Who are we?

The Cabins are specialist units for students with Autistic Spectrum Conditions through which we provide a safe, secure and inclusive environment to enable our Students and pupils integrate into mainstream schools and receive a holistic education.

We provide specialist support to help our students to achieve their full academic potential and we also provide social experiences alongside wide ranging interventions to expand their boundaries and develop their confidence, helping them to become more independent.

We help them work towards a positive future in which they can contribute to society by developing their life skills and empowering students to achieve all they can be on leaving school.

We have a dedicated team of professionals offering outstanding facilities for learning.

Mission

Our Mission is:

 To be a model of excellence for inclusion into mainstream school.

 To provide a place of safety and belonging as well as a place of challenge.

 To promote social communication and to develop life skills.

 To promote individualism appropriate to society.

 To enable all pupils to access learning, in order to fulfil their academic and social potential.

 To provide effective guidance and realistic and ambitious progress using clear goals and a consistent approach.

 To provide a place where each student is valued as an individual and given the support to help them cope.

Excellence for All is our Trust’s aim and it is the driving force behind all that we do at our Cabins. We strive for academic excellence and outstanding opportunities for all pupils and we want every single one of our students to do his or her best and achieve their full potential in life. We seek to ensure that our pupils receive a broad and rounded education and that each of them becomes capable, caring and confident.

Our Cabins have always had an excellent reputation for supporting students with ASD and our school for all types of special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

We are proud of our schools fully inclusive environments and all our students are offered equal opportunities to participate fully in the life of the school.

We also take the overall well-being of all students very seriously and offer access to internal and external support services.

The original Cabin opened in 2006 and was a second-hand Portacabin which was brought in, rather spectacularly, by crane! There were three students and 2 CSSs based in it. In 2010 another Cabin (Cabin Too) arrived and we grew to 12 students and more staff!

Our purpose-built Comberton Cabin was opened in 2015 and has the capacity for 50+ students and as many staff! There are 10 rooms, which include study rooms, a Lifeskills room, changing room and toilets, as well as an outdoor space for gardening, enjoying nature and exercise equipment.

We soon found we still lacked space as demand grew and we were taking students from Hertfordshire as well as Cambridge we decided to start a satellite Cabin in Melbourn Village College, we also used this facility to establish a small Cabin station to accommodate girls and still have as many girls as boys in our Melbourn Cabin which can accommodate 25 pupils.

Our next development soon followed with our Cabin in St Peters in Huntingdon, the driving force here being to limit some of the huge distances students were travelling and accommodate the need in Hunts. Again this Cabin soon prospered and we now have a capacity of 25 students there too. This Cabin is situated next to the Nurture class in Huntingdon so that some students who require a slower route into full mainstream experience time in Nurture before accessing the main school.

Our most recent development has been the opening of our Primary Cabin in Gamlingay Village Primary, known as the Cabin Nest. We opened the Nest at the start of lockdown with the challenges that presented but having built a home in the playground in 2021 we now have a capacity of 12 children accessing our wonderful primary school through the first Primary Enhanced Resource Provision for ASD in the county.

Does my child qualify for a Cabin place?

For a student to qualify for a Cabin place they must have:

• A diagnosis of Autism/ASD/ASC/Aspergers

• An EHCP with funding; the Local Authority (LA) will usually put the case to Panel to award a Cabin place

• The ability to cognitively manage in a mainstream setting

How do we apply for a Cabin place?

At the Annual Review for your child you need to request a Cabin place (not a specific school). The LA will review the application and ask all local Cabins (there are a number) if they can meet the needs of your child.

Places are usually allocated to the Cabin closest to where you live. The LA will usually pay for transport to and from the nearest Cabin (and only the nearest, so if you apply for and get a place at one further away you will need to organise your own transport for your child).

The Cabins only have a few spaces available per year. Due to our reputation, we are always oversubscribed and consequently we will try and attend year 6 reviews that we are invited to for those students potentially applying for a Cabin place from a catchment school. We are sorry we cannot necessarily attend others.

What if our child does not meet the above criteria?

If your child does not meet the above criteria but is in the process of a diagnosis or an EHCP application please do let us know, especially if they are in the catchment area for one of our schools. While we cannot offer Teaching Assistant support in lessons without funding, we do have a limited ability to provide some additional pastoral support if it is needed.