What happens if you DON'T continue education after 16?

Assuming you have a pass in English at GCSE, that all sounds fine. You can learn the GCSE material in a few days if you are motivated and have a good memory, and those A levels should be fine.

Your personal statement would be written with the same stipulations as anyone else's would. When the time comes there is a section on TSR where people can review a draft of your PS. I wouldn't worry about this too much yet unless a prerequisite for your course is practical voluntary or paid experience, in which case it is usually prudent to reflect on this experience in your PS and, as such, you need to consider how you might get that experience.

Your reference would ideally be somebody from your previous school but, given your poor academic record, it might prove more appropriate for you to use a manager at work. This is especially true if you work in an industry which is related to your proposed study.

UCAS points are decided by your attainment on a given course and are not a product of the method you use to attain them. If you get BBB, it makes no difference to your points total whether you achieved them as a full-time student or as a self-taught one. You may find that universities view your attainment differently on this basis, especially if you are working full-time as well as studying at a full-time pace, but that isn't something anyone can confirm for you.

Norland haven't stated that students would need any work/voluntary experience however I'm going to take the precaution of doing so anyway. Would you think it wise for me to apply elsewhere as well and not just limit myself to Norland? I know I want to work with babies and children so I would just as happily study to become a midwife or English teacher for example! Which is why I wanted to study a range of different subjects that wouldn't be irrelevant if Norland were to decline my application.
Sorry I know I have a million and one questions I hope you don't mind answering them!

I don't mind answering.

Gaining relevant experience will never be detrimental, so that is sensible.

Yes, it would be sensible to apply for other courses at other universities as well. You should be aware, though, that to be an English teacher you will typically need to have studied a degree course with at least 50% of the content being English related. Secondly, you can only submit one personal statement and reference in any given application cycle (though you may be able to change direction in clearing etc.). Given that, it would be inadvisable to apply for both childcare and English courses in the same application cycle. You could certainly do so in consecutive years, and having the English A level would leave this option open to you.

There are other routes into teaching and ways to gain the relevant subject knowledge, but for our purposes that's not immediately important. I would suggest you have a good think about which career you would prefer though, because an English degree will in no way preclude you from having a successful career in childcare.

Great because your information is very useful! I most definitely want to work in childcare it's just that English has always been my favourite subject and I'm quite passionate about it so that would have been a kind of back up plan, if you will. Do you have any advice on how best to study at home? For example, how will I know that I'm learning the same content as everyone else? Which textbooks shall I buy? And as I didn't think of university being an option to me when I was in school, I'm not really sure how the whole process works. When it comes to writing a personal statement, I've always thought of it as being similar to writing a covering letter for a job application. Do you write why you want to study your chosen subject, why you're interested in it, what you hope to get out of your course etc... ?

The most direct thing to do is to buy the companion textbook(s) for the specific course you take, such as these. Alongside that, you should ensure you have covered all of the material outlines in the specification, an example of which you can see here. It is much harder to judge how well you have understood concepts in essay based subjects, so if you decided to pursue this I would advise you to make liberal use of online forums such as this one when you have issues. There will almost always be someone studying the same course who will provide the kind of feedback they have received from their teachers.

The university process is that you apply in your last year of prerequisite study, so in your case the second year of A level study (first if you intend to teach yourself all of the material in one year). The deadline is in January, but there is no good reason to wait that long before applying. I personally applied at some point in late Sep/early Oct, but there is no need to apply that early either unless you are applying for certain courses or at Oxbridge. You can make up to five choices, all of whom will see the same academic information, reference and personal statement. You apply via UCAS, and when it comes to it you will find there are an abundance of guides available to talk you through it. There are also a handful of posters on TSR who will give you the correct advice in most situations, so simply post a thread on TSR at the time if you are confused. It is, however, really quite simple.

A personal statement is essentially a page of writing explaining why you wish to study the subject, what makes you a strong applicant and a few other things. Unrelated extra-curriculars are essentially irrelevant, so don't worry about them. Again, there is an abundance of information available on TSR and elsewhere regarding how to write an effective statement. Worry about it nearer the time.

I do intend on studying it all within one year, eager I know but I want to get through it all as quickly as possible as I'm now two years behind my peers. But thank you so much for all of your advice and information, I'm sure it will come in handy!

In that case, you need to call the school you mentioned and ask when their deadline for exam submissions are as they are sometimes around now.

Best of luck with everything.

I don't want to be blunt but you might as well immigrate to a country that has no laws on further education because you have to be in education until your 18. Enjoy the fines from the police and let your mum know she will attend court half a dozen times including massive fine bills and jail sentences.

As a college drop out, if anyone stumbles across this i hope it helps since I've been seeing these posts everywhere and people still going on about it.

If you decide NOT to go to college or drop out (i dropped out about 3 months in) you lose benefits but there are no fines, no court calls and no jail, that would be a joke.

Yes the law says anyone under the age of 18 must stay in some sort of education, employment or training but that is only if you wish, otherwise your child benefits go away (which is about £13.70 per week if you have siblings, mire if youre an only child) and you will not get YOUR benefits so anything ranging from glasses, prescriptions, dentist etc you will now have to pay for, which isnt fun but it is your choice, first thing anyone should do if they plan to drop out or not go to further education is speak to family.

I know this was asked years ago, but I had the same question recently. However, I can see that nobody answered your question. No-one seems to have properly read your question, they just rant on about what's right. Stupid people lacking basic comprehension skills. In answer, it appears there's no compulsion to do anything after leaving school, but I suspect you cannot

Just so you know I'm speaking here theoretically, and I do plan on going to sixth form and doing A-Levels.

What happens if you don't go to sixth form or college, or do an apprenticeship, in fact you do nothing? I'm just intrigued to see what will happen, as the law says that you must continue education until you're 18.

I'm asking because my (very stupid) friend is planning on doing this. There's no point convincing her so I'm not asking for advice on how to - I just want to know what will happen.

Thanks.

Edit: No stupid responses and bother to read the OP damn it.

I want to do this not because I’m lazy but because of mental health reasons. I want to go to school and do well but I can’t. I’m hardly in school. I wish there was another option