Tier 4 (Child) Student

The following information is given in order to provide you with a generalised overview of the Tier 4 points based system. If however you wish to obtain further information or you wish to engage our services, please complete the ‘Contact Us Form’ at the bottom of the page to enable a member of our team to contact you and advise you further.

The Tier 4 (Child) student category is for children coming to the UK to be educated between four and 17 years old. Children between four and 15 years old must be educated at independent fee-paying schools.

It is not possible for a Tier 4 (Child) student to study at a publicly funded school. Tier 4 (Child) students may only study at a publicly funded Further Education College which is able to charge for International Students, and then only once they are aged 16 or 17 years old.

What Are The Acceptable Levels Of Courses A Tier 4 (Child) Student Can Do?

A Tier 4 (Child) student can do a course that is:

• taught in line with the National Curriculum; or
• taught in line with the National Qualification Framework (NQF); or
• accepted as being the same academic level as the National Curriculum or the National Qualification Framework by Ofsted (England), the Education and Training Inspectorate (Northern Ireland), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (Scotland) or Estyn (Wales); or
• taught in line with existing (also known as prevailing) independent school education inspection standards; or
• pre-sessional courses to prepare a Tier 4 (Child) student for their main course of study. The main course of study must meet the conditions above.