The objective of this paper is to present a new C 1 six-node triangular ยฎnite element for geometrically linear and non-linear elastic multilayered composite plates. This ยฎnite element must be able to model both thin and moderately thick plates without any pathologies of the classic plate ยฎnite elements (shear locking, spurious modes, F F F). It is based on a new kind of kinematics proposed by Touratier [1], and built on the Argyris interpolation for bending and the Ganev interpolation for membrane displacements and transverse shear rotations. This kinematics allows to exactly ensure, both the continuity conditions for displacements and transverse shear stresses at the interfaces between layers of a laminated structure, and the boundary conditions at the upper and lower surfaces of the plates. The representation of the transverse shear strains by cosine functions allows avoiding shear correction factors. In addition, transverse normal stress can be deduced with good precision from equilibrium equations at the post-processing level, using the high degree of interpolation polynomia. The element performances are evaluated on some standard plate tests and also in comparison with exact three-dimensional solutions for multilayered plates in linear and non-linear (moderately large deยฏection) statics, dynamics and for buckling. Comparisons with other plate models using the present ยฎnite element approximation and an eight-node C 0 ยฎnite element based on the ReissnerยฑMindlin model are also given. All results indicate that the present element has very fast convergence properties and also gives very accurate results for displacements and stresses.