National citizens service. Has anyone's teen been on it? Ds2 went this morning. He didn't know a soul.

[FreakinScaryCaaw]

Ds2 is 16 and just finished school. He's very shy and hasn't made any close friends at school.

I talked him into doing the ncs course and he's gone off this morning to a yha. He was really brave. I managed to get him talking to a lady before I left him and he looked happy enough. Not heard from him so that's a good sign.

It sounds really exciting. I went on something similar at his age with the YTS. (Shows my age)

Oh i really hope this is still going when ds is old enough.

Watching with interest. DS refused to do it and said that it's only the geeky or odd kids at school doing it.

He has just finished year 11, am I right in thinking it is open to him next year as well?

Yes it's year 12 too. Nice attitude he has.

Dd decided not to do it this year, maybe next. We've also been pestered by emails and today by phone. Presumably they need a certain target number for funding the scheme.

I did it when I was 16, and tbh absolutely hated it. The staff were extremely rude, as were the people I worked with when I volunteered with them afterwards. They didn't seem to care about the kids they were looking after, especially when some got very homesick.

I feel as a company the premise is good but they way it is pulled off is very flawed. (Eg. There were some things I wasn't comfortable with -I have asd- and they wouldn't believe my diagnosis, nor the stomach issue diagnosis of someone I kept in touch with and still has severe issues.

A lot of people I know felt NCS is very pushy as a whole, and so many people have it on their cvs now I don't feel it shows any unique skills

How do they get your email/phone number to pester you?

Dd won't be doing it. She won't finish school until mid July anyway (they stay on after GCSE's fir a big dance show) & she will be going on a residential dance summer school.
What she has done this year is to volunteer at our local library 2 mornings/afternoons a week to help with the Summer Reading Challenge. She can fit this to me her other commitments & also have time to chill.

Dd expressed interest, a good while back. Not sure about phone number.

Everyone that I know who's dc have done it said they loved it.

I wish they'd done it when I was at school. Is it pushed more in some areas that others, I hadn't heard of it until a couple of years ag when it was advertised non stop on the radio but in such a way that it made it sound really dodgy

It very much depends on who has the contract to deliver it in your area.
Week 3 starts for DD tomorrow and she's loving it.
She's met, and made friends with, others from all types of backgrounds. Certainly not geeky or odd kids...

I wish I'd been geeky at school. I was a bit wild.

DD just text to say she's thinking of quitting, start of week 3. Finding it very boring and three people have already walked out. I hope she sticks at it, not long to go now.

Four weeks seems a lot of time to devote to something like this. 1-2 weeks doing something they enjoy, yes. Four weeks seems very restricting.

I agree it is quite a long time. I'm pretty sure it used to be spaced out over the summer but it's now consecutive weeks.

Just been loOking at it. I think dd would hate phase 1 & it's full of activities she's not allowed to do. It doesn't seem very flexible. Why can't they do the volunteering/project but without having to do two residentisks? One perhaps but two?

Alexander have you asked?

No. Dd would be eligible next summer but it's not appropriate for her I don't think.

Categorically not "geeky or odd" kids doing it . Dd had a fabulous time. Maybe you'd be better advised not to push your Moody Michael into it next year, Ocelot.
Might ruin it for the rest.

Floggingmolly

I hope she finds something suitable. Does she fancy volunteering?

^That was to AlexanderH

Well this year she's volunteering two mornings a week at our local library with summer reading challenge activities/general tidying of shelves & signing children up for library cards so I think she may try to do something similar. Or I might ask my son's voluntary theatre group if she can help with sound/lighting at their summer school.

Sounds fantastic. Hope she enjoys it.

Well obviously you've decided you aren't interested Alexander, and that's fine, but as you will have seen from this thread, the vast majority of folk who go with an open mind, really enjoy it, and most really, really grow in confidence.
The 2 weeks residential cover really very different experiences. One week is all outdoor ed stuff - loads of team building, etc., as well as the fantastic opportunities to do all the outdoor stuff. The other week is very different - it's very much about growing up and learning skills. I remember ds was in a University Halls of residence and they had a budget and had to work out what to buy, what to cook, taking into account their skills, their preferences, any allergies and other reasons for not eating particular foods, etc. It was a completely new (and incredibly useful) experience for virtually all the youngsters. They then do a week's course in an area they are interested in - drama, photography, a sport, etc., which again, is completely different from the first part. For those who are already very engaged in the community, they will credit volunteering hours elsewhere. For those who have nothing else planned, then it is a great way of compacting an award, not dis-similar to DofE type things, into a short period of time when they would otherwise only be doing nothing anyway.

I'm not saying it's a bad scheme but earlier posters were saying their kids were refusing to do weeks 3/4 as it was too much & others were saying they are getting pestering phone calls & emails due to low take up.

I just think that if it wasn't 4 weeks but perhaps 2 weeks they might get more take up. 4 weeks is a lot to have to commit to.

And as I said earlier, dd isn't allowed to do most of the outdoor activities anyway.

Backfg did you get Alexander mixed up with another poster? I just read AH post as her dd having physical difficulties, perhaps asthma? Not slating ncs as such.