Five Oaken Cottage receives ‘Outstanding’ from Ofsted

A children’s home in West Berkshire is celebrating after being awarded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted – the second year in a row.

Five Oaken Cottage is a three-bedroom home for youngsters aged between five and 18 with social, emotional and mental health issues.

Run by Amegreen Children’s Services, Five Oaken Cottage was awarded the rating in all three categories of overall experiences and progress of the children, how well they are helped and protected and the effectiveness of the leaders and managers.

The report stated that the home, near Newbury, provides “highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good”.

It added: “The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.”

Based near Reading, independent Amegreen provides a community of nine bespoke, niche children’s homes across rural West Berkshire and Hampshire for some of the most vulnerable children in society, all referred by the local authority.

Ofsted also commented on the strong relationships that the children were building in the community.

“Children are encouraged to use their hobbies and interests to make a difference for others, and staff support children to be positive members of their local community. Children have created gift baskets for elderly neighbours and have taken part in fundraising and charity runs. One child has been using their passion for horse riding to teach equine care and riding skills to local children with disabilities.

“Children make remarkable progress in all areas of their lives.”

One independent care professional was even quoted in the report as saying: “They are my number one home, and I would be banging on the door to place any of the children on my case load at the home.”

Director of Amegreen Children’s Services Rachel Redgwell said: “We are so proud of our teams, and this is great recognition of all their hard work. I’m especially pleased that Ofsted recognised how well the children are integrating into their local community and how they have been so welcomed by their neighbours. This is extremely important to us at Amegreen.

“The UK, and in particular our region, desperately needs more homes like ours to help vulnerable youngsters who can’t be looked after at home, but that benefit from being close to their families.”

This Outstanding report follows hard on the heels of another of Amegreen’s homes in Hampshire also receiving the top grading.