Testimonials

Edward had an excellent Christmas and Birthday. He is settled, well-supported and happy. His team work together effectively to provide him with superb support. Moreover, Edward's service at the Annex is well managed. Staff are motivated, encouraged and supported to go 'above and beyond' for Edward to live his best life safely and happily - managers and staff truly care about his well-being. Staff morale and team working at North Leigh have continued to improve, making Ed’s life better. I want to thank you for making a difference.

Joanne Alley

I wanted to share some positive feedback about my recent experience with your supported living team. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting some of your day staff at ...Witney while visiting a resident. I was thoroughly impressed by their friendliness, helpfulness, and professionalism. They truly made a positive impact on my visit, and they clearly care about the residents living there. I wanted to let HQ/their manager know how much I appreciated their input.

Health Professional

I have had the utmost pleasure of being part of a transition for a young man from Secure services to the Community provision of Saxons Way in Didcot. Throughout the whole process of this complex case, I have worked with, alongside and as part of the Saxons Way staff team and managers. This has been the best transition I have experienced in my 50yrs in Learning Disabilities. At no point were the staff ever unable to accommodate requests from our service, keeping risk management at the forefront of everything and this alongside their incredibly kind and caring attitude towards the individual, always driving towards the best outcome for the person concerned, all of this whilst delivering the same standards to their current service users. Effective, efficient, kind, compassionate and dedicated to their work in providing what has been the best and hopefully successful transition I have been involved with. The personal touches, the welcome this young man received and the ongoing display of sheer hard work, determination and the end goal for success and happiness for individuals is second to none. Thank you to all those involved and who made this a life event to be proud of. You are all a wonderful group of people.

Kate Brown, Forensic Community Learning Disability Nurse

Steve (Support Staff) has supported Arthur for 6 years. I cannot speak highly enough of him, he is an asset to Autism at Kingwood. He is always so reliable, kind and dedicated in his support of Art and so diligent to his every need. He is always smiling and has the most calm disposition, yet his strength of character shines through in supporting Art on every level. He is ever mindful of Arthur's happiness and plans many outings within a structured routine. He also really cares about Arthur's physical health and helps to keep him active with lots of interesting walks. We feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful support worker and Arthur feels so safe and secure with Steve. He is truly worthy of recognition of his outstanding support.

Tracie

At six and a half years old, Zoe was one of the original five children who started at Dame Stephanie's wonderful Priors Court School, near Newbury.
When she was 19 years old, Zoe transferred to supported living home, run by Autism at Kingwood Kingwood in Reading, which was some distance from me. She was a weekly boarder, and I had Zoe at home for many weeks of the year.
About seven years ago, Kate Allen (a wonderful previous Kingwood CEO) asked me "What would be your dream for Zoe?” I replied immediately "It would be to live as a weekly boarder in a female only Kingwood provision, near to my own home". In 2021 this became a reality, and Zoe became the first resident of a new supported living home.
Zoe and our family have always been blessed to be part of the Kingwood embrace. Our Zoe has a smile, a cheeky laugh and a happy soul. Thank you all so much. Zoe and Diane

Diane

Autism at Kingwood are an established Oxfordshire care provider delivering high quality services for people with autism in Oxfordshire and neighbouring areas. In a market which is significantly short of required skills, Autism at Kingwood are a huge asset locally, drawing on their long experience of initiating and developing personalised services. Autism at Kingwood have played a role as a long standing member of OACP, in engaging in supportive discussions about local service improvement with local commissioners. They have a culture of co-production and standing up for people with autism and their families.

Eddy McDowall, Chief Executive

Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers

Our daughter Lydia lives in a supported living home in Witney.
This service was set up in 2020 in response to the sudden closure of HFT’s Milton Heights site. Our daughter Lydia, along with 26 other residents, was given 3 months’ notice in January 2020. Due to the pandemic, there was thankfully more time to sort out alternatives, and the County Council assigned Care Managers to all those concerned. Having spoken to various people, our preferred service provider was Autism at Kingwood. In answer to the crisis Kingwood stepped up to the mark and responded with expedition, and the new service in Witney opened in July of that year, with an initial intake of two former HFT residents, one of whom being Lydia. This has since expanded to the final complement of five.
The devastating loss of their long term homes, combined with the restrictions enforced by Covid, was potentially a highly traumatic period for the residents, but the team at Windrush House was outstanding in ensuring a smooth transition and creating a warm and welcoming new home, and thanks to that Lydia made the move with remarkable ease.
We visit Windrush House fairly frequently when we come to collect Lydia for short breaks and holidays with us, and we are always impressed by the warm and homely atmosphere there, with staff engaging with residents and helping them to fulfil their days meaningfully, which in Lydia’s case includes walks out for coffee and the shops and trips to swimming and bowling etc. Staff also take great care to keep us aware of any concerns, and we frequently receive reassuring photos of Lydia enjoying herself on outings or just at home. Recently, Lydia had to be taken to hospital following a seizure and fall, and as we were away on holiday, the staff supported her really well, staying with her in the hospital until 4am when she eventually got home. In all, we consider the service provided by the team to be outstanding.

Barbara and Graham Williams

Can I just say how fantastic the team is at Kingwood Transition in Reading? It was my son John’s birthday yesterday, and the entire family thought it was the best one yet (and there have been some excellent ones in previous years). He was so happy, which made the rest of us very happy indeed! Claudia and her team really made it so special! I just wanted to say a huge “thankyou” to everyone.

Morag

We asked our support team 'Would you recommend Autism at Kingwood to others?' (click image to play video)

Windrush House Support Staff

My son has been supported by Autism at Kingwood for over 15 years.
He needs full 24 hour support.
He is well cared for and treated with respect. The Managers try to maintain a consistency of staff, wherever possible, which is very important for my son who has complex needs.
His support staff ensure he goes out regularly to undertake meaningful activities that my son enjoys. This includes shopping, trampolining and swimming.
His dedicated support staff have also taken him to the theatre and on holiday. They have enabled him to go to Disneyland Paris on several occasions, which he particularly loves.
When my son had to move properties his support staff worked hard to make this transition as smooth and stress free as possible.

Caroline

Our son, EA, is non-verbal and severely affected by autism and his learning disability.
When he was 19 years old, he visited Kingwood College (now named Transition Service) in Reading and he seemed to enjoy looking around. We took pictures of him during his visit and put them up on the wall in his room at home.
He was interested in the pictures and frequently went over to touch them which reassured us that he had enjoyed his visit and may be ready to leave home.
Over the following two weeks EA visited Kingwood College several times, first spending the day there, then overnight in his own room, then for several nights at a time as part of a gradual transition to his new home away from us.
In April 2013 he left home to move into Kingwood College. He quickly seemed happy with his new life, so after four weeks, once we knew he had settled in well, we visited him every week.
EA lived at Kingwood College for the next five years during which time he became more confident, going out more often to different places, doing different activities - shopping, cooking, travelling on a bus. He was supported to develop more life skills - choosing what clothes he wore every day, cleaning, clothes washing, vacuuming - although he still doesn’t enjoy housework! He greatly expanded the range of foods he ate, learned to drink from a cup (rather than a sports beaker), went out for several walks every day around Reading with his support workers, and spent time eating meals and watching TV in the communal areas with other residents and sitting in the garden with his support workers.
The service manager and support workers got to know EA well very quickly. Initially they often asked us about EA’s likes and dislikes, and sought advice on how best to support EA.
He was changing and growing into a more rounded and capable young man to a degree that he probably would not have, had he still lived at home. Kingwood kept us informed of EA’s progress, and facilitated regular visits so that we remained involved EA’s life. Kingwood were also supportive of our roles and responsibilities as Court of Protection Deputies for EA.
When EA was 24 years old, he moved to a new Kingwood service, living in his own flat. The new service had problems in recruiting enough permanent staff and relied on agency staff, some of whom did not know EA well which caused some problems, particularly over the Covid period. However when Kingwood joined the Government’s sponsorship programme for overseas support workers, Kingwood were able to recruit several additional permanent support workers.
Now that EA has a large team of permanent staff with excellent managers, there is an effective and positive ‘joined up’ working approach to his care. His support has improved significantly over the last 15 months and is now consistently good.
Kingwood has supported EA for nearly 11 years, and despite his disabilities, he is now living his best life. He regularly goes out walking with his support workers and is driven in his car for walks further afield. With his support workers, he regularly visits different places (the museum, cinema, farm shop, shopping centres, cafes). He also goes with his carers for a short break in a holiday cottage each year.
During the 11 years that EA has been supported by Kingwood, we have seen a varying quality of support, so we are acutely aware of what can go wrong for EA when support is not consistently good. We understand there are many challenges associated with the provision of support to disabled people, particularly EA, given the severity of his disability and it’s affect on him. We rely on Kingwood to continue to provide the good quality support EA now receives.
Each of us continue to visit EA every week and we are grateful to support staff and service managers for their professionalism and their genuinely caring EA-centred support.

Joanne and Steve

A huge thanks to all at Kingwood for their care, kindness and support for my brother John for nearly 20 years and especially in the last 10 months of his life.

Pam

It is a pleasure to be supporting the wellbeing of those who support others.
Kingwood has been working with BHSF since 2020, when it first introduced our enhanced mental health and wellbeing support to its employees, offering 24/7 advice and support around mental health, financial and legal advice.
Kingwood is an organisation that prides itself on looking after the mental health and wellbeing of their employees.
As their dedicated account manager, it is a pleasure working with them and the relationship we have with Kingwood really is a blueprint for success. Having two organisations that are ethically very aligned helps us to understand the type of support they need.

Rachael Burrage

bhsf Account Manager

I have worked with Autism at Kingwood for several years as a Trainer, therefore have seen many staff progress through their training in 'Supporting people in living good and fulfilling lives'.
This has reached my awareness when staff are returning for mandatory training and the scope and extent of their knowledge gained in the intervening time is very evident in their responses during training.
Autism at Kingwood carry out a regular analysis to ensure the objective of training and development create learning that will assist all staff to offer dedicated, innovative, person-centred care and support for people with a learning disability of any age is, of course, the goal.

Elizabeth Lewis

Director, Alma Care Training Ltd.