At Southlands School, we aim to provide consistent, diverse, fun and structured learning opportunities through a waking day curriculum, seven days a week.

We understand that not all young people with complex needs will learn new skills at the same pace. Our curriculum caters for students with a wide range of needs, regardless of the speed of their progress.

At Southlands School we offer our pupils the full national curriculum, enabling them to engage in their chosen course of study, including Functional Skills and GCSEs. For our older students, ‘A’ levels and NVQ Awards can be followed at Southlands or for the more independent young adult at our sister provision, Cambian Wing College, in Bournemouth.

The curriculum model emphasises the importance of key core subjects, whilst offering the full national curriculum. Our curriculum offers a range of options in years 9 to 11 that can lead to external accreditation and qualifications. 

Consistent teaching takes place over a longer period than in mainstream day schools. Class groups are small, allowing for individual programmes of study. Alongside the formal curriculum, behaviour management strategies and the development of social skills are also an integral part of every lesson on the timetable.

Our Approach To Phonics

Southlands School uses a combination of Ruth Miskins' Read Write Inc. (RWI) model in secondary and Decoders from Twinkl in primary. Both are an organised and systematic approach to phonics that emphasises on teaching pupils to understand words correctly and develop excellent reading abilities.

These methods involve introducing pupils to phonemes (the smallest sounds in language) in a carefully sequenced manner, beginning with simple, easily blendable sounds and progressively proceeding to more complicated patterns. When pupils first arrive at Southlands School, phonics trained staff will identify them for a phonics assessment. Staff will then review the pupils accessing phonics and give 1:1 or small group learning as needed.

We acknowledge that certain pupils with ASD and associated disorders struggle with repetition, which is why at Southlands, our entire staff understands of our phonics schemes and have a fundamental understanding of them thanks to our onboarding training. Staff who work closely with pupils accessing phonics receive RWI training and have half-term meetings with our phonics lead, but all staff are free to seek assistance wherever they believe it is required. 

Our classrooms and teaching spaces

Within our education block, we offer purpose-built, comfortable classrooms with equipment and technology to support learning and development, such as white boards, overhead projectors, computers, and comfortable seating.

We have a dedicated Design Technology workshop style classroom with all the required machinery and tools students may need, and an Art Room containing all the resources students may need such as canvases, paints and tools.

We also have a dedicated Music Room offering modern and traditional musical instruments such as keyboards and guitars, plus kit to include speakers, amplifiers and microphones.

Connecting our classrooms, we have bright, colourful corridors and interesting visual displays, including hand painted wildlife art, for students to enjoy admiring as they transition through their school day, in between lessons.