Career Options for School Leavers

Here you’ll find information and advice on school leaver options, including help with figuring out gap years, the advantages and disadvantages of vocational training and academic routes, and how to support your child with exam stress. We also include an overview of post-16 school leaver options – International Baccalaureate, further education, vocational courses, apprenticeships and traineeships – as well as post-18 school leaver options, such as school leaver programmes, sponsored degrees, apprenticeships and university.

In England, people may leave school on the last Friday in June as long as they will be 16 by the end of that year’s summer holidays, but everyone born on or after 1st September 1997 must stay in some form of education or training – further education college for example – until they are 18 years old. This means it’s essential you and your child know everything you can about all the options. Check out our specialised Parents sections on apprenticeships, college and work to find out more detailed information on the various levels of apprenticeship – Intermediate Apprenticeships, Advanced Apprenticeships, Higher Apprenticeships, Degree Apprenticeships – school leaver programmes and sponsored degrees, as well as further education college courses and advice on how your child could go straight from school into the world of work, if that’s the option they choose.

By reading our general school leaver options advice articles here, you’ll be able to figure out what other areas of our website’s Parents section to read through.