whats the school leaving age?

[brownbox]

Im planning on leaving school, as ive finished 6th form (as many other people do), to go find an apprenticeship job. Reason I ask this question is, I am only 16 (17 in march). Am I allowed to leave yet?

[PiperDriver]

You should be able to leave school @ 16. What sort off apprenticeship are you going to do?

[Alex]

I'm pretty sure you're able to leave after you complete the 5th form, so you should be sweet. Good luck with it.

Go hard on your level 2 exams though, they'll probably come in useful in the next few years if you change your mind at all.

Alex

[brownbox]

im actually doing really well in school (doing top english and maths courses, physics, chem etc, along with coming first in metalwork, and electronics) and have yet to fail anything so far this year, or last year. The reason im leaving is engineering, carpentry and electronics all finish at year 12. I dont really want to go back for another year just to do maths, english and science all day, every day.

Im not sure what i want to do yet, but my subjects have left me wide open. Im aiming for something to do with electronics, but if that fails, engineering, mechanic, builder, or something.

Cheers for the help guys

[Kelburn]

You can leave one you are 16 no matter what year you are in.
Why leave though. Remember if you change your mind and want to get into uni, life can become a bit more difficult...

[brownbox]

i thought about that, and i wont be going to uni. Even if I do somewhere along the line, cant you get into uni if you are over 20 anyway?

[Alex]

QUOTE (brownbox @ Oct 25 2008, 08:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...cant you get into uni if you are over 20 anyway?

Yea, open entrance if you're older, though maybe some courses still have school (subject) requirements?...

But yea, if you're not interested in the subjects then don't do it. It'll be a complete waste of your time, you'll probly #### off people around you, annoy the teachers, fall asleep in class, and it'll just go waaay overhead...

Yep, so if you're not into the subjects, my advice is to get out there and do something else...

Alex

[Q300]

Yep you can leave once you are 16, I left the day I turned 16. I just couldnt stand spending another day there and a year later im doing quite well despite what my teachers said i would turn out to be

[h290master]

16 is definately the leaving age, am leaving as soon as i finish my 6th form exams coming up

[brownbox]

i cant wait till i start working. Finally, i will be doing something i actually enjoy, all day, every day. AND i get paid for it!

[creator2003]

The realworld after school is over rated, i would of liked to stay as long as i could after i worked that one out myself ,,i left school at 13 ...

[toprob]

This is a very weird thread -- there are thousands of people better qualified to help you with this than NZFF members. What about parents/guardians, teachers or careers advisers?
If I was a parent -- and I am, three times over -- I'd be a bit concerned if my kids were deciding their future based on discussions on a flightsim forum.

Remember, here we know all there is to know about flightsim, but on any other subject you are just as likely to get misinformation.

[Bazza]

QUOTE (toprob @ Oct 26 2008, 12:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Remember, here we know all there is to know about flightsim, but on any other subject you are just as likely to get misinformation.

What he said.......

[brownbox]

please remember that i was just asking what the age was to ensure im over it. My mind was made up already on leaving and uni and all that

[Q300]

Fair enuf but school careers advisers are a joke, they dont listen to what you want but what the majority wants "Conformity"

[Alex]

QUOTE (Q300 @ Oct 26 2008, 01:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fair enuf but school careers advisers are a joke, they dont listen to what you want but what the majority wants "Conformity"

No, I wouldn't agree with that at all. As you get into the senior school they can be very useful.

Alex

[Q300]

QUOTE (Alex @ Oct 26 2008, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, I wouldn't agree with that at all. As you get into the senior school they can be very useful.

Alex

I guees it was just my careers adviser, I wont go into the situation's i had but she seemed to be constantly trying to stear me away from arts/drama/music and into trades etc or staying at school for another 2 years and going to uni, nun of which i have any interest in

[benwynn]

Im sure it varies, but these days you would have to be a bit un-wise to not finish school. In Australia, its pretty hard to get a job without a Senior Certificate.

[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (benwynn @ Oct 26 2008, 11:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Im sure it varies, but these days you would have to be a bit un-wise to not finish school. In Australia, its pretty hard to get a job without a Senior Certificate.

Yeah but it really depends what you want to do for a career. As BB said, most of the subjects that actually have something to do with the career he wants to pursue finish at Y12, so he's best off going out and getting an apprenticeship rather than wasting another year at school.

[Peppermint]

QUOTE (Q300 @ Oct 25 2008, 10:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep you can leave once you are 16, I left the day I turned 16. I just couldnt stand spending another day there and a year later im doing quite well despite what my teachers said i would turn out to be

Yep, I left at the beginning of this year. Something in the classes got me extremely sick (chemicals in science class maybe? Or could have been all the potheads) anyway, never been better since I left.

Honestly, I wouldn't suggest leaving school when you turn 16 unless you have a good idea where you're going to go after that, make sure you have a part time job BEFORE you leave though, always helps to get spare money for things. The free courses offered are a good way of getting qualifications for what you want to do later in life. Which is what I'm going to do the start of next year, get on an Engineering and Welding course, related to what I'm doing and want to keep doing in life (speedway, racing cars etc). High school is too much to be honest, there's no way they can expect you to remember important things from 5 different classes for 5 days a week, add on top of that most of us have part time jobs to do after school.


I suppose it would be worth staying in school and getting all that NCEA stuff if you want a high paying job, you just have to be prepared to work for it. I'd MUCH rather be in a hard working job, earning an average or below average wage, as long as I could get to the speedway every weekend and race, or do the things I love.

If you leave with nothing (no NCEA etc), you're going to have a tough time finding a good paying job straight out. Something I've been told by a few people that left school with nothing, is that:

Employers would rather employ someone hard working, good with people and that can get along with everyone (with lesser qualifications), than say someone who just got out of school with the proper qualifications, or was new to the work force.

Anyway, if you're not too sure what you want to do after school, my advice would be to stay in school until you do. No use leaving school then sitting around home all day thinking about what to do, when you could have been at school getting better at things.

I just found that I had no interest in 80% of the things I was being taught in school, that and together with the amount of time I had off I decided it was time to leave and get into the work force part-time and get into a free engineering and welding course.

Also just remember, if you do leave you'll probably want to go back a few days after you left. You don't get the amount of time with your mates back once you've left.