Curriculum

The practical curriculum activities at Homefield are divided into two main areas:

Social and Life Skills
Students learn daily living skills and increased independence building on their previous experience and knowledge to achieve their full potential. They learn to plan and cook meals, to shop, to live with others and to use public transport. Students learn about using banks, libraries and leisure centres as well as visiting museums and eating at cafes and restuarants. They learn about sport, exercise and leisure during the day. They also take part in a wide range of leisure activities in the evenings and weekends. Learning Independent Living Skills in a natural and "real" location - sharing skills and learning to resolve disagreements - is a key area of learning for all students, and one of the major advantages of being in a residential setting.

Pre Vocational/Vocational Learning
Opportunities are available for sampling a wide range of vocational options. These include waiting on, serving drinks, cooking food and keeping the customers content at the college's new coffee shop/tea room as well as serving the customers at its sweet shop; office practice, reception work and e-Bay enterprise at the factory site close to the campus; maintenance and internal catering on the campus with gardening at the horticulture enterprise site. In additoon to these resources, the college has an extensive range and variety of work experience placements separate form the college

Integrated elements of the learning are:

Literacy, Numeracy & Communication is integrated into the practical parts of the curriculum which are listed above.

Personal and Social Development
Many of our students have useful skills, but at times the barrier to using these effectively is linked to issues over personal development. Often our students have great difficulty in this element of the curriculum. This applies particularly to those on the autistic spectrum so this learning is essential if students are to realise their potential.