After secondary school what ....... New legislation

[Wirelady]

My daughter is 16 with special needs finishing secondary school. With the new legislation she needs to stay in education till 18. She won't have any GSCEs... A few BTeC maybe. 6th form is out of question, colleges want GCSEs as requirement. Apprenticeship is hard to come by and they won't take a special need one....
What option do we have, I don't want her just I do literacy numeracy in a college only....

Anyone in the same shoe? What can I do? Where can I put her to learn a vocation?

Is she in mainstream ? Most colleges will offer Supported Learning courses or possibly an LSA on a ms vocational course such as an NVQ. although she may have to do basic numeracy and literacy alongside.

My FE college has supported learning and foundation learning faculties. ds2 did a year in his ss 6th form and then transferred to college. The ss have a link there and take their own school LSAs with them for students going into mainstream classes

The students on the supported learning courses in my college generally have all come from special schools. They work on numeracy, literacy, PHSE, employability skills and then also choose a vocational area. The most popular are catering, performing arts and sports but there is a huge range. The typical profile of students will have numeracy/literacy levels varying from Entry 1 through to E3 but there are students there with spikey profiles. There is a work experience element to the course too

The foundation students are generally E3 to L1 although there are also entry into employment and training courses (EET). Our college offers catering, sport, performing arts and media all alongside an english maths and PHSE/work skills curriculum. The students can progress up to L1 and then transfer to a fully accredited L1 or L2 BTEC or City & Guilds course.

Check out your local FE college but start with school asking them where previous students with a similar profile to your daughter will have gone. If she has had a statement and moves onto college, she will have an LDA assessment with her needs set out.

DD1 is now 22 is Dyspraxic and has other learning difficulties. Anyway she didn't do very well in her GCSES so was unable to do her chosen course at a local college. However another Further Education college took her on to a NVQ level one hospitality and catering course which she passed and gained good experience. Her Tutors however felt she wouldn't cope with level 2, So at the college's advice she did a years foundation course that was geared towards people at her level, She did various things that year and really gained confidence. She then went on to do BTECH First Diploma in IT which was GCSE level she carried this on to the next level and last year she did the Extended Diploma and got Distinction Merit Merit. She is now in her first year at university doing a computer degree. Yes it took a few years for her to get to this level. But we found college was much more supportive then school. She also found that BTEC was the best route for her. She has found it a good foundation for uni as she is used to doing assignments in her own time. Sorry this is so long but I hope it helps.

Forgot to say that the college's around here take pupils who have BTECs and also will take them on to some entry level courses without anything.