How NEO’s qualification routes connect for a real learner. NEO does not run exam centres or hold awarding-body registration — the LA, school, or commissioner registers the learner with the relevant awarding body, and NEO supports curriculum delivery and revision.
The four route families below are not exclusive. Most NEO learners combine routes across a year — typically a small set of qualification targets plus portfolio-based credit, sequenced to the learner’s current capacity rather than to year-group expectations.
The four route families
- Pearson Edexcel International GCSEs — NEO’s primary academic route at KS4. Modular and onscreen options where available; well-suited to learners not in mainstream. Year 1 launch subjects: English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Human Biology, Art and Design. Examination entry fees are charged separately. See Pearson Edexcel International GCSE
- Pearson Edexcel Functional Skills (English and Maths) — the more accessible literacy and numeracy route. On-demand online assessment; lower-stakes than GCSE; Level 2 broadly equivalent to GCSE Grade 4. See Pearson Edexcel Functional Skills
- ASDAN — Programmes, Short Courses, Qualifications — portfolio-based, person-centred routes. Particularly well-suited to learners returning to education after a long absence and to EHCP-aligned post-16 planning. See ASDAN Programmes · ASDAN Short Courses · ASDAN Qualifications
- Discovery Phase — for learners not yet ready for a full qualification load. Named goals, measured progress, a clear route onto a qualification pathway when the time is right. Not a qualification itself; a scaffold
Stepping-stones
The vault graph makes stepping-stones visible at outcome level. The headline patterns:
- Functional Skills English / Maths — Entry 1 → Entry 2 → Entry 3 → Level 1 → Level 2 → IGCSE Foundation entry. Each step is its own regulated qualification. A learner can stop at any level with recognised attainment
- ASDAN at scale — Personal Development Programme Bronze (≈60 hours) → Silver (≈120) → Gold (≈180); Towards Independence and Personal Progress for sub-Entry working levels; PSD and Employability across Entry 1 to Level 2 in three sizes (Award / Certificate / Diploma)
- The IGCSE Foundation gap (Maths) — a learner moving from FS Maths Level 2 to IGCSE Maths Foundation has a content gap (algebra, trigonometry, vectors are not in FS). NEO’s KS4 Maths canonical strand covers these as part of teaching even where the primary qualification target is FS, so the move to IGCSE Foundation is a step rather than a leap
Typical 12-month and 24-month pictures
These are illustrative, not prescriptive. Real plans are written learner-by-learner with the family and commissioner.
12-month picture for a Year 9 learner with stable engagement: KS3 canonical curriculum across English, Maths, Science (Human Biology framing), Creative Arts, plus Cornerstones Day on Fridays. ASDAN Personal Development Programme started informally to recognise the term-on-term work. No KS4 qualifications in this year. Aim: end the year ready to begin one or two IGCSEs in Year 10.
12-month picture for a Year 10 EBSNA returner: Discovery Phase first 4-6 weeks. Then a deliberately small qualification load — typically Functional Skills English and Maths Level 1 plus IGCSE Art and Design (the portfolio-only IGCSE) — alongside continued KS3-level curriculum work in Science and Humanities. ASDAN portfolio building in parallel. Aim: complete FS Level 1 in both subjects by year-end and have the IGCSE Art portfolio under way.
24-month picture for a Year 10 → Year 11 learner: Year 10 — Functional Skills Level 1 in English and Maths; IGCSE Art and Design Component 1 portfolio building; KS4 canonical English and Science alongside. ASDAN PSD Award. Year 11 — Functional Skills Level 2 in both subjects; IGCSE Art and Design Component 2 (Externally-set Assignment); IGCSE English Language A or Human Biology added if engagement and capacity hold. ASDAN PSD Certificate or Workright Award.
Dual registration
A learner may be dual-registered — formally still on the roll of a mainstream school but spending part or all of their week with NEO — and may already hold awarding-body registrations made by that school. Common cases:
- Already registered with AQA for English Language / Literature / Maths through their existing school. NEO supports curriculum delivery and revision against the AQA specification; the registering school holds the entry. See AQA GCSE
- Already registered with OCR or Eduqas for a specific subject. Same principle — NEO teaches against the published specification; the registering school holds the entry
- Switching board mid-course — possible but operationally non-trivial. NEO will only support a board switch where the learner’s circumstances make it the right move and the receiving board has been confirmed by the registering school or LA
Selecting routes
The named practitioner holds the route conversation with each learner and family, in dialogue with the commissioner and any clinical team. The questions that drive route selection:
- What level is the learner working at now — not what year group are they in?
- What can the learner sustain in a typical week?
- What does the commissioner / LA need to see for reporting and EHCP outcome-mapping?
- What does the learner say they want?
- What do qualified teachers and the practitioner observe across sessions?
Routes are reviewed each term. A learner can move between routes as their capacity changes — that is the architectural point of the modular, level-staircased design.
Cross-references
- Preparing for Adulthood — the SEND CoP framing that runs alongside qualification planning
- OEAS Accreditation Criteria — the regulatory frame against which the curriculum is being assessed
- Overlays — the full awarding-body specifications layer
- Curriculum — the canonical curriculum spine (KS3, KS4, KS5, Life-and-Work, Relational-and-Symbolic, Statutory)