Visits

Visiting the cabin as a prospective family

The Open Evenings are a good time to visit the Cabins especially if you are looking for a place during phase transfer. If you wish to visit outside of Open Evening times we ask that you come without your child to see the setting and be able to ask any questions you need to.

As and when your child is allocated a place we have a transition program in place that will guide you and your child through the move to Secondary School.

In order to book a visit please call the school of your nearest Cabin and ask for the Cabin. Upon calling you will be booked an appointment and also asked a series of questions about your child and their current setting and EHCP status.

If you have any inquiries you can either call the schools and ask for the Cabin or email the Cabins.

The Cabin has a dedicated team of over 100 professionals working with our students, enabling them to access the curriculum and integrate fully into mainstream classes, inspiring them to achieve their dreams. These include Communication Support Specialists, Teaching Assistants, Teachers, Occupation therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Counsellors and Art and Music therapists. Our Communication Support Specialists (CSSs) work as a pastoral contact with individual students and liaise between school, home and professional bodies to ensure everyone is kept fully informed of progress at all times.

Our TAs work with students in class lessons, small groups and individually, facilitating their success.

Our Therapists run interventions and provide staff training

Our Teachers deliver the curriculum for our students

This year we have over 115 students in our Cabins whom we support in attending mainstream lessons.

Our students also participate in a number of lunchtime and after-school clubs, including Equality and Diversity Group, after school sports and STEM Club. The students also like to play lots of games during breaks and lunchtimes, particularly in the Nest but in secondary too. We particularly like UNO, Lego, board games and exploding kittens.

Some students enjoy quiet reading, spaces during this time and we have some exercising and rocking on our outside play equipment and some spend their time outside, learning to play together well.

Other students are happy to join in with the Mainstream students or bring mainstream friends back to the Cabin area.

Each Cabin is a little different but each child/student has a designated CSS (Communication Support Specialist) who will be the main contact with the school and who will email you regularly with a short report on progress.

Initially, this contact will be frequent, most likely on a daily basis until the student has settled in. The CSS will also keep you up to date with any particular happenings at school. Most schools have parent pages and we suggest you keep abrest of these too.

In our schools there are also student individual Go4Schools / Scholar Pack page, visible to school staff, the student and the adults in their life. These pages hold lots of information like timetables and homework! There is also a space for communication with home to school, however we prefer to use e-mail and will always try to check for any messages from parents first thing in the morning and throughout the day if time allows.

The Cabin has access to all school resources and in addition we have our own laptops, multimedia devices and cameras, life skills room with kitchen facilities, and other specialist equipment.

All new students throughout the Cabins have access to iPads that are used to access class materials and subject content.

In some schools parents reach an arrangement with the school to provide this resource. Some students have County-supplied laptops and these are set up by the school to access the school network.

We also have examination laptops which are used as word processors during examinations for those that require them.

For students wishing to complete their work / homework at lunchtime, our CSSs and TAs are happy to help access resources and give support if required.

Each student has storage drawers and cubby hole within the Cabin to keep their schoolwork and bag in.

We supply daily visual timetables to assist our students in planning their day. We prepare them for any changes, such as a different TA or room, as necessary on a daily basis.

Students can leave their schoolwork at school and if there is homework that needs to be done it is accessed online by students and parents via Go4Schools/ Scholar pack and the CSS will make sure the appropriate resources are sent home.

Students have access to a variety of services including a variety of therapists, therapies and counsellors

Some students have mentors, who could be staff members or Sixth Form Cabin students, ready to chat and help with things like organisation or social skills.

We also runs bespoke PSHE sessions when necessary to help students with social, emotional or health issues, and Social Circuits sessions to assist some students with gross motor skills, interactions and communication skills.

Some students have additional Maths and English lessons in the Cabin dependent on need, some may attend touch typing sessions, some may also be working towards unit awards with AQA focusing on life skills.