Son wants to do an apprenticeship after leaving school but what if he doesnt get accepted on to one?

[Boredandlonely9182]

My son leaves school next year and my husband and I feel pretty clueless on next steps. We both just went to sixth form and then uni along with all our friends . Was seen as the done thing 20 years ago. I had some friends at school who left at 16 and started work straight away and have done really well for themselves.
Our son is not academic at all. Hated school and cant wait to leave. He is in the bottom set for all lessons and is predicted 3's ,4's and 5's across his gcses. He also has adhd and we also think he is on the spectrum aswell but no diagnosis for that yet.
He thinks an apprenticeship would be the best option. As more hands on and just one day a week at college.
There is no point whatsoever in him taking A levels or attending a college 5 days a week as he will either give up and stop going, or will go but likely not to pass the a levels.
We dont really know what is available for him to do? When should we start applying for apprenticeships? And what if it takes a long time for him to be accepted on to one and he leaves school with nothing to move on to?
And if he fails maths and English where would he resit them? Hoping someone can advise us. Thanks

I just wanted to add look at the FE options near you. These will not be 5 days a week sat at a desk. The college my son looking at they are 3 days a week to give 2 days a week for work experience and they are very practical courses. From welding to tree surgery..

That said a few of his friends did get apprentiships at that age. They were very motivated. The school advertised some, they went to fairs and they approached potential employers direct, literally driving round garages and dropping off cvs. One got one in a IT firm that ran helpdesks, 1 in plastic welding, 2 mechanics and 1 in construction. The pay and training varied quite a bit. But all of them got the magic 4 in maths so I cant answer what would have happened.

My son is in year 9, so in the blink of an eye, he’ll be leaving school.
He has autism and isn’t academic, either, although he does enjoy school for the most part.
I also think i’m guilty of underestimating him sometimes.

I’m already worried about what he’ll do after his GCSEs.

One of my priorities is to make sure he passes maths and English, and fortunately, a good friend of mine is an experienced SEND teacher, and has offered to tutor my son.

Colleges offer BTEC/more practical type courses, he can re take maths and English - and he really should get those out of the way, it'll be worth it.
Time tables are rarely five days a week so it will be less intense than school. Could he do more practical, less writing based subjects- anything he enjoys or interests, photography, PE anything to him to keep him in some kind of focused training/education.
Apprenticeships are very competitive here and often go to the kids who are in a day release college course/where they can see they’ve done well and are committed and reliable.

College should support his growing independence, he wouldn’t have to wear uniform, it’s a fresh start and new social opportunities that might appeal.

If he has the Maths and English prior to application it puts him in the pot that employers are interested in, which will be very competitive and also have a number of candidates of all ages / levels of education, as apprenticeships no longer have tight age restrictions. Look at UCAS, it has an apprenticeship section now, talk to any employer that is advertising and ask them what their requirements for the roles are and when they open applicant doors. Get your questions lined up and use whatever careers advice you can find, do not rely on one source!! Apprenticeships all have frameworks, most of which you can view online, to see what they demand of a candidate. Travel may be an issue too, so what's your local labour market needs, what do they offer?

Definitely check out college courses OP. it's really important to have a back up and many are suited to less academic kids. What about something like agricultural college? I'd imagine their courses are pretty hands on.

My DD is at an agricultural college. Her favourite lesson was dog walking.
But she only had 1 practical day per week and 2 theory.

Also had a 'uniform' PPE for practical days.

This is out of date, I’m afraid. In England, he needs to be in education until 18, and the education provider needs to offer English and maths resits, or equivalent.

‘education’ can mean an apprenticeship though, using the links that lots of others have provided.

My husband is a plumber, he did an apprenticeship through the local college. He would do 1 day a week at college and then 4 days a week with various other plumbers out in the van (local housing group). He did fail his English GCSE so had to do functional English level 2 whilst at college, this was an extra hour or two a week I believe and he found this easier than GCSE English.
You do need to prepare your son for some college time, any apprenticeship will still involve some sort of classroom time, coursework, assessment etc as it's still education and gaining a qualification at the end of the day.

Can you get a tutor to help him pass maths and english because he will be really limited without these and may just have to go to college and retake these, rather than doing the practical course he wants to do.

People have posted apprenticeship links but reach out to local colleges too, you should both attend the open days and events because the apprenticeships are run through colleges

Yes it’s very important to reach out to colleges too, as you say. The reason I posted a couple of links is, the shows are good for the youngsters connecting with others. I don’t want to derail this thread but I’m in the situation where my nephew is older and not enjoying his current A-level college course. I wasn’t in the position when he was younger to have a “say” (or guidance) in what he does but, due to tragic circumstances, now am. I think OP and others on this are wonderfully astute in looking into this now. The beauty of apprenticeships is they are varied and can be applied for directly - yet I can absolutely see OP’s worry if her son doesn’t get a place. I can only give an example from my experience about open days - one of my children wanted to do an apprenticeship and we went to a Unilever open days. The young lad who did the presentation said that at school he really didn’t know what to do but he lived in the town where Unilever are and he’d seen many people getting on the free bus to work. With guidance he got onto a 2-year apprenticeship and at the end he was called into the office. He thought he’d failed and was going to be told to leave. In fact his supervisor had identified him as someone who they thought could convert to the degree apprenticeship. He was such a ray of sunshine and a real inspiration. You could see how his confidence had grown, alongside his knowledge and skills - he was in a huge company and presenting in front of hundreds of people. My nephew is feeling very negative, especially in a very small college, I really want him to see the students advocating for apprenticeships and feed off their energy.
(Btw I’m not saying my sister did the wrong thing, she would’ve been doing the same but sooner, I’m trying to be in her shoes).

There is so much misinformation about apprenticeships. Even schools are quite useless when it comes to advice.

An apprenticeship is basically a job + training. Colleges can work with local employers who are offering App positions, but it’s not the only way to find them. The government apprenticeship website will advertise some roles, as will the jobcentre. A young person can also go directly to local employers to scout out any opportunities.

Parents often want/expect their DCs to secure a Level 6 Apprenticeship. In reality, the chances of getting onto a degree apprenticeships straight from school are negligible. Level 2 Apprenticeships are much, much easier to find. My DS did a Level 2 accountancy apprenticeship, then Level 3, then Level 4. Most employers are happy to support a good staff member through the levels. Once he’d finished Level 4, he decided that accounting wasn’t what he wanted to do. He was far more interested in persuing a more operational role. He’s still working in his finance role, but he’s progressed onto a Level 6 Business Management degree apprenticeship.

He would never have got onto a Level 6 straight from school. His route of Apprenticeship progression is much more common. I know OP that your DC is looking for something more vocational so this advice probably isn’t relevant but I just wanted to put it out there because I often see parents pushing their DCs toward Level 6s on here, and writing off lower level Apps.

Parents often want/expect their DCs to secure a Level 6 Apprenticeship. In reality, the chances of getting onto a degree apprenticeships straight from school are negligible

I would say the odds are a little higher than that. Three of my nephews have managed it.

My BiL is a welder and there's very good money in it. It's hard work and often long days but definitely a very good career path.

There were 46,800 degree apprenticeship starts last year. The majority of these wouldn’t have gone to school leavers, they’d be current employees of a company who are looking to continue their professional development. Your nephews must have been extremely lucky/bright! Huge congratulations to them! The acceptance rate for a degree apprenticeship application is 0.7%.

(I should add, my background is in Apprenticeship training provision).

Military apprenticeship at 16, loads of careers to choose from. Get paid. Get qualifications. And he could apply now.

Look at college open days and see what they offer, they can advise you and some companies looking for apprentices are at these open days so it’s worthwhile taking to them. Over the holidays he could offer some work experience to get a feel for what it’s like to make sure he’s making the right decision, this will also help with an application and show potential employers he’s given it plenty thought.

My background is higher education and I have helped set up level 6 and 7 degree apprenticeship programmes, some of which are open to school leavers (through the sponsoring company). However, I had no idea that the overall straight from school acceptance rate was so low.

I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from applying though, despite the odds.

I had a young relative with poor GCSEs. He got an apprenticeship with a large truck dealership at 17 and was making 35k a year by his early 20's and loving the work.

Just a thought - 3 months to the GCSE's. Could you afford tutoring in Maths and English ? Talk to him about a big push to get the passing grade so he can get on with his life?

I would explore what's on offer at local colleges and start there. He might have to do a couple of years there to get his foot in the door with a local company prepared to sponsor his apprenticeship which really seems to be about work experience and proving that he's not as flakey as hell.

I wouldn’t discourage them from applying at all. But many young people will apply, not be accepted and then end up going to uni instead, rather than applying for a lower level apprenticeship and climbing the ladder that way. It’s important that they understand all the routes available to them, and are not deterred if they don’t get straight onto a level 6.

Ah. I'm not in England, so we still have a local careers service. Which is just as well because the school didn't seem to offer much. The careers service may well have been into the school, but there certainly wasn't a frequent service.

My son was funnelled into A levels which didn't turn out well for him, but a visit to the careers service offered a couple one to one discussions and they were able to come up with a few options.

My son hated A levels- to be frank just hates written work -he’s now 27 and adult diagnosed ADHD - he is however very clever - at least he managed his 7 GCSEs ( As and bs in English and maths) doing next to no work too

he left 6th form and did an apprenticeship in networks and Comms (IT) and has worked on it ever since from 16 - getting a head start over others - lives in London and works for a really good MSP

Both of my children chose the apprenticeship route (engineering and office work). Their school definitely abandoned them as soon as it became clear they weren't university fodder.
I worked in careers advice during this time so between us we sorted out their apprenticeships. 10 years later they are both flying high in their chosen paths with no student debt and absolutely no regrets. I'm so proud of them.

Seven years ago my youngest was adamant he didn’t want to go to uni. He applied for lots of degree apprenticeships and school wanted him to apply to UCAS as well. When he said no point, they abandoned him. No problem, he did get on a course. Last year school invited him back - to do a talk on how good apprenticeships are 😂.

Have a look on this website as there’s absolutely tonnes on there and you can search by location, levels, etc. https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

if you’re by any chance near Leeds, there’s a city wide apprenticeship fair next month at the arena.

academic or not, apprenticeships are the way forward. I work in software engineering and i’ve seen apprentices go from 16 to 22, no uni debt and on over 60k a year in early 20s…regardless of industry if he can get an apprenticeship then that’s the way to go imo, I wouldn’t encourage my children to go to uni now