NEO by Nudge Education
NEO Post-16 · Opening September 2026 · Ages 16–18

Sixth form, the way you'd design it.

Real Pearson Edexcel A-Levels — including the specialist subjects mainstream sixth forms drop. Short credentialled programmes that bridge to real work. Deep-dive courses on a single text, a single film, a single idea. Live teaching from qualified subject specialists. Online, but not alone.

See the three streams Take NEO Next → Register your interest
What this is

Quality first. Range second. Real-world third.

Most sixth forms get one of these right. Some get two. NEO Post-16 is built to do all three — at the same time, for every learner who comes to us.

We're an online sixth form, and we're proud of being online — not apologetic about it. Online means a learner can take Philosophy and Systems Design and a six-month credentialled programme that puts them in front of a real employer at 17. Online means a quiet room is the room. Online means the subject specialists you'd never have access to otherwise are on the other end of the call.

We started designing this with our first cohort. The page you're reading is the result.

A school built around what you actually want to learn — and what the world's actually going to ask of you. — NEO Post-16, design principle
The three streams

Three ways to learn at NEO Post-16. Mix them however you want.

A learner can do A-Levels alone, A-Levels alongside a credentialled programme, or build a year out of deep-dive specialist courses. There's no fixed shape. There is a shape that fits you.

1

A-Levels

Two-year Pearson Edexcel A-Levels, taught live by qualified subject specialists. The traditional core and the specialist subjects most online sixth forms don't run.

English Literature Mathematics Further Mathematics Biology Psychology Philosophy Politics History Classical Civilisation Latin Other subjects on request
  • Live lessons four days a week
  • Coursework portfolio you own
  • Sat as private candidates at an approved exam centre
2

Short, credentialled programmes

Three-to-twelve-month programmes leading to qualifications real employers recognise. Designed to sit alongside A-Levels — or to stand on their own as the route from school to work.

Personal Trainer (L3) Digital Marketing Foundations Coding for Real Products Audio & Podcast Production Coaching & Mentoring (L2)
  • Real placements with partner organisations
  • A portfolio you can take to interview
  • Rolling intakes — start when you're ready
3

Deep-dive specialist courses

Half-term and term-length courses that go deep on one thing. A single text. A single film. A single argument. Pick a thing you actually care about and follow it as far as it goes.

Relating Intelligently · AI literacy Systems Design Macbeth, in close Philosophy & AI Code as Poetry Film & Psychology Sex, ethics & the modern teenager Rhetoric & persuasion The science of sleep
  • 8 to 12 weeks per course
  • Designed and led by specialist teachers we trust
  • Stack them across a year, or take one for fun
How learning happens

A timetable that holds you. A teacher who actually checks in.

Online learning fails when it leaves people alone with a video. NEO Post-16 is built around the things that make a sixth form actually work: a structure, a small group, and an adult who knows your name.

Live lessons

Four days a week

Monday to Thursday: live, subject-specialist teaching by qualified teachers via Google Meet. Camera optional. Friday is for projects, partnerships, and the deep-dive specialist courses.

Drop-in

The clinic

A timetabled drop-in slot where everyone's working on their own thing — alone if you like, or out loud if you'd rather. Teachers there to help. Other learners there to ask.

1:1

Bookable, every week

Each subject teacher holds 1:1 slots you can book directly. Not a request to a department — a calendar you can see.

Practitioner

A named practitioner

One consistent person who builds the relationship, co-ordinates with your teachers, and stays with you from the first session. A mentor and point of contact — not the person delivering lessons.

Check-in

Personal, not the class

Teachers message you, individually, every week. Not a group ping. A "how are you doing on this — want to show me?". Small thing. Big difference.

Mixed ages

On purpose, not by accident

Learners join groups across year groups. Older ones get the chance to lead under teacher guidance — there's no faster route to becoming expert in something than teaching it to someone younger. Younger ones get advice from a peer who was stuck on the same thing six months ago. That advice often lands harder than a teacher's. Both true. Both useful.

Hyflex

Learn from anywhere

A kitchen table, a library, a relative's house, a sports tour, a long-haul flight. The structure holds — the place doesn't have to. Real flexibility for sport, work, hobbies, travel — and the kind of independence a graduate job will ask of you anyway.

Portfolio

A portfolio you can take with you

Every NEO learner builds a personal portfolio across their courses, placements and projects — downloadable as a digital CV and ready to integrate with LinkedIn. The work is yours; you take it wherever you go.

What a week looks like

  • Mon–Thu, mornings: live A-Level and specialist lessons (45 minutes each, with breaks)
  • Mon–Thu, afternoons: coursework, the clinic drop-in, optional 1:1s
  • Friday: Foundations, deep-dive courses, partnership / placement days for credentialled programmes
  • Anytime: message your practitioner. They'll come back the same day.
A NEO learner sits in a sunlit park, working on a laptop with green trees behind.
Hyflex by design.The structure holds; the place doesn't have to. A kitchen, a library, a park, a sports tour, a long-haul flight — wherever a learner can think, NEO works.
Foundations

The things school usually forgets to teach.

In the first half-term, every Post-16 learner takes a short course in each of these. They're the foundations underneath everything else — the things you'll need whether you go on to university, an apprenticeship or a job. The first one we teach is the science of sleep.

SleepThe science & the practice
MovementHow a body learns
ConnectionHow to be in a room
ReflectionThinking about thinking
NutritionFuel, not fashion
CreativityMake a thing on purpose
Real-world bridge

A sixth form that takes you out of the building.

Most sixth forms talk about employability. NEO Post-16 partners with real organisations so a learner has a placement, a project, or a piece of real client work to take to interview by the time they leave us.

  • Real placements in fields the learner cares about, built into the year as standard.
  • Industry-recognised credentials from awarding bodies and partner programmes.
  • Mentor introductions — every learner leaves NEO with a network, not just a results slip.
  • Working with real briefs — clients, deadlines, feedback. The way the world actually works.

We support every NEO learner to access Springpod's virtual work experiences and short industry courses — covering everything from law and engineering to data science and the creative industries, on their own time, from anywhere. Our flagship Relating Intelligently course (AI literacy for the agentic era) prepares every NEO learner to work alongside agentic systems, not be displaced by them. More partnerships to be announced.

A NEO learner works on a laptop in a gym training facility, a smoothie cup beside them. The wall behind them reads "Repetition with purpose" and "Contain. Then metabolise."
Qualifications

Real exams. Real results. The same as anywhere else.

Every NEO Post-16 learner sits Pearson Edexcel A-Levels at an approved exam centre as a private candidate. Same papers. Same standard. Same UCAS tariff. Universities and employers receive the same results slip a learner would get from any other Pearson centre in the country.

Where a learner needs to catch up on GCSEs first, we offer Pearson Edexcel International GCSEs alongside Functional Skills and ASDAN courses where appropriate.

See the full curriculum →

What's included

  • Live lessons by qualified subject specialists
  • A named practitioner throughout
  • Coursework, drop-ins and 1:1s
  • Deep-dive specialist courses
  • Foundations courses (sleep, movement, etc.)
  • Real-time progress tracking for families and commissioners
  • Safeguarding to KCSIE 2025 standard

Charged separately

  • Pearson exam entry fees (paid to the exam centre)
  • Optional credentialled programmes with partner awarding bodies
  • Travel to placements where applicable

A full pricing brief is available on request — email us.

Two NEO learners work side by side at a library table, both on laptops, with a Rubik's Cube on the desk between them. A "Null Zone" quiet-study sign hangs on the wall behind them.
Side by side, not alone with a video.NEO learners share live sessions and quiet rooms — collaborating across year groups, mentoring each other under teacher guidance.
For parents

How NEO learners learn together.

Your young person won't be alone with a video. Live lessons happen in small, collaborative groups — peer mentoring is built in, and mixed-age learning is on purpose. Older learners get the chance to lead, under teacher guidance; younger ones learn from someone who was stuck on the same thing six months ago. It's how university-style tutorials work. It's how a lot of workplaces work, too.

Online doesn't mean stuck. NEO is hyflex — your young person can learn from a kitchen, a library, a relative's house, a sports tour, a long-haul flight. The structure holds; the location doesn't have to. That builds real independence — the kind a graduate job will ask for — and leaves room for the rest of a life: sport, hobbies, travel, the things that make a person a person.

Read the FAQ →  ·  Talk to us

For commissioners

Procurement-ready, with the full Post-16 stack.

NEO Post-16 sits inside Nudge Education Ltd's existing commissioning relationships across the UK. KCSIE 2025-compliant. Real-time progress tracking. A named partnership lead from referral through placement and beyond.

Suitable for full-time placements, transitional Post-16 placements, and 16+ catch-up tuition. Working towards voluntary Ofsted accreditation as an online school.

View policies →  ·  Request a pricing brief

Come and design it with us.

NEO Post-16 is being shaped now, with our first cohort. If you're 16+ and curious — or a parent or commissioner asking the same question — come to an open event or send us an email. We'd rather have the conversation.

See open events Email us