Oakland House receives ‘Outstanding’ from Ofsted
A children’s home in West Berkshire is celebrating after being awarded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted.
Oakland House is a five-bedroom home for youngsters aged between five and 18 with complex learning difficulties.
Run by Amegreen Children’s Services, Oakland House 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 Reading, 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. It also runs two specialist schools – primary school Haywards Farm and newly opened secondary Northcroft.
The Oftsed report also added that: “Children benefit from positive and warm relationships with staff who understand and skilfully support their individual communication needs. Staff provide responsive care that is sensitive to children’s identity and life experiences. They have created an environment where children can explore and thrive. Children show through interactions with people that they feel safe, happy and settled.
“Children have made exceptional progress from their starting points. All children attend full-time education, and staff are passionate about helping children achieve their best potential.”
Director of Amegreen Children’s Services Rachel Redgwell said: “We are incredibly proud of the team at Oakland House. I can’t reiterate enough how important homes like ours are for the most vulnerable children in our society.
“The UK and our region desperately need more homes for those children who can’t be looked after at home but would benefit from being close to their families.”