Southpointe Academy

Established in 2000, Southpointe is an independent university preparatory school for Grades K-12 that is characterized by passionate teaching, open-mindedness and a warm community atmosphere. In the classroom, our teachers provide the inspiration and support that enable students to learn, lead and succeed. Southpointe is an authorized International Baccalaureate World School. We offer the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) that challenges students at various levels. Through this programme, students are encouraged to become: inquirers, thinkers, communicators and risk-takers.

Southpointe is an IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) accredited school. IB World Schools share a common philosophy – a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education – that we believe is important for our students. The MYP provides a framework of learning that encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers. Students are intellectually challenged and encouraged to make connections between their studies and the global world. Our senior students are offered the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone Programme in Grades 11-12. By focusing on critical thinking, collaborative problem solving, and research skills, the AP Capstone Programme gets students ready for college and beyond.

The School’s mission to involve, instruct, and inspire our students to learn, lead, and succeed will serve to constantly inform our decisions and guide our course moving forward. It forms the basis of a covenantal relationship between parents and the School to deliver an education that serves the social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs of our students. Southpointe is a school of reputational excellence, and a place of learning that lives out its tradition of being one school, one heart.

We are proud to offer a wide range of enrichment opportunities to promote the growth of character and resiliency with all our students, such as the provision of cultural, creative, sporting and leadership activities that develop key qualities such as confidence, communication, leadership, mentoring, service, and vocational skills. We want our students to develop a love of learning, a desire to succeed and a respect and compassion for others – not just for now, but also throughout their lives. The encouragement to excel on multiple levels promotes independence, and a growth mindset in all our students that has enormous influence on their future success.

Southpointe frames the Junior School curriculum through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP). The PYP develops critical, creative and reflective thinking, fosters the disposition of international mindedness and nurtures student agency, self-efficacy and self-discovery. At its core, the PYP curriculum, in accordance with the British Columbia Curriculum, enables students to understand themselves as learners - and as global citizens.

The PYP enables students to develop a strong foundation in approaches to learning (ATL) skills, such as thinking, communication, research, self-management, and social skills. These key skills are the differentiators for success in the mid-21st century and provide our young learners with the tools to inquire, question, investigate and imagine.

The PYP is a concept based model of inquiry that challenges students to engage with significant ideas. As the IB states, “A concept-driven curriculum is the means through which students develop their conceptual understandings. Students co-construct beliefs and mental models about how the world works based on their experiences and prior learning. They integrate new knowledge with their existing knowledge and apply these understandings in a variety of new contexts. They learn to recognize patterns and see the connections between discrete examples to strengthen conceptual understandings” (PYP From Principles into Practice - Learning and Teaching).

The Middle School at Southpointe is a place where students are greeted every day with a warm welcome and where a culture of caring and connectedness is achieved through our Advisory Program. Our core values of Respect, Integrity, Responsibility, Perseverance and Kindness drive our teaching of character and academics.

Southpointe Academy has chosen the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) framework to deliver the curriculum in the Middle School. The MYP provides academic challenge and a holistic education that enhances the British Columbia Curriculum through engaging and personalized learning. The MYP fosters the social, thinking, research, communication and self-management skills that help students learn how to learn in order to succeed and how to make practical connections between their studies and the real world. Our IB educators explicitly teach our middle school students 21st Century skills through global contexts, to develop an understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet and to develop internationally-minded young people who can empathize with others and pursue lives of purpose and meaning.

The Senior School involves, instructs, and inspires our students in grades 10 to 12 to Learn, Lead, and Succeed. We achieve this with the support of a caring, inclusive learning environment, a dedicated, passionate and talented faculty, and the delivery of a world class curriculum. The Advisory programme sets our students up for success by offering personalized support focused on the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive well-being essential to the development of global citizens in the 21st century.

Post-secondary planning also plays an integral role in our Senior School Graduation programme along with, of course, the opportunity to extend and accelerate learning through an array of rich but rigorous course offerings. Students have over 70 courses to choose from in Grades 10 to 12 including 12 Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The encouragement to excel and lead on multiple levels promotes independence and a growth mindset in all our students that have an enormous influence on their future success.