Animal care courses in London for an 18-year-old after year 13

[Thedogswhiskers]

I wonder if anyone can help. Dd is in year 12 doing 2 a levels and we are thinking what to do post year 13. She has struggled with mental health issues and doesn’t want to go to uni at this stage. She is considering animal
care and looking for a course to do in London so can live at home. What we have found so far is only for 16-18 year olds at college, level
2 or 3, so I don’t think she can do it can she? She will be turning 18 summer next year so would be still 18 starting on the course.

The college I have enquired to take
5 days to respond to each email and then leave out vital info so it’s a slow process to get answers!

Capel Manor does Level 4 - have you tried? Their main campus is in Enfield but they have others in parks around London. My son did Level 3 there and enjoyed it.

https://www.nescot.ac.uk/part-time-and-adults/animal-studies/

She could also do another Level 3 year to see if she likes it first... there's no rush into Level 4, especially if she has struggled. DS is taking his sweet time to decide what to do next and that's fine with me!

https://findapprenticeshiptraining.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/courses/332/providers?location=London%20Fields,%20Greater%20London&distance=10

What is she thinking of doing after the course? A lot of those courses aren’t actually essential (or required at all) for working with animals, and she might be better off looking for a job as a veterinary care assistant, or in a pet shop / farm / whatever she wants to do eventually (or doing voluntary work), they may offer on the job training or integrated college courses as well.

If she takes her A levels she won’t be able to do another L3 - unless she pays. The three year entitlement to L3 funding only applies if you don’t have L3 quals, so one year L2 followed by two year L3 is fine, two year L3 then drop out after one year and restart another two year L3 also fine.

Does she need to do a qualification? Could she volunteer for a year to sort her MH out?

Have you looked at the college of animal welfare?may be a good option

Thank you, have registered for their open day webinar

@titchy gosh this is a bit more complicated than I had hoped. She does want to do something low key and keen to hopefully make friends. We are working on the volunteering part!

@Calmestofallthechickens she isn’t sure what she wants to do after, but keen to hopefully do something she will enjoy in the meantime. Nothing that will be too stressful academically at this point. She did a little animal
care course at a city farm which gave her the idea

@ikeepforgetting thats what I was hoping but not sure that she can from others comments

@Unexpectedlysinglemum thank
you but may be a little bit much for her at present

Full time animal care course is academically challenging. For example, on the btec you have 150 hours work experience, a portfolio where you have to create detail evidence for 18 weeks of handing, there is a biology exam and a welfare and ethics exam in January, theory lessons on work experience, boarding and behaviour, animal health portfilo. Practical handling of animals is a small part of the course.

I'm not sure you're accentuating the positives enough!

Yes, the course has a lot of components but it's more than doable for someone who has already studied for A-Levels. The exams aren't as intensive, there's less material to absorb, and the practical hours are easy to fit around that studying. My daughter is studying animal care at Capital City College in Angel in London and the tutors are really great at keeping on top of what the students need to do. There's a great parent portal too, so OP would be able to keep an eye on how her DD is doing and offer support where she needs it. Sorting out work experience can be a bit stressful, because the competition for places is fierce, but carrying it out is amazing for the students. My DD soared in confidence after doing hers.

@Thedogswhiskers, do check out the Angel campus at City. They've just opened a new £250k animal centre which is just fantastic and the kids get so much hands on experience with the animals. I'm pretty sure she can enrol up to 19 and still qualify for non-fee paying.

To add, it's worth thinking about her doing a one-year Level 2 animal care as a transition year, even though she's sat A-Levels. My DD's also had MH issues and we found it's been exactly what she needed to build her confidence and shake off the stress of secondary school. Then yours could progress to one of the Higher Education animal management courses at Capel afterwards, if she wanted. The Level 2 would count towards the overall UCAS points she needed.

@Passingthrough123 thank you so much! That does sound more positive and what she is looking for. CCC is actually where I was contacting as they are our closest but no
sign of an open day until the autumn. She is academically able but with all that has been going on in her head she would enjoy a course a bit less intensive for a bit after she hopefully finishes A levels, therefore level 2 sounds like it fits the bill. I’ll need to see if they will allow her to do it of course. We watched a webinar by CAW but she definitely knows she doesn’t want to do online.

I can't see why they wouldn't let her do it – she more than meets the requirements in terms of GCSE attainment and there's no rule that says you can't do a Level 2 course if you've already done A-Levels. There might be more open days in August before term starts, but if she has any questions you can always DM me and I'll get my DD to answer them! As I said, she's loves it there and doing Level 2 was just the transition year she needed after school.

There are funding rules though - students can’t normally drop a level or retake a level once they have achieved. Unless they have an EHCP.

@Passingthrough123 thank you so much!
Great your dd really enjoying it

@titchyI’m hoping because she dropped an A level, therefore is doing two,
means she can do one of the levels to make up the third. Or that may be wishful thinking