Wooden Rails vs Sensory Wayfinding: The Real Cost of Accessibility in SEN Schools

Why Orchard Hill College chose sensory wayfinding over traditional wooden rails and how it saved them tens of thousands.

When schools consider improving accessibility, a common first step is to explore wooden rails along corridors. Rails feel familiar and practical. But when Orchard Hill College & Academy Trust reviewed actual costs and outcomes, they discovered something surprising: Wooden rails are extremely expensive and they don’t reduce the staff time needed to guide learners.

At Orchard Hill College Beaconsfield, where 50 highly dependent learners require significant support to move through narrow corridors, leadership needed a solution that improved independence and reduced 1:1 support demands.

Rails didn’t solve that problem.

Sensei did.

1. The True Cost of Wooden Rails

Many schools underestimate how expensive wooden rails are.

Cost per metre (supply + installation):  £1,500 per metre

This includes:

• bespoke carpentry

• reinforced wall backing

• custom fabrication

• installation labour

• periodic repairs (wood dents, chips, loosens quickly)

Cost for a typical 20-metre corridor: £30,000

And that only creates physical support, not independence.

2. What Wooden Rails Do Not Solve

Rails provide a handhold nothing more.

They do not help learners with:

• knowing where they are going

• understanding transitions

• orienting themselves in corridors that look identical

• managing sensory overwhelm

• regulating arousal during movement

• gaining confidence or independence

At Orchard Hill Beaconsfield, learners still required:

• 1:1 staff support

• verbal prompting

• emotional reassurance

• physical guidance

• co-navigation in narrow corridors

Meaning the £30,000 investment did not reduce staff time at all.

3. The Hidden Cost: Staff Time

This is where the real cost difference appears.

At Orchard Hill Beaconsfield:

• 50 learners

• each requiring a staff member to help them navigate

• narrow corridors = only 1 learner + 1 staff member can move at a time

• each transition takes 10–20 minutes

• 6–10 transitions per day

Annual staff time spent on transitions:

• 6,000–8,000 hours per year

• £90,000–£120,000 in staffing cost

Wooden rails reduce none of this.

4. Sensory Wayfinding: A Multi-Functional Alternative (At a Fraction of the Cost)

Sensei’s sensory wayfinding system costs:£36 per metre

Cost for the same 20-metre corridor:£720

That’s 96% cheaper than wooden rails.

But the value goes much further than cost.

Sensei panels support:

• orientation and wayfinding

• sensory regulation

• predictable transitions

• emotional grounding

• tactile cues for VI learners

• confidence & safety

• reduced need for constant verbal prompting

• independence for ASD, SPD, VI, PMLD & developmental needs

This is why Orchard Hill’s occupational therapists described the system as:

“A navigation tool that also reduces anxiety and staff support.

6. Why Orchard Hill Chose Sensei

After comparing both options, Orchard Hill recognised that:

• Wooden rails cost too much

• Wooden rails did not improve learner independence

• Wooden rails did not reduce staff support hours

• Wooden rails did not help with sensory or emotional needs

Sensei, at just £36/m, offered:

• lower cost

• immediate functional impact

• calmer transitions

• better orientation

• improved independence

• reduced staff time in corridors

• a standardised trust-wide system

For SEN schools preparing budgets for 2026, the numbers make the decision clear.

Conclusion

If your goal is to reduce staff pressure, increase learner independence, and create a more accessible school environment, wooden rails simply cannot deliver that outcome and cost significantly more.

Sensei delivers more value, more function, and more independence at 96% lower cost.