involved in local community clubs, such as dance and youth clubs. These opportunities and activities enrich children's life experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and spacious, set in beautiful grounds. There is plenty of space for children to spend time together or alone, as required. An innovative, interactive role-play games room has been developed and talking pictures provide children with areas to play and have fun. However, some areas are still looking tired. While there is a maintenance and home development plan in place, these areas detract from the homely feel.

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

There is a strong safeguarding culture in the home, and children are safe. Managers and staff know children well. They understand children's risks and the actions that they need to take to mitigate risk and keep children safe. Staff are provided with clear guidance on how to meet children's needs and mitigate risk. As a result, incidents for most children reduce over time.

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

Managers take concerns and complaints seriously. They promptly share safeguarding concerns with appropriate professionals, complete robust investigations and share findings, where appropriate, with complainants. Managers thoroughly reflect on complaints, allegations and safeguarding incidents. Through effective management oversight, shortfalls in practice are quickly identified and addressed. This creates a culture of learning and helps staff to develop and strengthen practice.

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

Physical intervention is used as last resort to keep children and others safe. Incidents are recorded effectively and reflection is completed with staff and children. Managers have effective oversight of all incidents and work with professionals to analyse incidents. This has been successful in reducing the number of restraints used with children in the home.

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

In the main, staff follow children's plans and take the necessary action to keep them safe. However, on one occasion, staff did not respond promptly when a child got access to car keys and subsequently accessed the car. While there was no harm caused to the Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 6 child, managers have taken action to address this shortfall in practice, to prevent a reoccurrence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leadership and management arrangements are effective. Managers have worked hard to improve their oversight. They have implemented new monitoring systems and use an analytical approach to strengthen their understanding of children's needs and the care children receive. As a result, managers understand the strengths and areas for development well. All managers and staff share high aspirations for children to continue to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management at the home is enhanced by two experienced home managers, deputy managers and senior care staff. This has been instrumental in managing the practice and development of a large staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Working in partnership with others is a strength of the home. Managers and staff work with partner agencies to ensure that children receive well-coordinated care that meets their needs. This has improved staff's understanding of children, their needs and their ability to meet their needs effectively. They avidly advocate for children and will challenge those who make decisions that are not in the best interests of children. Professional feedback is consistently positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel well supported by management. Managers ensure that staff receive a robust induction, regular, practice related supervision, annual appraisal and child-focused training, and there are highly reflective team meetings. These practices support staff to develop in their roles and promote effective teamwork and the consistency of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an extensive staff team in place, and leaders work hard to recruit to any vacancies. Staff are recruited following safer recruitment procedures. Where there are gaps in the rota, managers step in and offer support. Cover is also provided by staff from other homes in the organisation or school. This means that staff are trained by the organisation, ensuring consistency and continuity of care for children. However, the systems in place to communicate changes in children's care to staff are not always effective. There have been occasions when shortfalls in communication within staff teams has led to inconsistent care and, on one occasion, a complaint. While the impact on children was minimal, this could have been avoided. Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing environment that meets the needs of the children. They should ensure that all homes are consistently maintained to a good standard. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that information regarding changes to children's plans is effectively shared with all staff, so that children receive consistent care from staff. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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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: 2677057 8

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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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Inspectors

Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Menaka De Silva, Social Care Inspector Siân Heffey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2677057 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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