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

Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 1 SC480678 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

The home is one of several homes owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to 5 children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

There were 5 children living in the home at the time of this inspection. The inspector spoke with 4 children during the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2025.

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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: SC480678 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/10/2025 Full Good 05/03/2025 Full Good 06/02/2024 Full Good 04/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making good progress and benefit from warm, consistent relationships with staff.

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Summary of findings

Staff work proactively with families, education staff, health services and partner agencies to promote positive outcomes, support children's individual needs and respond effectively to safeguarding concerns.

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Summary of findings

Strong leadership, personalised care and effective multi-agency working help children to achieve positive progress, while managers continue to drive improvements through strong oversight and reflective practice.

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Summary of findings

Although safeguarding practice is generally effective, a recommendation and a requirement have been raised to improve staff understanding and implementation of missing-from-care procedures and strengthen the recording of key-work sessions relating to identified risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have strong relationships with staff, and this contributes to children making good progress from their individual starting points. Staff create a calm, supportive environment where children feel safe, valued and listened to. One child said, 'I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's sound here.'

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are at different stages in their education. Most children have arrangements in place that meets their individual needs. For one child who continues to have difficulties with their attendance, staff maintain regular planning meetings with professionals. The other children are making progress through personalised arrangements, including reduced timetables and consistent praise for achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend health appointments and make healthy lifestyle choices. Where a child is reluctant to attend appointments, staff continue to encourage them to attend and reschedule as needed. In response to delays in accessing an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment for one child, the provider funded a private assessment, demonstrating a commitment to securing timely, specialist support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children come to move out of the home, staff support them well. One child who has moved out of the home to live with family stated, 'They knew I wanted to stay there and they did what they could to help this happen.'

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make children feel valued by celebrating their progress and ensuring that their views are listened to and acted on. Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 4

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

Staff understand the risks for each child. Risk assessments are updated and reflect known and emerging risks for children. They provide clear guidance for staff to follow and are reviewed regularly. While most staff have followed risk assessment guidance to respond to incidents and safeguard the child, one staff member failed to do this during a missing incident. A recommendation has been issued to address this shortfall.

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

Where one child has been missing regularly, the manager has worked with professionals to form plans that include specialist intervention services. When emerging exploitation risks were identified for one child, these were acted on through a multi-agency approach. The response and insight from staff demonstrate how well they know the children and demonstrate effective safeguarding.

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

Staff continue to support children to understand how to be safe and there has been a reduction in risk-taking incidents overall. While key work is completed regularly with children, the quality of these sessions does not always capture the efforts undertaken by staff to help children understand how to keep safe.

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

Restraint is rarely used in the home. When it does take place, it is used as a last resort after staff have tried de-escalation techniques in line with children's plans. Staff and children receive debriefs after an incident of restraint.

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

Children said that staff are consistent in the routines and boundaries and being clear in what is expected of them. This means that children know what to expect, settle in and feel safe in the home.

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

When one child was being bullied by a peer in the home, staff responded swiftly, mediating between the 2 children. There have been no further incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager demonstrates an ambitious vision that is centred on therapeutic and child-focused care. They have high expectations for children's progress and actively support positive outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a clear understanding of the home's strengths and areas for improvement. The manager has identified shortfalls in areas such as key-work recording quality, and has implemented monitoring systems, audits, workshops and development plans to drive improvement. Since taking over the home, the manager has strengthened oversight, improved recording practices and enhanced the quality of team meetings and supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care is highly individualised, with staff tailoring support to each child's specific needs, risks and aspirations. Children benefit from stable relationships, personalised plans Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 5 and strong advocacy to access services and opportunities that promote their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a detailed understanding of each child's history, current needs and progress. Children's achievements and challenges are regularly reviewed through monitoring. Where progress is limited, such as with one child's education attendance, leaders have implemented a range of interventions, challenged professionals and adapted support plans to maximise engagement and opportunities for success.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision and personal development plans and receive support from the manager. Therapeutic practice is reinforced through supervision and team meetings, with workshops linked to emerging themes and children's needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff describe managers as approachable, supportive and committed to helping them develop professionally. Training extends beyond mandatory requirements and includes topics that are relevant to the needs of children living in the home. This helps staff to feel valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professional relationships are a strength, with the staff working effectively alongside partner agencies and services. Communication and information-sharing are strong, and external professionals consistently praise the commitment of staff. This collaborative approach ensures that children receive timely support that promotes their safety, wellbeing and positive progress. Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child's behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child's age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship; understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; 25 September 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 7 have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(xii)(xiii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that each child is provided with proactive key-work sessions that are planned based on children's presenting needs and feelings and offer a quality of learning that promotes the child's understanding of decision- making and behaviours on them and others.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. Staff should consistently follow identified guidance as set out in risk assessment planning. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC480678 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: First Floor, Harbour House, Portway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2DW

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Inspector

Paul McKay-Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC480678 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 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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