LAURA BARRASS, DEPUTY HEADTEACHER, BEAUFORT PRIMARY SCHOOL, ODYSSEY COLLABORATIVE TRUST, UK
ABBIE WATTS, DIRECTOR OF SEND AND SENCO, ODYSSEY COLLABORATIVE TRUST, UK
AIMÉE TINKLER FCCT, CTEACH (LEADERSHIP), DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, ODYSSEY COLLABORATIVE TRUST, UK; PRESIDENT, CHARTERED COLLEGE OF TEACHING, UK
Across the country, mainstream schools are educating growing numbers of pupils with increasingly complex and varied needs (Tang et al., 2025). Many of these pupils might previously have met the threshold for specialist placements, yet are now supported within local mainstream schools. This shift has prompted schools and trusts to reconsider how best to organise provision so that every child is able to participate meaningfully in school life and experience a sustained sense of belonging (National Children’s Bureau, 2024).
At Odyssey Collaborative Trust, we are committed to ensuring that every pupil can thrive. This includes providing the right support for all pupils, particularly those who may be facing additional barriers or have needs that require tailored provision. While system-level reform may take time (Dickens, 2025), the children in our schools need effective support now.
It is in this context that Beaufort Primary School developed the Sunshine Room, a non-funded internal base created to ensure that pupils with significant and complex needs can thrive within their mainstream setting. The base provides the additional structure and specialist teaching that some pupils require, while sustaining their connection to their class and to the everyday routines that make up school life (Strogilos et al., 2025).
Developing the Sunshine Room
The Sunshine Room was designed as part of Beaufort’s commitment to inclusion and its belief that every child should feel known, valued and able to succeed. The school’s BRAVE values (Brilliant minds, Respectful relationships, Amazing attitudes, Varying vocabulary, Everyone is equal) underpin the ethos of the base, placing emphasis on high expectations, strong relationships and meaningful participation, aligning closely with the principles highlighted in the Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance report for special educational needs in mainstream schools (EEF, 2020).
The base is not a separate unit and does not replace mainstream provision. Pupils remain full members of their classes, take part in whole-school routines and continue to share the identity of their mainstream year group. The Sunshine Room exists to remove barriers to learning and to increase access – not to create an alternative pathway.
The environment is calm, predictable and structured, with clear routines and visual supports that help pupils to feel secure. Specialist strategies for communication, sensory regulation and emotional wellbeing are embedded into daily practice. Curriculum planning is overseen by the deputy headteacher, supported by the trust director of SEND. This ensures that provision remains responsive to each pupil’s needs.
To conceptualise the work of the base, staff use the image of a jigsaw. School life is made up of many interlocking pieces: learning, routines, friendships, play, wellbeing and participation in the wider community of the school. For most pupils, these pieces connect without major adaptation. For some pupils, however, individual pieces need careful reshaping.
A pupil’s communication development may require consistent, differentiated support, including total communication approaches, visual aids, structured routines, simplified language and regular opportunities to practise meaningful communication. Such approaches are essential to help them to understand information, express themselves effectively and make sense of the world around them. A child’s ‘routine piece’ relies on predictability, consistency and clear expectations across the entire school day, including all transition points. They need to feel supported in their environment and secure enough to explore with confidence and increasing autonomy, underpinned by relational approaches that enable them to thrive. Their ‘social development piece’ may require sensitive adult facilitation, gentle prompting and reassurance, alongside ongoing opportunities to engage in small‑group, paired or individual learning experiences. The base allows these specific pieces to be adjusted without breaking the coherence of the full school experience. The purpose is never to construct a separate puzzle elsewhere, but to shape provision so that every child can participate meaningfully within the same communal picture.
Curriculum and pedagogy
Provision in the Sunshine Room is highly personalised. Staff begin with each pupil’s strengths, interests and needs, using detailed assessment information and daily observation to shape curriculum experiences that are meaningful and achievable. Learning may be highly structured for some pupils, focusing on communication, regulation and readiness to learn. For others, the curriculum is closely aligned with subject-based learning in the mainstream class, with significant adaptations or differentiation to ensure that the learning is accessible, meaningful and manageable. Where possible, learning in the base mirrors aspects of the class curriculum so that pupils can join peers at planned points. These sessions are prepared collaboratively by base staff and class teachers to ensure continuity and success.
Assessment in the Sunshine Room is purposeful and embedded in everyday practice. Staff use PIVATS (Lancashire County Council, nd) and the Autism Education Trust’s Progression Framework (Autism Education Trust, 2026) to capture the small but significant steps that pupils make in learning, communication and engagement. Each child’s starting point and personal outcomes remain central, with assessment shaping teaching in real time and informing the level and type of support received. Families play a key role in this process, sharing insights about what helps their child to engage, communicating changes from home and taking part in regular reviews.
A small, committed staff team leads the provision, and ongoing professional development provided by the trust strengthens expertise in communication approaches, sensory processing, co-regulation and strategies tailored to individual pupils. Staff work in close partnership with class teachers, external specialists and leaders to ensure that practice remains consistent and coherent across the school.
Maintaining strong links with mainstream learning is a core principle. Pupils join their class for parts of lessons, for daily routines such as registration, assemblies and storytime, and for experiences that nurture confidence, identity and friendships. Over time, the balance between time in the base and time in class is adjusted in response to each child’s progress, independence and readiness. The intention is always to increase the parts of the day that a pupil can access in the mainstream environment, while keeping the overall jigsaw of support stable and secure.
Transitions beyond the school
Although no pupils have yet transitioned out of the school, detailed planning is already shaping how future school moves will be managed. Transitions will begin early and will be tailored to each child’s strengths, communication approaches and support needs. Staff from receiving schools will be invited to Beaufort to observe the pupil in familiar routines and gain an accurate understanding of how the pupil communicates, engages and learns. In turn, wherever possible, pupils will be introduced to their new setting gradually, starting with short, low-demand visits that can increase in duration and complexity once confidence develops.
Clear and comprehensive information, including assessments, learning profiles and communication systems, will be shared with the receiving school to support continuity. Families will remain closely involved at each stage, contributing insights and helping to shape the transition plan. The intention is that when pupils eventually move on, they will arrive understood and prepared, and staff in the new setting will have the knowledge needed to sustain progress effectively.
What we are learning
Early indications suggest that pupils accessing the Sunshine Room are showing stronger emotional regulation, increased engagement in learning and improved participation in class routines, reflecting the value of consistent structures, carefully planned adaptations and strong relationships. We are learning that the model works best when the whole school sees the base as part of the mainstream offer, rather than as a separate provision. Simplicity and consistency matter: a small number of well-understood strategies used reliably make a greater difference than a wide range used inconsistently. Regular attention to pupil voice helps staff to understand what feels possible, where barriers remain and where adjustments are needed. Regular, honest communication with families further strengthens the approach, creating alignment between home and school and building shared confidence in the provision.
Things to consider when establishing a non-funded internal base include the following:
- Start with belonging: The purpose of the base should be to help pupils to access the mainstream, and not move them away from it
- Be clear about the area of need that the base is designed to support: Identify the pupils for whom the base is intended and establish criteria for access, review and movement between settings
- Use existing spaces creatively: A calm, well-organised room with predictable routines matters more than specialist equipment
- Build a consistent team: Provide joint planning time, coaching and professional development so that strategies are aligned across adults and spaces
- Keep assessment simple: Choose tools that help staff to understand what supports engagement and progress, and to respond quickly to new information
- Plan classroom links deliberately: Ensure that pupils join their class at meaningful points, with appropriate scaffolds in place
- Work closely with families: Involve parents from the outset, value their expertise and maintain open communication
- Connect with external professionals and receiving schools: Ensure that the jigsaw of support can travel with the child
- Prepare early for transition: Share clear, structured information to support continuity.
Bases like the Sunshine Room offer one practical way in which for mainstream schools to support pupils with complex needs while sustaining their sense of belonging. Early outcomes suggest that this approach strengthens engagement, confidence and participation, demonstrating what is possible when provision is reshaped around children’s needs rather than waiting for structural reform.
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