Find information about post 16 education, or further education, including support for children aged 16 to 18 years.
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What is post 16 education?
Post 16 education, also known as further education, covers from age 16 to 18 years.
The law says that you must stay at school until the end of Year 11, which will usually be when you are aged 16. In England, you can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be aged 16 by the end of the summer holidays.
You must then do one of the following until you’re 18 years old:
- stay in full-time education, for example at a college
- start an apprenticeship
- spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training.
Post 16 education includes studying further at sixth forms or colleges selecting either academic, vocational or practical courses as well as securing an apprenticeship. ‘Sixth forms’ are schools that only offer education for children aged 16 to 19 years, they are often part of a secondary school.
It is now compulsory for young people to stay in some form of education until they are 18 years old. This doesn’t mean they have to stay on at school or go to college, they can get a job with a training element to it, but they cannot work full-time without some training.
Young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan
Young people with learning or physical disabilities with an EHC plan could choose to go to a specialist college.
Specialist colleges offer a range of courses at different levels, generally including the skills that you will need for adult life such as money management and healthy life choices; functional skills in Maths and English; and, where appropriate, vocational options to help prepare you for the world of work. Most of these colleges now offer work experience as part of your study programme.
Go to our Post 16, further and higher education page for more information
Qualifications
If you decide to stay in full-time education, you could study subjects, a more practical and knowledge-based course or more technical or vocational studies.
Your full time education options include:
- A levels which you can do at sixth form college, further education college or a University Technical College
- Vocational Technical Qualifications (VTQ) such as BTEC or Cambridge technical
- T Levels which you can do at further education college.
Apprenticeships are real jobs which combine work with training and study. You can apply for an apprenticeship whilst you’re still at school. You’ll earn a wage, gain a qualification and experience and can put what you learn into practice. In some cases, you may be offered a job at the end of your apprenticeship.
Although you must remain in either education or training until you turn 18, this does not mean that you cannot earn a wage or gain work experience at the same time. There are several options, such as apprenticeships, traineeships, supported internships, volunteering or working part-time for 20 or more hours per week.
For more information, visit
- Post 16 options (Nationals Careers Service)
- Education beyond 16 (Contact - For families with Disabled Children)
Special educational needs support
Mainstream further education (FE) colleges support students with special educational needs in a similar way to schools. Colleges should not refuse to admit a young person who has special educational needs (SEN) but doesn't have an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
Students with SEN who do not need EHC plans are given help through SEN support. There should be a named person in overall charge of SEN provision, similar to the school special educational needs coordinator (SENCO), and the college must make sure that students with SEN know who they can go to for help.
Extra help for young people should be detailed in a SEN support plan. The college should involve a young person in planning their support and keep records of the additional support given and progress made and review the support plan to ensure it is still meeting their needs.
Colleges should refer to specialist services for further advice and support if required, for example from education psychologists.
Under the Equality Act 2010, mainstream FE colleges must do everything they reasonably can to remove all the barriers to learning for disabled students.
Support might include:
- Accessible information, like symbol-based materials
- Mentoring
- Assistive technology, specialist tuition or note-takers
- One-to-one and small group learning support
- Access to therapies
- Housing/independent living training.
Young people who need more help than a mainstream FE college could normally provide will need an EHC plan.
For more about EHC plans, including how to apply, go to the Education, health and care (EHC) plan page
Applying for a post 16 education place
Applying for a place at a college or sixth form is done directly with the sixth form or college you have chosen.
Most Sixth forms and Colleges will have open days where you can look around and speak to the staff about the entry requirements to attend.
Search for post 16 education providers
Find details of post 16 education providers in our SEND Local Offer: Post 16 providers (Service directory)