After taking your GCSEs and completing Year 11 you might be thinking of continuing your education by staying on at school. Lots of schools have sixth forms and you don't have to have attended the school in Year 11 in order to join it.

If your school has a sixth form and you are considering staying on you will be in a familiar environment with the teachers and tutors that you already know. School sixth forms are more relaxed towards students but as they are still part of the school they may have a more formal and structured timetable than if you went to sixth form college.

Sixth forms can range from between 100 and 400 students so the courses and subjects on offer to you will depend on the size of the sixth form. Some schools will have arrangements with other local schools or colleges so they are able to give you a wider choice and more options.

If you stay on in a school sixth form you will have the option to take AS subjects in your first year and then make a choice on the subjects you want to take at A level in your second year. Many schools now offer a range of other courses such as GNVQs so you need to find out what's on offer.

Sixth-form colleges
Sixth-form colleges offer those over 16 year old a wide range of qualification opportunities post-GCSEs with academic and vocational programmes. 

Students are not only able to study conventional AS and A levels with a view to entering higher education, but can also work towards other nationally recognised diplomas such as BTEC, HND, NVQ and foundation diplomas in vocational and academic subject areas.

A sixth form college is a more informal environment than a school sixth form and because they are usually bigger they are able to offer you a wider range of options.

You will have the opportunity to meet lots of new people and make new friends as colleges take students from several different schools.

At college you will be a student, not a pupil, so with support you will be expected to manage your own time and deadlines. This will give you the opportunity to learn new skills which you might need at university or in the workplace.

Further Education Colleges are generally bigger than sixth form colleges and while some have multi site facilities, an increasing number now have dedicated sixth form centres, with most if not all the facilities on one site.

One of the most common reasons for choosing to study at an FE College is the wide range of courses and subjects available. Having a larger pool of students enables colleges to offer a greater choice of the traditional "A" and "A/S" level subjects than most schools. There are very few "A" levels that colleges are unable to offer.

Most FE colleges offer a variety of vocational courses in specific industry sectors such as catering, travel and tourism, computing, business and secretarial. Vocational qualifications offered include BTEC diplomas and certificates and NVQs, and some also offer HNDs. Colleges often specialise in particular subject areas (such as catering, art and design or business) but between them every aspect of training at every level is available. This allows students to enter their chosen field of employment - computing and IT, business related subjects, secretarial and administration, caring and health courses, nursing, art and design, performing arts, logistics, engineering, construction and many others. Such courses can lead on to vocational higher education such as foundation degrees and HNDs at higher education colleges and some universities.

In order to support these vocational qualifications and give their students the best insight they can into their chosen career, most colleges have "industry standard facilities" in which they train. For example the hairdressing/beauty salons are as good as most high street establishments and are open to the public. The kitchens for catering students are equal to any restaurant and again some are open to the public. Motor Vehicle students have real cars to work on in a proper garage environment. All of these have helped FE colleges become nationally recognised for the quality of their graduating students.

Some colleges have a timetable similar to schools and some work in half-day blocks, depending on what subjects you are taking. All will expect you to use your free periods for study.