Specialist colleges and training providers
If you have complex special educational needs (SEN) and an education, health and care plan (EHC), specialist colleges and training providers may be able to help. These are available if you are 16 or over 19 years old.
Talk to your careers advisor or school teacher to find out your options. Or visit the CXK website .
If you have an EHC plan, your school will talk to you about a phase transfer review. Some people call this an annual review. This chat will happen in year 10 and they will look at your EHC plan.
Further education settings
A further education setting can be a mainstream sixth form or college, or a specialist education and training provider. People often take courses to gain skills for future jobs. They can be near you or outside of Kent.
For more information you should contact them directly.
Or view a list of all independent specialist colleges on the GOV.UK website.
Help from the staff
If you go to a further education or training provider, their Learning Support Team can help you. This can include:
- help in the classroom
- offer one to one help
- set up exams and extra time.
They can also let you know who to contact if you need extra help. For example:
- educational psychologists
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
- specialist teachers
- supported employment services
- mentors
- counsellors or therapists.
Specialist help
At your phase transfer meeting, the staff at specialist resource provisions (SRPs) and special schools will tell you what help you'll get from your post-16 education.
Depending on the help you get now, you could:
- stay at your current school or college
- move to a different special school
- attend another school and receive SRP support.
Study programme
A study programme is like college but is often a smaller informal setting in a class of 5 to 10 students. They help you to develop skills you need for work, such as time keeping and communication. The programmes allow you to work on your individual needs to help you progress for the future.
Advice and support
Chris, who works for CXK (an organisation dedicated to transforming the lives of young adults across Kent), has created a short video with lots of useful tips to support you in choosing whether post 16 specialist education or training is right for you.
Apply to a specialist education or training provider
To apply you must have an EHC plan.
Your school will talk to you about a phase transfer review. Some people call this an annual review. This chat will happen in year 10 and they will look at your EHC plan.
It's really important that you tell them where you would like to go after you leave school. Once they have talked to you, they will send off the details to us. We will speak with the sixth form or college, and others to see if they can help you. When that's all done, we will name and issue an updated EHC plan by 31 March. This is in time for you starting in September.