Flyingmama - the kid is 15.
All the advice you read here won't count for diddley squat in 2 years when he's finished school, if he graduates and the world is in the middle of another financial crisis or middle east war, and airlines are failing like flies and pilots are on dole queues everywhere, then obviously attending flying school would be foolhardy in the extreme. First rule of pilot training - timing is everything.
Trust me he DOES need to finish school, with the best grades he can. Obviously the most relevant school subjects are the maths and science ones but it's more important to get good grades in whatever he studies.
(Here's a good idea - get him to study GCSE economics, and then get him to write an essay for YOU as his primary financial backer, detailing his training budget, future earnings and cashflow projections as an airline pilot. Including the scenarios of doing it at a flash integrated school, doing it the small-school modular way, gaining experience via instructing, buying type ratings, etc etc. If that doesn't scare him off nothing will
)
At the end of school, he's likely to be 17 or 18. Let me tell you a little secret - the travelling public doesn't actually like seeing spotty teenage adolescents flying their airliners. In my opinion (as a fairly-senior flying instructor), the failure rate of kids in that age group is much higher than those who are a couple years older or in their early 20s.
So, let him go and get a JOB for two or three years. And let him spend his savings, on doing his PPL while he's working and saving that money. It doesn't have to be a career thing, but if he can get aviation industry related work whether it's sweeping hangar floors or even loading bags or something, it's surprising how many useful connections are possible to be made. (Best job of all = pouring pints at some airfield bar where all the airline captains drink at weekends. Guaranteed to make loads of friends in high places and get more advice about the industry than he knows what to do with. It's also sometimes possible for youngsters to work on an ops desk at an aero club, in exchange for free or heavily discounted flying hours.)
As the previous poster "magictiger" suggested, it's possible to knock out the horrible ATPL theory subjects during that time as well, although you really do need to have a PPL first before you try to tackle that lot or it's too much like a foreign language. And of course, if there's options to apply for sponsorships etc during that time, go for it.
After that, your son will find himself in the enviable position of being hopefully 20-21, with maybe a PPL and a hundred hours or so of flying time which HE'S PAID FOR, he's halfway to a CPL, he will have no horrible debts, and have a lot more knowledge of his chosen profession, and the world really will be his oyster. (He will also hopefully have a trade skill that he can fall back on, if it all turns to rats while he's pilot job hunting). If he still wants to be an airline pilot at that stage, then he's proven his commitment sufficiently, that I would suggest that you as a parent can have a lot more confidence in helping him out with loan securities or whatever it is he needs to finish the job.
(As a side not - a lot of crap gets talked on this forum, about applying for the military as a way to get into the cockpit of an airliner, and it's all just that, crap. The people who successfully join the air force are the ones who've been living and breathing and committing their whole lives to being air force pilots from a very young age. The assessors can spot a wannabe-airline-pilot from a million miles away and give them very short shrift.)
It's a hell of a commitment for any parent and if you don't know aviation, it seems like a very confusing and difficult world to plunge into and do the research sometimes. You have, however, found the very best resource in the world right here on this very internet forum, please keep us posted and don't be afraid to ask even the stupidest sounding questions here
