Does the leaked guidelines for schools apply to Sixth Form and Further Education Colleges ?

[happymummy2010]

or will there be a different set of guidelines ?

I can't see how students can be in year group bubbles when they will be doing a mixture of GSCE retakes, A-Levels, BTECs and vocational courses.

Is the risk to 17 & 18 Year old students more than younger students in schools ?

I haven't seen anything to suggest it wouldn't apply

And yes, those are exactly the difficulties that secondary schools face, particularly from year 10 upwards, but also for any subject which is setted, and maybe from year 9 if they have hitherto done a 3 year GCSE course.

I agree this seems to be overlooked in discussions in the news about schools. Pupils aged 16-18 years old are adults in many ways and may be at higher risk of Covid or actually at lower risk due to better social distancing and ability to wear a mask properly etc. Would they be more likely to bring an infection home? I haven't heard any information about this. The government really need to address this issue.
A'levels and BTECs are just as important to a child's education as primary education and GCSEs. But the pupils are picking 3-4 subjects that probably include no 'core' subjects and very few pupils will pick the same 3-4 subjects exactly. So presumably teaching in 'bubbles' will not be possible.
The best approach would be to reduce the amount of infections by keeping more restrictions in place so that when September comes around, the older kids/young adults can go back to school wearing masks and learn as normal.