Post 16....a question

[KitKats28]

Ok so it's now the law (we live in England) that 16-18 year olds must be in education or training.

My daughter is in year 11 and is distinctly average. She will probably get 3 or 4 Cs and the rest Ds. She is bright but by no means academic. She also has hearing loss (and gets lower rate DLA in case this might be relevant).

So given all that, we have been exploring post 16 options. Basically they involve 6th form at the school she is at, college in the next town or an apprenticeship.

The school she attends at the moment offers a range of A Levels (which she will not be able for) and 3 BTECS (none of which interest her). We don't know much about the college yet (open evening next week) but they don't offer a very wide range of courses, so that leaves apprenticeships.

My question is, whilst I understand she has to do one of the above, what happens if there is nothing she can do at the college and she doesn't get accepted on an apprenticeship. I don't particularly mean what we can do to make it happen, just that there must be some sort of provision for this, and extensive googling hasn't left me any better informed.

By making it law that it has to happen, does this mean it just will happen?!

I think she will be expected to enrol on a college course even if she has no burning interest in it.

Otherwise she will be NEET and I think you lose benefits for her?

My DS has just started a residential college as the local ones didnt do the course he was interested in. Its expensive but he is loving it.

In addition to apprenticeships there are study programmes and traineeships, which are meant to give them experience to boost their CV for the apprenticeships. Get an appt with the schools independent careers advisor and they will talk you through it. She can still apply for jobs, its just has to have training attached to it.

If she gets below c in Maths or English then she will need to take a level entry/1/2 course as part of whatever else she opts for. The college will offer a range of subjects from level 1 upwards and probably be better geared up to offer access arrangements if that is appropriate.

Does she have an EHC plan for her hearing loss? If so, you have the option of an individualised study programme which in very lay terms means she has a curriculum tailored specifically to her aspirations and the outcomes set within the document. There is government guidance available on them but I can't find the link right now.

The supported employment service has a department called participation and progression which offers supported internships which may be an option if she has an EHC plan as you need one to access the programme but if she doesn't have one would supported employment be an option?

I also have a dd in Y11 and have so far visited a sixth form and FE college.
It depends on which subjects she manages to achieve her grade Cs. If she can obtain Cs in Maths and English (or sometimes just one of these) then she possibly would be able to take a level 3 course e.g. BTEC (and resit either Maths or English). If she has Ds in both of these subjects she would probably still be accepted onto a level 2 course as the standard offer for these courses seems to be 4Ds.
Hope that helps.

Thank you for all the information so far. My son plodded through GCSEs and A Levels without thinking too much about it and just started university so this was all new for me.

No, she doesn't have an EHC. I have to admit, she completely fell through the cracks as I didn't realise until recently that she should have been placed with the hearing support service about 6 years ago. No one had ever told me it existed! Anyway I am trying hard to sort this out at the moment. I think she will need far more support after year 11 than she has so far!!

Supported employment sounds like it would be worth exploring further thank you.

As far as grades, she will definitely get a C in Maths, and she's in a special group to help her bring her English grades up to scratch so fingers crossed she should scrape a C in that as well.

I'm just a bit overwhelmed, as during school her deafness hasn't been a major issue for her as she has established her own coping mechanisms, but now we are approaching the next stage she is beginning to panic a bit about what she will be able to do.

Her Year 10 work experience placement was a disaster as she managed one day before being unable to cope in a different environment and being too embarrassed to say to anyone that she is deaf.

She/you can request an assessment for a plan at any point up to 25 so if you think she will get one, do it now so that there is something in place for next year whatever route she takes

When we were looking for BTECs for DD1 we also had a lot of trouble finding one that interested her. She's now somewhere which is an hour door to door, but likes the course so it's worth it.

What are your DD's interests and skills? Maybe we can suggest something?

Thank you so much you're all really helpful.

I will definitely investigate the assessment process. Do I do this through school?

She is a typical 15 year old in that everything is "boring". I think it's partially a defence mechanism to not have to think/talk about the future. In some ways she is quite young for her age and I think the thought that all this will be a reality in less than a year is overwhelming for her.

She enjoys photography and seems quite good at it. She has looked for a college course but there doesn't seem to be anything available locally. Where we live has pretty bad public transport links, I'm disabled and don't drive and DH (her dad) works 8-5 half an hour away.

Ultimately I know that it will be a case of her getting off her arse and getting organised, but I'm still wondering what will happen if she can't actually find anything.

Usually the art courses or design ones have photograpy in them as a unit / module. Most FE courses will offer art based subjects.

You can ask the LEA for an assessment yourself but they will only write to the school to ask for details so its best to tell the school what you intend doing. See here for how to go about it and here and here too its a long drawn out process and Y11 transfers are meant to be done and dusted by end of Feb or March I can't remember the exact date, you'll need to get your skates on to meet that deadline. It isn't crucial but it does make things easier in terms of planning for the receiving college if she is to leave school for somewhere new