When principal Matthew Tofia took over in July last year, he said the special needs school was in a bad way.
It had just 26 pupils, large parts of the school had been "neglected'', and the morale of remaining staff was low.
Its Concord School campus had been in the spotlight since February last year, over allegations children were hit, sat on, pinched, force-fed, tackled to the ground and regularly put in a seclusion room by a teacher and a teacher aide at the unit.
The Ministry of Education appointed a limited statutory manager in April, with powers relating to employment, complaints, communication and aspects of health and safety.
Mr Tofia said since then, the school had gone from strength to strength.
Its roll had increased to 37 (its capacity) and there was a waiting list of pupils wanting to enrol.
"A lot of that stuff's been cleaned up. There's been a number of staff changes, and the staff involved in that particular issue are all gone.''
He said the school had begun a long journey to change its culture, by way of developing staff morale and upgrading facilities at the school.
He said the school buildings were in "such disrepair'' when he arrived, a block of classrooms had been "consented for demolition''.
Leaking roofs, rotting walls, mouldy carpet and unreinforced windows were among many of the problems which have since been fixed.
"We've got kids who will regularly break windows in a discombobulated way, and at one stage, one pupil had hurt themselves on broken glass.
"Once that was highlighted to the ministry, we had 350 windows replaced with toughened glass.''
He said new fencing had also been erected around the school.
"Prior to that, we had waratahs and chicken wire for fencing.
"Kids need appropriate fencing so they don't bolt off. A lot of our children don't make the greatest decisions around traffic, so it was for their safety.
"We have three secure areas now, and it's just calmed everything down.
"We don't really have to be too concerned because we know nobody's going to go too far. Everyone's a lot more relaxed.''
Although short-term repairs and upgrades have been made, it was hoped a new multimillion-dollar school redevelopment could be completed within the next four years.
"To have purpose-built facilities, which I have viewed in other special schools, it's what they deserve. It's what they need.
"Sara Cohen's been neglected for a long time.
"Everything is time-consuming here. If they get these new purpose-built facilities, it will make everything so much more streamlined and easier. It will create a more pleasant environment for our students to learn in.''
Mr Tofia said other recent changes included the school employing two Otago rugby representatives as teacher aides, to work with the pupils throughout the school day.
"It works out well with their training schedules. The kids love playing with them and it's just changed the whole dynamic of the playground.''
He said the school had also developed relationships with the University of Otago School of Physiotherapy, the School of Sociology and Social Work and other faculties, which would be "mutually beneficial''.
The school's biggest focus at present, was to give senior pupils "real life skills experience'' with literacy and numeracy, by paying them to do jobs around the school.
Pupils were being encouraged to bake goods or create a worm farm to make fertiliser, and sell the products to order around the community.
"We offer the quality programmes that a lot of parents would want their children with special needs to be in,'' he said.
"In the past, we have been the school of last resort. But I want to be the first cab off the rank for a lot of our parents, and for us to be an option where children will have lots of amazing options and experiences to grow them.
"We're looking forward to the future. It's going to be exciting.''
