If my son leaves 6th form at 16 are we breaking the law ? And do I loose child benefit?

[ShellSay]

This is a bit complicated, my DS is 16 yrs old and at 6th form atm, he is doing resit English GCSE, Business Studies, ICT and Finance. Doing okay-ish it's always been a bit of a struggle getting him to concentrate but he does like it here. However I have had our home up for sale since June last year and it sold in November, now the sale has all gone through we have found a new house but it's in a totally different area around 45minutes drive away, close to the beach and a lovely area for my two sons to really enjoy, they're both very excited to move too, I also have the opportunity of starting a new job close by too, my youngest son has been accepted into a very good school. And my eldest 16yr old son was going to be driven to his old school for the rest of the year to complete his studies. BUT, now the teachers at said school have said he'll have to leave as it's no point traveling that far each day even though I have been to the school and discussed the arrangements with them and they dropped his days down to three instead of five, they now don't want him there. So I have spoken to the school where my youngest son starts as soon as we move, to see if they will take him and they've said it would be better if he restarts 6th form years 12/13 in September. This is ok my DS has said he doesn't mind doing that, but, will I get into trouble for him not being in education from now until September?? Do I loose child benefit for him and what on earth will he do with himself for 7 months ! Can he get an apprenticeship now or does he have to wait until September too. Not sure what to do as he really wanted to finish the year off to at least get his English resit. Please help many thanks 😘

Could he home school/ get a tutor and the new school allow him in for his english resit? I am not in the UK but does hos current school not have a legal obligation to educate him or find him an alternative?

Surely it's not up to the teachers to decide that your son can't be at his old school? Thousands of kids travel that distance or further on a daily basis.

You won't get into trouble as such but you will lose the CB.I'm surprised that his current school aren't being more supportive tbh especially if he has the gcse to re-sit.

Apprenticeships can be started at any time too.

My daughter has travelled an hour each way to school since the age of 11. Unless your son isn't turning up/keeping up with the work it's nothing to do with them how far he travels.

See if there is a careers/connexions area in your new area and get in touch. Your son may be able to do a short course at a training provider and level 2 functional skills English. If he is in training like this you will still get child benefit but if he becomes unemployed it will stop. Find college courses in your new area for sept, they will be having open days and taking applications now. Also he can look for an apprenticeship on the national apprentice website but they are not short term - would be a minimum of 12 months up to 4 years depending on what he does. If he restarted training or college later in the year you could reclaim child benefit.

The school has to continue with his place as long as long as he attends.

the raising if the participation age means he does need to be in education or training (you cannot start HE at this point, though continuing is fine).

Thank you I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if they'll do that for him, it's heartbreaking seeing him getting so worried about it x

Sorry if that didn't make much sense I'm new to this lol, I'm truly overwhelmed with how much advice you all have, I am going to call the new school tomorrow and try to get him in to do his English resit and perhaps they'll help with him settling in for restarting year 12 in September, I'm also going to look at some private tutors although they can be expensive. I won't be able to home school him as I'm hoping to start my new job in March too, so much happening all at once. Exciting but also worrying at the same time x

Poor lad it is a very worrying situation to find himself in.Does he have any idea of what he may like to do career wise?Many are completely clueless at this age and I think that this adds to the pressure.

Well at the moment he wants to be a Computer protection/security systems programming engineer, whereby he'd work for a computer company that put very strong/good security systems onto their network of computers, for large corporations etc he's read about it and that's what he's got his mind set on, so I'm pleased in a way he actually knows where he wants to go, which is difficult at 16. Bless him x

He's told me he'll do this until be knows everything he needs to then wants to own his own company one day, he's got his head screwed in when it comes to what he wants to do. Hes very smart but finds English such a bore always has, but he knows what he has to do to get anywhere nowadays such a shame there's so many bright kids out there but just because they've not passed they're GCSE ENGLISH they're not given the chance 😕

If you register with connections or local equivalent then your CB will continue for twenty weeks - regardless of any actual courses or training.
However the school cannot make your ds leave because he has moved house.
If they do anyway, are they an academy then I wouldn't disrupt my dc education for a house move.

Ask them to see what policy they hold that says this bs about travel.
Many 16 year olds here travel across London to get to college and this is more than 45 minutes.