We at Cordeaux Academy believe that the school leaving age should be reduced to 16. This is because if the school leaving age is reduced teenagers at a younger age will be able to financially support themselves and the benefits of having a job at a younger age will you give you more experience and as you go on you will be more experienced in the working environment.

The school leaving age should be cut to 14, a former chief inspector of schools in England has said. Sir Chris Woodhead told the Times that this would give less academic students a better chance of learning a trade.

He said it was a "recipe for disaster" to force teenagers to study English and maths right up to the age of 18.

Sir Chris said it was a mistake to make vocational education "quasi-academic" and added that the government had a "Utopian" view of school standards.

We agree with him as we want the school leaving age to be 16.