As I recall, deriving it required a solid grasp of special relativity and calculus. I mean, if you want to say that you did that at 16, I won't argue with you. But if you claim all students did that it seems unlikely.

Edit: Oxford University, since you are from the UK and that's reputable within the country, lists General Relativity (and hence E=MC^2's derivation) as a 3rd year course in the Physics program. So that makes it squarely in the junior year.

E=mc^2 is a result from special relativity. This is usually touched on earlier than general relativity.

Ah, thank you. It's been a while since I had to remember which was which.

No if you take AP physics in the US, yes if you don’t same thing in the UK if you don’t take physics for your A levels you ain’t gonna learn that.