A SECOND special school has announced plans to open a new unit for infants with autism due to the high demand for places.

Autism Wessex will welcome eight reception and Key Stage 1 pupils to its new unit in September 2018.

This September will see the opening of the Littlewood campus in Bournemouth, operated by Linwood School and offering spaces to 18 youngsters aged five and under.

Portfield School will use the former Wessex Lodge building at its campus in West Parley, which has its own drop-off and pick-up point.

Initially there will be space for eight pupils but there are plans to double the numbers in the coming years.

The building is currently undergoing a complete refit, to ensure it offers a much more flexible, Early Years appropriate teaching and learning space. This will include separate rooms for individual teaching/intervention work, a separate play room including, role play zones, in-house sensory/ soft play areas, reading den, dressing up areas, and state-of-the-art teaching resources such as interactive white boards.

Alison Casey, Joint Head of Portfield School said: "Children learn and develop well in enabling environments in which their experiences respond to their individual needs. In the same way we tailor the curriculum for the rest of the learning styles across the school, the Early Years curriculum is based almost entirely around play and child-led play in particular, which requires a lot of space and resources."

The whole building is being tailored to meet the needs of the younger members of the school community. In addition, outdoor space will be maximised to provide a contained play area with a covered learning space providing an all weather outdoor learning environment. There is the ability to create nature areas and the location also provides opportunity to access the extended on-site park area within the schools five acre site.

In addition, as well as benefitting from their own dedicated learning environment, these 4-5 year old pupils will be able to access Portfield School’s other resources, including a swimming pool , the practice and clinical support team, the sensory room and vehicles for offsite outings where appropriate.

Alison added: "We are striving to provide a welcoming, age-appropriate pathway from nursery to special school. There is an increasing recognition of the importance of early educational interventions to respond to diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition.

"Research shows that early intervention makes a big difference to a child’s development leading to improved outcomes for children with autism, including higher intelligence, and increased social and daily living skills. We hope to provide for the need arising in placing 4-5 year olds in a specialist environment whilst at the same time improving the outcomes for every unique child on the autism spectrum."