Post-GCSE summer holiday ideas

[ruthiebabes70]

My DS is currently doing GCSEs and will be 17 in September. Like for any of the Y11s, it's been a stressful time but for him we've had the additional challenge of his best friend dying of cancer 8 weeks ago. It was to be expected but nonetheless it's hit my son very hard. He has paused his out of school activities (football and piano) because he just doesn't feel like it. He is sad understandably a lot of the time as well as feeling angry and being in denial and all the other emotions in the grief cycle. He mentioned the summer but rather than looking forward to it, his view is "what am I going to do?" We will be away in July for 3 weeks but other than that it feels like a big chasm stretching out before him. Any thoughts on what a nearly-17 could do to fill his time?

I don’t think NCS exists anymore but is there something similar he could do, volunteer for a couple of weeks, or an activity holiday.

i would be wary of booking too much though, they need time to decompress it’s such a stressful time.

was he enjoying piano and football or had they run their course? Things like piano especially it’s hard to come back to at that age from a long break, although he might go back as an adult.

would he be interested in something like lifeguard training which could then lead to him getting a part time job? A lot of leisure centres and gyms are offering to pay for the training as part of the job hire.
any local sports camps for younger kids that he could get work with?

Thank you for the supportive responses. I hadn't heard of NCS before but just looked it up and sadly it's no longer available. Helping at Kids' summer camps or Sports Centre life guarding are good ideas and I'll investigate.

NCS does still run in some areas. DC did a camp last summer and had a great time, and camps are happening this year too. Maybe it depends on location?