THE OPTIONS

All students can leave school on the last Friday in June if they will be 16 by the end of the summer holidays. However, they then must choose one of three paths:

• staying in full-time education
• starting an apprenticeship or traineeship
• spending 20 or more hours a week working or volunteering whilst also doing part-time education or training
  

This is a legal requirement, although there are no sanctions in place if a student doesn't follow these routes.

If your mentee is in year 10, they will be thinking about these options, if they are in year 11, they may have decided what they want to do.

A local authority has an obligation to offer a suitable place to a young person by the end of September (the September Guarantee)

SATRO's PowerPoint will give you a general overview on this link.

STAYING IN FULL TIME EDUCATION

Taking the option of remaining in full-time education can involving staying at school (if the school has a sixth-form) , sixth-form college, a further education college or a University Technical College.  UTCs are a new format and there are about 50 in the country.  You can find out more about UTCs here.

CHOICES WHEN STAYING IN FULL-TIME EDUCATION

There are a number of options for full-time education, and most are widely available.

• A LEVELS 
• T LEVELS 
• BTEC (or equivalent providers)

Also available are the International Baccalaureate, Pre-Us, Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals , although these aren't widely available and depend upon the school or college offering them.

A LEVELS

A LEVELS now have a much more comprehensive course offering. You can find a list of the more available ones here, with links to the general course content. For an overview of what A levels look like now, follow this link. 

T LEVELS

T LEVELS are new (introduced in 2020). Each one is equivalent to 3 A levels.  They are more vocational with 20% taking place in a work placement.  There are currently fewer courses available and only 70 schools and colleges offer them.  The aim is for 24 courses and 400 providers by 2023/4. More information here.

BTEC

The Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) qualification is very wide-ranging and offers from Entry Level (1), Level 2 = GCSE, Level 3 (A level) to professional qualification (7), which is equivalent to postgraduate study.

 2,000 subjects offered over 16 sectors.

There is a BTEC extended diploma = 3 A levels (but only one subject so narrower - similar to a T Level)

Students can go on to university after BTEC level 3 (but not always straightforward).

More information here.

STARTING AN APPRENTICESHIP OR TRAINEESHIP

Apprenticeships and traineeships are different.

For more information on apprenticeships, follow this link.

For more information on traineeships, follow this link.?

20 HOURS A WEEK WORKING /VOLUNTEERING + PART TIME EDUCATION  OR TRAINING

This is a lot less structured.  The part-time education can involve vocational or technical qualifications.

There is a 16-19 Bursary Fund available which can help with costs but this depends on your circumstances and benefits.  A young person over 19 with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) can also apply if they started the course before age 19.