NCS vs. BMA vs. LAE (colleges)

Hellooooooooo YR11’s. I’ve created this thread so that you can easily compare the three colleges and future students can also look back at this thread when they’re making the same decisions etc.
To keep things organised we should maintain a structure to our posts by introducing ourselves in our first post

Year 11 students introduce yourself like this;
“Type of Student: e.g. i am a year 11 student
Colleges you are interested in: e.g. interested in NCS BMA LAE
Subjects you want to study: e.g. Math, Bio, Chem, Further math
Career you want to go into: e.g. not sure yet // engineering”

Students already attending the colleges should introduce themselves as i am about to;
“Type of student: e.g. I am a Y12 student
College you attend: I attend NCS
Subjects you study: Math, Bio, Chem
Career: idk/medicine/science but not physics”

This would make it easier for people to answer your questions and get straight to the point.

I will be tagging people that I have seen recently enquiring about the mentioned colleges.
@Tabz786 @hallaluliah @ayushquettic @belgiancookie

For this to work i was hoping someone from each school could join this thread and “represent” their school just as I would be representing NCS. Anyone is welcome to join in, comparisons of schools are permissible but in a respectful manner (swearing and cursing is excessive 🙄 like legit no one is tryna fight, we’re all here just tryna help these little Y11’s out). Also, for ethical reasons i believe that if we are to call out specific teachers we should only use their initials e.g. “Mr/Mrs/Miss ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ”

Sooooo, how should we go about this? Pros and Cons? Or answer your specific questions?

Type of student: e.g. I am a Y12 student
College you attend: I attend LAE
Subjects you study: Math, Bio, Chem, Eng
Career: medicine

Can you share pros and cons of NCS please? What are college timings?
Is there a learning hub and chill out space for students to use in free time?
Would you recommend NCS, especially Maths and Economics departments?

College timings; everyday starts at 8.30
Monday - ends at 3
Tuesday - 2.40
Wednesday - 3
Thursday - 2.40
Friday - 2
PRIVATE STUDY IS ALWAYS OPEN FROM 8.15AM-6PM
Regarding learning spaces; the private study is open till 6, after school there will be teachers working in their classrooms and you can work there too, the library next door to the school is also available. Yes, there are 2 main big private study halls which is where we do our exams, i think this is good since when we are doing our exams we are not stressed out by the environment because we are used to the quietness and concentration during private study.

Unfortunately there is no common room; however, students can hang out anywhere around the school during break and lunch and we can go out at lunch time. We can not go library during school times however (I’m not sure why).

The math department is well established and effective, the lessons are interactive with lots of teamwork and whiteboard work. An online PEARSON EDEXCEL textbook is provided for free for all students. The structuring of the math department is quite good in terms of homework. The teachers really emphasise understanding the reason behind what we are doing, its not them just saying “THIS IS HOW U DO IT DONT QUESTION IT. JUST ACCEPT IT.” Instead they encourage questions and teach us where the process is derived from (the history, the reasoning, the proof) which I’m ngl made me like math a lot more. I dont do economics, but i have spoken to econ students. There are two teachers; Ms E and Mr M. From what i heard their lessons are enjoyable and relaxed (nothing hardcore and depressing). The teachers are really nice and relatable, and i have seen them using their free time to help students who have asked for out-of-lesson help. As all teachers do when they get frustrated; Ms E has a mighty voice.

Tomorrow, i will go through a list of the pros and cons aswell as aspects of the school which are inbetween. (I dont want to make u wait, but I’m tired and my back hurts so i wanna lie down)
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P.s. thank you @gymdandy211 🥺, i thought my plan would fail, but alas you arrived 🙌🏽

Thank you so much.
So where would I go to study at lunch or break time? Seems strange there is no common room. Library is probably fed up of students coming in.
Hope your backs better now

Yes, my back is better because i slept a lot. In fact i slept past my alarm!
At lunch or break the classrooms and the private study halls are open for you to work in. The library is barely filled with students, so they are not exhausted by us. You must be imagining around 200 students rushing into the library everyday, when reality is at any given time there is no more than 15 NCS kids in the library. Sometimes, when timetables get rearranged the private study halls are filled to the max; in that case the canteen is used for private study. As it stands, I’m in the canteen right now Writing this reply! It’s really quiet. The only sounds in this room right now are the clicking of Pens and the tapping of my keyboard.

P.s. pros and cons pending...

Thanks for the @
College interested in: Leaning Towards Brampton Manor but also interested in LAE
Subjects: Maths, Biology, Chemistry and most likely Physics
Future desire: not sure however definitely down the STEM route


btw for you guys who have already applied to LAE, Once your reference was submitted did you receive a notification or any further info, I applied to LAE sometime last week and haven't heard anything back... Anyone know if they have started replying with Interviews?

Thanks for the @
College interested in: Leaning Towards Brampton Manor but also interested in LAE
Subjects: Maths, Biology, Chemistry and most likely Physics
Future desire: not sure however definitely down the STEM route


btw for you guys who have already applied to LAE, Once your reference was submitted did you receive a notification or any further info, I applied to LAE sometime last week and haven't heard anything back... Anyone know if they have started replying with Interviews?

Would you recommend LAE? Is the Maths department good?

Im a y11 kid
College intrested in: LAE, BMA, NCS
Subjects: Maths, Further Maths, Physics , Chemistry
Carreer desire: Engineering

What are the pros and cons of LAE and NCS?

I would deffo recommend LAE. The environment is nice and the teachers are amazing. The days are quite packed compared to other sixth forms, with five periods of lessons a day (2 in the morning, three after lunch). then after lunch is extracurricular including volunteering, outreach, sport, first give, EPQ, lectures and academic mentoring and this is every day. you get one free/study period a week but other colleges offer way more study periods. it is quite tough and people leave in the first term. the maths department is amazing, lots of support and resources. good luck with your application!

do they give free textbooks? do u know anyone doing philosophy and theology a level, how do they find it? are they pressurizing? x