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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

National Citizen Service

47 replies

swingofthings · 21/03/2016 14:36

I've looked for threads relating to NCS but haven't found anything this year (or even last). I've just signed DD16 for it. She is very excited. It does look absolutely brilliant, but am surprised there seem to be little publicity about it. She found out about it at her school. Any one has a child whose done it?

OP posts:

GooseberryRoolz · 23/03/2016 00:41

I have seen them in Cornwall wearing pink t shirts and jumping off cliffs into the sea. Some of them do look like they are hating it

I don't blame them! Not everyone is a jumping-of-a-cliff type.

The lack of information on the website is frustrating. I don't feel I have enough inforation or understanding to try to 'sell' it to DD.

GooseberryRoolz · 23/03/2016 00:42

information^

I'm not sure I'll even try to sell it to her if extreme sports are part of it. That's not her at all.

mummytime · 23/03/2016 07:09

My DD didn't jump off cliffs! It involves outward bounds type stuff for 1 week, and they can opt out if they really can't do it. DD did stuff like sailing, raft building, some climbing and a long walk; all at a specialist centre (I think theirs may have been PGL). Then their is one week living on campus at a University, where they look after themselves (under adult supervision), learn skills, work with a local charity, and learn "citizenship" skills (like about how the voting system works etc.) in the evening. Then the final week involved challenges, planning an activity with their charity, and fundraising for that activity, whilst staying at home and commuting in.
Then afterwards there is a graduation ceremony and chances to do further activities (DD had a chance of a big one but health issues meant she couldn't go, which is a pity).

Noitsnotteatimeyet · 23/03/2016 13:26

Does anyone know how well they'd deal with a child with ASD? I'm torn between thinking it would be the make of ds and thinking he'd hate it so much he'd never talk to me again ..,

GooseberryRoolz · 23/03/2016 14:50

That does sound saner than cliff-jumping mummytime

SuperMumNot · 23/03/2016 15:08

Not just for comps - our (independent) school has just circulated details and the kids have already done DofE.

I know one friend whose kids did it and quite enjoyed it. Think it depends a lot on the local leaders and set up though as well as the mix of participants. One of his kids groups had some rather disruptive kids in it and the (young) leaders struggled to manage them.
I know that locally they are having difficulty recruiting leaders to do it, and I have seen the job descriptions being posted everywhere online/local press, which worries me a bit as they are clearly going to have to get up to speed quickly to run summer courses!

mummytime · 23/03/2016 21:17

I would talk to them, actually there were a few young people with SN on my DDs "wave" and I think they did their best, and the other young people were really good at helping them. I know if you indicate any kind of SN they will phone and get a lot of information to try to make sure they have all bases covered.

Oh and there are varying levels of leaders. So the leaders being advertised for will probably be looking after one group of 8 ish, but for the Physical challenge they will have properly trained staff from whatever centre they are using. The group leaders are supervised by other leaders, and they both have training before and have a thorough programme to follow. They also do work together, so its not like a 20 year old in sole responsibility for a group of 16 year olds.

shoxinsox · 23/03/2016 23:12

Noitsnotteatimeyet_-my asd ds did ncs a couple of years ago and I can honestly say it couldn't have been a better experience. It boosted is confidence, he made some great friends and spent the year before uni learning all sorts of skills. The group all still meet up when they're home in the holidays.
Ds2 has asked to go this year after GCSES are over.

Noitsnotteatimeyet · 24/03/2016 10:49

If it's ok shox I'll pm you with some more specific questions

QOD · 24/03/2016 11:08

My dd did it last yeår. She hadn't been on a successful sleepover in 7 years and I was soo worried
she came back a.new girl! Hwr group were chosen to be the face of ncs this year so were.told to be early and dress bright etc - turned out their group had been picked by (or for) the ambassador Tiny Tempah to visit, meet and even better, appear on the BBC news with
couldn't have been luckier
Such a confidence boost, so much pride and also her belief in herself.
She was in the paper too. T'was utterly fab

Dumbledoresgirl · 24/03/2016 11:19

My dd wanted to sign up for this this summer but I didn't understand how week 3 would work and there was no explanation offered. The issue was, weeks 1 and 2 were residential - no problem with that - but week 3 and 4 were described as non residential and the kids had to get together to work on a project. Fine for kids in a city but we live in a small town and if dd has to get together to work with others, there was no guarantee that the others would be in our small town. So how do they get together? It was a small issue, but not one I found a solution to.

So unfortunately, she is not signed up this year. Maybe next year.

QOD · 24/03/2016 11:21

We had meetings beforehand at a hall in a nearby town. The meet up point was nearby and the actual ncs groups were done in waves of people from the same area

SmoresCheesecake · 24/03/2016 11:51

My DS and DD did this last year. DD loved it and had a great time. DS tolerated it. They were in a group of about 30-40 and were split into 3 teams.
The first week was spent doing things like caving and rafting.
The second week was spent living in a large house together and each team had to plan and cook one meal, with a barbecue on the beach for the last night. They also did team building games during this week.
The final 2 weeks were spent choosing a project to raise money or plan an event for.
DD's team did a sponsored walk and held a party for a local residential home for people with disabilities.
DS's team did a sponsored cycle ride and car boot sale, with products donated by local businesses that they had to go and ask for.

SmoresCheesecake · 24/03/2016 11:54

Forgot to mention that the meetings were in our fairly small town, and when I couldn't get them to the drop off point for the second week, the leader of their group arranged for them to get a lift with one of the volunteers.
They did use the train to travel during their activities, but the tickets were bought by the organisers and they all travelled together.

Original poster

swingofthings · 24/03/2016 14:13

So far, I am pleased with the process. DD signed up late last week, I had a call from the national centre on Monday, on the phone for about 20 minutes to discuss what it was all about and whether it was appropriate for DD, paid and was told that the local leader would be in contact soon. Received email with all the detail yesterday and she called today for ask if I had any questions.

Both persons I have spoken to so far were very pleasant and enthusiastic and must have asked me if I had any questions about 10 times!

I would advise anyone who wants to know more about it to contact them at their main centre.

OP posts:

mummytime · 24/03/2016 16:26

There will still be plenty of time to sign up this year if last year is anything to go by. It depends on where the "base" is for the third/fourth weeks is, as to where young people will have to commute to. I'm in a smallish town, but there was a group based here, although some people did commute in from surrounding towns, and some from quite a distance. My DD was initially booked into a week where Week 3 was based in another town, but when I phoned they changed that - as I explained that although the town wasn't a long way away it takes a long time to commute there by train (and worse by bus in traffic).

BackforGood · 24/03/2016 18:28

Dumbledore - I'd sign up anyway. If the worst came to the worst and they weren't able to get to the 3rd week, then she's still had a great experience over 2 weeks for a fraction of the price it ought to cost, and lost nothing.

My dd had to pull out of hers, as she got the chance to do a ligeguarding course that was that week or not again before the Summer (when she wanted to work) so she just didn't graduate, but still had a great time on the residentials

It might be that they can sort something out amongst them for travel and she gets to finish.

Original poster

swingofthings · 24/03/2016 18:37

I think the whole point of them contact you before you pay (and my understanding is that they call every parent) is to be sure that the child will attend for the whole 4 weeks as they want to minimise the number of people pulling out. They will discuss everything with you and you will be able to decide whether they will be able to attend week 3 and 4.

OP posts:

Dumbledoresgirl · 24/03/2016 23:35

Thanks for the advice. I will mention it to dd again, though I do know she was originally planning on signing up with friends so if they have all decided to postpone till next year, nothing much I can say will move her.

TheMightyMing · 24/03/2016 23:44

My son did it last summer. Had an absolute ball. He did some great tasks, met some great friends who he still goes out with now, and they had a lovely graduation party at the end. I think I paid about £35.00 and got it back afterwards. I'd have paid 10x that for the experience he had. Residential for a week as well. Highly recommend.

shoxinsox · 27/03/2016 22:28

Yes that's fine Noitsnotteatimeyet. Ds is home at the moment too so I can ask for his input.

MrsSchadenfreude · 28/03/2016 21:33

DD1 did it last year and had a brilliant time. I would really recommend it. It cost us £50. The only drawback was that they centred it miles away from us, which made it expensive for DD1 to get to and from, and the Sundays in September were a real pain - she had to get a taxi back to school from the centre as there was a problem with the trains.

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