How do I plan ahead for my child leaving school?

Leaving school can make every unanswered question feel urgent. Course, support, transport, friends, healthcare, money and daily life become one large worry.

Separate them. Your teenager needs a workable next stage, not a final plan for adulthood.

Start with the life, not the prospectus

Ask the young person:

• What do you want to keep from school?
• What do you want to be different?
• Which subjects, activities or jobs interest you?
• How many busy days can you manage in a week?
• What support do you want to continue?
• What would you like more control over?

They may not know. Visit, try and compare rather than treating uncertainty as lack of ambition.

NICE transition guidance recommends involving the young person as an equal partner and agreeing goals around their priorities.¹ That guidance concerns health and social-care transitions, but the shared-planning principle is useful across the leaving-school process.

Put the questions on separate lines

Write:

1. course, training or work;
2. learning and communication support;
3. travel;
4. healthcare;
5. money and benefits; and
6. daily life and community.

A college offer does not arrange transport. A school record does not guarantee that support has been agreed. A health transfer follows a different timetable. Treat each line as its own small project.

Look beyond the course title

When you visit, ask:

• What does an ordinary week look like?
• How much work is independent?
• How large and busy are the groups and shared spaces?
• Who coordinates support?
• What needs to be requested before the start date?
• How does a student ask for a break or help?
• What happens if attendance or progress becomes difficult?
• Can the teenager try the journey and meet relevant staff?

Visit while the setting is operating if possible. A quiet open evening may not show the corridor, canteen or transport demands of a normal day.

The detailed guide to comparing post-16 options helps separate sixth form, college, apprenticeships and other routes.

Give every action an owner

For the next three actions, write a person and date.

School sends the current support profile by 18 September.

College confirms the support contact and visit date by 25 September.

Parent and teenager practise the 8.20 bus on 2 October.

"Records will transfer" is not an action until somebody is responsible for sending, receiving and checking them. Involve the teenager in what is shared and update old descriptions before they travel onward.

Prepare a short handover that describes use

A diagnostic report may be important and still leave the new setting unsure what to do on Monday morning. Add a one-page practical account:

• how the student receives an instruction;
• how they show that they are lost or overloaded;
• what helps them start independent work;
• how they ask for a break;
• which communication or sensory adjustments they already use; and
• what support should not be withdrawn on the first apparently settled day.

Ask the teenager what they want included and which old descriptions no longer fit. Share the current need, not every difficult event from childhood.

Visit the transition, not only the building

Ask what happens during the first week. Who meets the student? Where do they go if the named support person is absent? How are room changes, cancelled sessions and timetable updates communicated? Can the young person practise logging in, finding the support office and buying lunch?

Small rehearsals expose unanswered questions while adults still have time to act. If the route, building and course are all new, practise them separately rather than making the first full day the test.

Ask who will contact the family if the placement becomes difficult. Agree how the young person can report a problem without first explaining it to several unfamiliar adults. A clear review date gives everybody permission to change support before absence, distress or lost work becomes the only evidence that the transition is not working.

Check the national system

In England, the SEND code says preparing-for-adulthood planning within an EHC plan should cover education or employment, independent living, community participation and health, with a focus from Year 9 at the latest.²

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland use different plans, terminology and processes. Ask the relevant school or service which rules apply where the young person lives and studies.

Use the full preparing-for-adulthood plan when you are ready to map education, health, benefits, decision-making and daily life in detail. For today, identify the next decision and the person who owns the next action.

Footnotes

1. NICE NG43 applies to transitions between children's and adult health or social-care services. It does not determine education admissions or support. ↩

2. The SEND code of practice applies to England. It should not be used as the legal process for another UK nation. ↩

Sources and further reading

1. [1] Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care. SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years. January 2015; applies to England (accessed 4 August 2026).
2. [2] NICE. Transition from children's to adults' services for young people using health or social care services. NG43. February 2016; current recommendations (accessed 4 August 2026).