Gamlingay is the first Primary in The Cam Academy Trust. We currently have 15 pupils on roll, although the Cabin was set up for a maximum of 14 pupils, 2 pupils per year group.
The Cabin at Gamlingay Village Primary is a Cam Academy Trust provision, it’s the only primary Enhanced Resource base (ERB) in Cambridgeshire, which was open in 2020. The Cam Academy Trust’s Autistic Spectrum Disorder centres are known as ‘Cabins.’ They are designed to provide extra support to young people who have high functioning Autistic Disorder (ASD). These are pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which identifies the need for significant additional support to access educational provision, but who are cognitively capable of accessing mainstream lessons.
Due to the size of the primary school, we try to keep to two pupil placements per year group.. Our current intake includes pupils from Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
The Cabin started with KS2 but now can offer Cabin placements to EYFS pupils and feel proud to be able to support pupils from the beginning of their school journey all the way through to secondary school, with the tools and strategies to help them flourish and thrive in a mainstream setting, possibly a Cabin, helping them to achieve their full potential.
Sarah Thurbin is the Lead Communication Support Specialist at Gamlingay's Cabin and has 26 years of working with children with a range of SEND needs, joining the Trust in 2023 to work in the Primary Cabin.
She said: "I am super proud of our pupils' achievements, both with the improvements in their attendance and how well they are managing and developing in the mainstream classroom and fully accessing the curriculum. Many of our pupils came to us on a very part time timetable or often not accessing any mainstream education.
"We have a fantastic cabin team and I feel very honoured and proud to be a part of them and all that they achieve for our pupils."