Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be tired and fed up with the chaos of NCS?

10 replies

MrsSchadenfreude · 26/10/2015 20:32

And to think that it doesn't send a good message to the teenagers participating in it? First of all, getting information out of them, once DD1 was booked on it, was like getting blood out of a stone. I finally managed to get someone to send us the information, three days before she left. We didn't get an invitation to an information evening (which is supposed to happen) at all.

Secondly, DD1 wanted to graduate with distinction, so she put in a load of extra hours volunteering over the summer at a local charity shop. She was given conflicting information about how many hours this should be - we eventually managed to get information from the centre. She completed the online hours log, but no-one has been in contact with the shop to confirm this.

Thirdly, she missed one of the weekend days in September, due to a compulsory school trip. She (and I) informed them about this, and were told, no problem, she could make up the hours by doing extra voluntary work. Would this be covered by the extra hours she put in over the summer in the charity shop? Yes it would. She had done way in excess of the hours required. No problem. She attended all of the other weekend days - one was holding a party for local children. They catered for, and were expecting 30-40 kids, had planned games and activities. Four showed up.

Fourthly, she missed the graduation ceremony, again due to another school trip that she couldn't get out of (linked to her IB syllabus). We informed them of this, and she was told that they would send her the certificate. No certificate has been sent, and they are not responding to e-mails. The head office is near where I live - AIBU to go there in person and tell them what I think of them?

OP posts:
froggyjump · 26/10/2015 20:41

That sounds really different from our experience - it's all 'franchised' isn't it? So it is probably not NCS itself, but your local delivery team. Sorry you and your DD have had a crap experience with them though

MrsSchadenfreude · 26/10/2015 20:44

Yes, this was "The Challenge". The weeks away were run well, and I thought it was excellent, but the admin, and the lack of publicising the children's party were utterly shit. My other complaint was that it was supposed to be local to her home or school, and it was really neither, and cost us a fortune to get her there every day, and on the Sunday there was no bus service, so she had to get a taxi back. It's like they were great at organising the fun for the weeks away, but not at anything else.

OP posts:
froggyjump · 26/10/2015 20:51

DS1 and his cohort did the Challenge for a full week straight after their weeks away, so they were all still in touch etc (they actually started preparing for the challenge on their Independent Living week), so then had a week to carry it out - they painted a community hall,and did some fundraising activities for the groups that use the hall. We live in a fairly big city, so it was relatively local (in the city) but he had to get himself there and back.

MrsSchadenfreude · 26/10/2015 21:24

We're in Central London, so expected the programme to be fairly local, but it was 20 miles away in leafy Surrey. It made no sense to me. They must have had something closer.

OP posts:
wizzywig · 26/10/2015 21:44

Whats ncs?

MrsSchadenfreude · 26/10/2015 22:16

National Citizen Service, wizzywig. A government scheme for 16-17 year olds.

OP posts:
ladymariner · 26/10/2015 23:01

That sounds totally different to when my ds completed it three years ago, we live up North and it ran like clockwork. He had a great time, and got such a lot out of it.

LemonySmithit · 27/10/2015 00:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tedhis · 27/10/2015 03:39

My son did it this summer- totally amazing. They are all still in touch. If you have a 16-18 year old just do it. It did take a bit of organising as it was last minute and we were time limited due to holidays . Not aware of being able to graduate with honours though?

MrsSchadenfreude · 27/10/2015 08:20

Lemony, I think it is a fantastic programme, but those who are running the one my DD was on seem so disorganised. Emails go unanswered, as do phones, messages left on voicemail are never returned.

Ted - apparently if you put in, I think it is an extra 63 hours volunteering over the summer, then you can graduate with distinction/honours.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread