BTEC/T level/other vocational 25/26

@LarkspurLane
Yes. If they were only 1 or 2 marks off a 4, they are being allowed into the L3 course with no re sits.
I think its increasingly put kids off L3 courses and - again, locally to me - post 16 applications have dropped. Lots of post 16 provisions here have reduced their subject offer and lowered entry requirements.
Having already been through the ucas/university application process with older dd, its the predicated A level/L3 grades they want. I'm not sure the ucas form even asked for gcse grades 🤔
And from this year, ucas no longer require personal statements.

Having a child who scraped 6 passes and has to resit maths, I would be pushing him to do the L2 course while he got maths under his belt.

It strikes me that having another year to get your confidence up, mature and do something that you can do is really beneficial for lots of teens.

Do you mean without needing to resit?
DS course wants 5 fours and if they don't get maths or English, they can resit it and still do the Level 3. Not sure if you can resit both though.
If you don't have 5 fours though, you have to do the Level 2. I think.

Anecdotally, I'm hearing a lot of kids are being allowed onto L3 courses if they've missed maths and English by only a few marks.
The whole maths/english repeated re sits is crippling the post 16 sector.
Its about time some common sense was applied!

I think it is til 19.
Dd might get to do a foundation year at 19 rather than pay for a foundation year at university.
Art courses are very keen on a foundation year apparently but its getting far more common for universities to push them...they need the cash.

Thanks TeensToTwenties.

I guess I was really asking if it's possible to pay for FE courses?

Considering scenario of ds growing up over the next two years and having a clearer idea of what he wants to do but not having a L3 qual in it.

Ideally he switches after 1 year.

I also think they only get 3 years of funding if they don't have level 3 quals, so if he does A levels and gets EEE he can't then do even a third year.

But I may be wrong. My DD has EHCP so has different rules.

I understand DC get three years of funded post-16 education, so what happens if they need/want to do four?

Thinking of scenario of DC getting a better idea of what they want to do over the next two years, then 'starting again' on a level 3 extended BTech?

TIA

Dd's college do a 'flying start' review after about 5 weeks where they move students if need be.
When DD started she lasted about 3 days before we bumped her down!

That's good your DS has the option to move up - we were told DD will have to complete the full year. But we're not bothered and nor is DD. We're now viewing it as a positive – we don't want her struggling on a course she's not ready for and a diploma year to ease her in can only be a good thing. She's so excited to get started now!

We’re rural and no decent options locally so DD has a 90 minute each way commute to London. Talking to others at the open day it seemed pretty standard - some had even longer.

Thanks @OhCrumbsWhereNow that’s good to know. We don’t have many options around us it’s one main college and a sixth form hence why the home Ed rate is higher I think than norm. Plus a college that does outside courses but it’s that one I’ve heard has shifted the entry requirements after previously agreeing different ones months ago. It’s good to understand the different level options though. She’s self taught a lot of computer graphics stuff and sells some already via YouTube has her own website etc has a great portfolio of skills building up in creative media.

I think it’s very course dependent.

When DD went to enrol yesterday, they had a big whiteboard with requirements on it. It was divided into normal for L3, possible consideration for L3 and HomeEd requirements.

I don’t remember all of it, but I am pretty sure they just wanted English (Lit or Lang) and Maths at 4+ for HEd kids.

The college interviews all students and for some subjects it’s audition or portfolio as well, so that probably makes a difference. (College is specialist for music and creative arts).

I had a big spreadsheet of every possible L3 in DD’s subject and literally sat and rang them all to discuss the course, the modules, the entry requirements and then calculated travel times etc. Got it down to a shortlist of 3 and DD only liked 1 (thank god - I was massively panicking over that!)
Some colleges were amazing on the phone, others were useless.

@LarkspurLane
Dd said earlier that she can't believe she's been off for 8 weeks already...
2 weeks to go for dd, too.

Dd not being enrolled til next week.
We are going on a shopping spree, too 😄

Mine asked me when college started, and I was reluctant to wish the summer away - but when I said "in two weeks", he said, great, I need my new life to start!
Let's hope it's a better thing for him than the structure of school.

I was reading this morning that funding from government to colleges had some changes that may have impacted the requirement for 4 GCSE’s Inc Science but glad your DD @SuperTrooper1111 has a path forward.

We are home educating our 14yrDD so I joined the thread to understand more what we need to do to keep her options open as I’ve heard that some of the home Ed kids had offers pulled due to the same issue with 4-5 GCSE’s at certain grade levels. We are trying to help her get 4-5 gcses plus 2 equivalent qualifications over the next 2-3yrs but she’s autistic & adhd with adjustments in place and late Aug birthday. A Btec would be ideal for her after watching her sister struggle through Alevels this year. Previously the local college had more flexibility for kids like her with a strong portfolio of work but now I’m hearing the rules are tougher sadly. She’s very intelligent just struggles with exams.

@SuperTrooper1111 absolutely same situation for us, which makes me wonder who they actually have on the level 3 course.

However, the way the course director positioned it to us was potentially DS will get three years of free study and I don't want him struggling on a course he's not adequately equipped for.

He also said, if DS finds the level 2 too easy he can move to a level 3 earlier so that is another option.

She's really happy with the plan now. And in some ways it was better than we didn't know yesterday when she got her results.

@SuperTrooper1111 poor DD and you! It may be the best thing for her as you say, but how blinking disorganised and what a let down. Hope she is OK about it now.

Dd was accepted for her course assuming 4 x 5s.
She smashed that 👏 so she had her place.
But her enrolment is next week which is good in a way, as she has 2 days of work before then! :)
I so hope it goes ok...dd has had such a dreadful year so far 🤞

L3 Extended BTEC should be 3 A level equivalent.

@TeenToTwenties We were surprised when the offer came through but DD did have a brilliant interview so we assumed – silly of us, really – it was off the back of that. Having read up now on what the Level 2 involves I'm even more convinced it's the best option to ease her in after the trauma of GCSEs. The college was brilliant today about already sorting out access arrangements for her assessments.