My honest ncs experience

So I thought I would do a big post based on my whole NCS experience summer 2017 because I know over the next few months it will be time to apply for NCS again and if you are in any way interested you may have some queries or questions.

Now the first thing I want to say before anything else is that your NCS experience will ALWAYS be different from the next person. You will see a lot of opposing views about NCS because it appeals to different people in different ways. Sometimes people have bad experiences due to a number of reasons, however their experience will not reflect how yours might be. Much like someone who had a great experience may also not be the same for you. But I want to make it clear that this is normal. NCS is full of so many activities that simply cannot appeal to every single person, but because it has so many things you can do it is highly unlikely that every part your going to hate.

I was on WAVE 3. This was reasonably early on in the summer and personally I loved this because when you finish for Y11 you tend to have a few weeks before the summer holiday begins for everyone. I had a lot of plans for when I finished GCSEs however because parents are still working and the summer holidays haven't properly started yet there isn't as much going on naturally as you may think, unless you have planned something. Additionally after spending an intense few months with my friendship group I felt NCS was a great chance to have a break from this and be around different people. But I think when choosing your wave just keep in mind that you need to be available for the whole time (bar 3 days absence) and knowing this might help you to make your decision.
Additionally I went on NCS with only one close friend on my wave as non of my other friends wanted to "waste their summer", however this was a massive blessing in disguise. ( I will go into further detail later)
So NCS is spilt into 3 main sections. Phase 1 the residential, phase 2 the uni halls/accommodation and phase 3 volunteering. I don't feel the need to go into too much detail about each phase as theirs plenty of information on the website.

So here I was, first day of NCS had come around and I was sh*tting it! I remember being sat in my group waiting for the coaches to take us to our residential place feeling incredibly awkward, wanting to go home. Along with a 5 hour coach journey, sat next to two girls who I didn't know and were chatting away, I couldn't see how things were going to improve.

In the first phase my wave stayed in tented accommodation, and I'm not going to lie it wasn't great. There were about 6 bunk beds in one massive teepee style tent with sleeping bags, and it did take a while to get used to but tbh for £30 ( mine was cheaper because I was from an inner city school ) I didn't expect 5* sleeping arrangements. If anyone has any further questions about food or accommodation feel free to ask .
The first phase of NCS is so jammed packed. There is something planned to do every day which you will do with your group and this is the best chance for you to start to get to know your group inside and out, and trust me if you involve yourself with the group you will find yourself having a much better time. I cannot tell you how much your relationship with your group changes in the first week its mad. In terms of other people on your wave you do get speaking to people naturally in wave time and any free time but the main purpose of this phase is getting to know your group and trust me you will.

Phase 2 is definitely a chance to get to know people from other groups as your doing more tasks as a wave as well as a group. This is great because your able to use the relationships you established in the first phase to do this. The second phase is very independent in your cooking and living, and this tends to be why so many people enjoy this phase. My top tip for this phase would be to establish clear roles in your kitchen with your group to make cooking times 10x easier. The day to day activities in this part focus around your skill. Each group has a different one and you might not get the one you requested but if you stay open minded you will find that any of the skills are appealing.

Phase 3 is completely different from the previous two simply because your staying at home. This means you are spending less time on the programme and have more opportunities to do what you want in the evening, which is a nice break from the residential phases. Phase 3 is sometimes not everyones favourite but honestly I found that this phase felt the most rewarding. Even if your community projects flop (like mine) the work you do with your group and time you spend working on them will pay off, whether it be during the dragons den pitch or the volunteering day. The relationship I had with my group was completely different by this phase and I felt that I connected so well with everyone in my group and on my wave, and I felt like I had known them for ages. I was also group leader in this phase and I loved the sense of responsibly and leadership skills I gained from this. After beginning the phase feeling incredibly quiet and awkward I felt like I had progressed so much as a person to get to group leader by the end.

As cheesy as it sounds I cannot tell you how much NCS changed me as a person. I became a more confident and driven person and learnt about qualities in myself I didn't know before. I met some incredible people who I got on so well with and realised who I wanted to start surrounding myself with.
If I wasn't doing NCS I would have spent the four weeks moping around and regretted wasting my summer doing nothing. It filled and started my summer off so well and felt so blessed to have done it.
Of course there were parts of NCS that seemed to drag or could have been better but ultimately I could not have enjoyed it anymore than I did.

Now I am in college with some of the people I met on NCS, spending most of my time with them and becoming friends with theirs, widening my circle.
I am also about to go to my graduation where I have been asked to say something at about my experience, which I feel honoured about.
I have also been able to put NCS on my personal statement for college and on my CV, which has helped to fill it out so much more.

So there we have it, a brief but hopefully informative post about my NCS experience! If anyone has any further questions please feel free to ask me!

Thanks! Im planning to do ncs after Gcse' s too and im currently in yr10! I've watched a video from one of my youtube subscriptions called 'UnJaded Jade' and she gave a really detailed review (and a good one!) like you so thank you!!!! Just want to ask one question:
When did you sign up for ncs? Did you have to sign up before the holidays started?

So I thought I would do a big post based on my whole NCS experience summer 2017 because I know over the next few months it will be time to apply for NCS again and if you are in any way interested you may have some queries or questions.

Now the first thing I want to say before anything else is that your NCS experience will ALWAYS be different from the next person. You will see a lot of opposing views about NCS because it appeals to different people in different ways. Sometimes people have bad experiences due to a number of reasons, however their experience will not reflect how yours might be. Much like someone who had a great experience may also not be the same for you. But I want to make it clear that this is normal. NCS is full of so many activities that simply cannot appeal to every single person, but because it has so many things you can do it is highly unlikely that every part your going to hate.

I was on WAVE 3. This was reasonably early on in the summer and personally I loved this because when you finish for Y11 you tend to have a few weeks before the summer holiday begins for everyone. I had a lot of plans for when I finished GCSEs however because parents are still working and the summer holidays haven't properly started yet there isn't as much going on naturally as you may think, unless you have planned something. Additionally after spending an intense few months with my friendship group I felt NCS was a great chance to have a break from this and be around different people. But I think when choosing your wave just keep in mind that you need to be available for the whole time (bar 3 days absence) and knowing this might help you to make your decision.
Additionally I went on NCS with only one close friend on my wave as non of my other friends wanted to "waste their summer", however this was a massive blessing in disguise. ( I will go into further detail later)
So NCS is spilt into 3 main sections. Phase 1 the residential, phase 2 the uni halls/accommodation and phase 3 volunteering. I don't feel the need to go into too much detail about each phase as theirs plenty of information on the website.

So here I was, first day of NCS had come around and I was sh*tting it! I remember being sat in my group waiting for the coaches to take us to our residential place feeling incredibly awkward, wanting to go home. Along with a 5 hour coach journey, sat next to two girls who I didn't know and were chatting away, I couldn't see how things were going to improve.


In the first phase my wave stayed in tented accommodation, and I'm not going to lie it wasn't great. There were about 6 bunk beds in one massive teepee style tent with sleeping bags, and it did take a while to get used to but tbh for £30 ( mine was cheaper because I was from an inner city school ) I didn't expect 5* sleeping arrangements. If anyone has any further questions about food or accommodation feel free to ask .
The first phase of NCS is so jammed packed. There is something planned to do every day which you will do with your group and this is the best chance for you to start to get to know your group inside and out, and trust me if you involve yourself with the group you will find yourself having a much better time. I cannot tell you how much your relationship with your group changes in the first week its mad. In terms of other people on your wave you do get speaking to people naturally in wave time and any free time but the main purpose of this phase is getting to know your group and trust me you will.

Phase 2 is definitely a chance to get to know people from other groups as your doing more tasks as a wave as well as a group. This is great because your able to use the relationships you established in the first phase to do this. The second phase is very independent in your cooking and living, and this tends to be why so many people enjoy this phase. My top tip for this phase would be to establish clear roles in your kitchen with your group to make cooking times 10x easier. The day to day activities in this part focus around your skill. Each group has a different one and you might not get the one you requested but if you stay open minded you will find that any of the skills are appealing.

Phase 3 is completely different from the previous two simply because your staying at home. This means you are spending less time on the programme and have more opportunities to do what you want in the evening, which is a nice break from the residential phases. Phase 3 is sometimes not everyones favourite but honestly I found that this phase felt the most rewarding. Even if your community projects flop (like mine) the work you do with your group and time you spend working on them will pay off, whether it be during the dragons den pitch or the volunteering day. The relationship I had with my group was completely different by this phase and I felt that I connected so well with everyone in my group and on my wave, and I felt like I had known them for ages. I was also group leader in this phase and I loved the sense of responsibly and leadership skills I gained from this. After beginning the phase feeling incredibly quiet and awkward I felt like I had progressed so much as a person to get to group leader by the end.

As cheesy as it sounds I cannot tell you how much NCS changed me as a person. I became a more confident and driven person and learnt about qualities in myself I didn't know before. I met some incredible people who I got on so well with and realised who I wanted to start surrounding myself with.
If I wasn't doing NCS I would have spent the four weeks moping around and regretted wasting my summer doing nothing. It filled and started my summer off so well and felt so blessed to have done it.
Of course there were parts of NCS that seemed to drag or could have been better but ultimately I could not have enjoyed it anymore than I did.

Now I am in college with some of the people I met on NCS, spending most of my time with them and becoming friends with theirs, widening my circle.
I am also about to go to my graduation where I have been asked to say something at about my experience, which I feel honoured about.
I have also been able to put NCS on my personal statement for college and on my CV, which has helped to fill it out so much more.

So there we have it, a brief but hopefully informative post about my NCS experience! If anyone has any further questions please feel free to ask me!

You posted this ages ago so I don't know if you'll see this but I'll try anyway. I signed up for NCS with one friend so I'll be going in the summer. You're review was pretty positive with is reassuring having seen some other people's opinions I won't lie. I was wondering what the food was like. Also what were the different skills they split your groups into in phase 2?

9:30 to 5:30

For phase 2, is it private accomodation? Like how does it work

This was posted on ages ago I know so if you don’t reply then it’s ok but if I went on NCS the coming summer on Monday 27th of July what date would me NCS experience be fully over