BPP LPC help. 3Days?

[M&A]

Hi Everyone,

I have been told by my firm that our cohort are scheduled to do the LPC at BPP attending Holborn campus 3 days a week.

Has someone had this schedule before, and could you kindly tell me roughly the time frame? Was it like 9am start, or sooner/later? How many hours each day? I have contacted BPP but no response yet.

I have some caring responsibilities to manage alongside my studies and would like to have a heads up into what is expected.

Many thanks!!

M&A

 

[Jane Smith]

I am not 100% sure. Before the pandemic people could choose 2 long days for 4 half days for example for the days you had to be in face to face. My sons are starting the LPC in September and their sisters have already done it (before pandemic) but my sons have not yet been told which days so I have been trying to find out which is why I am on here. I would be interested to hear what others have been told about September.

 

[Nicktim]

I am not 100% sure. Before the pandemic people could choose 2 long days for 4 half days for example for the days you had to be in face to face. My sons are starting the LPC in September and their sisters have already done it (before pandemic) but my sons have not yet been told which days so I have been trying to find out which is why I am on here. I would be interested to hear what others have been told about September.

I'm starting the accelerated LPC in the first week of August and unfortunately we don't even have that information yet. We've been told we'll have detailed timetables 2 weeks before classes start but should just keep the whole working week free for the course. I know the accelerated course has a different format to the full time one but that might give you an idea when you can expect to find out schedules! Hopefully as the OP has caring responsibilities they may be able to provide that info a little sooner.

 

[M&A]

Thank you both! Gosh... I really hope we get told with more notice than two weeks before the start!!!

 

[Jane Smith]

There was not much notice a year ago for my sons who did the BPP PGDL which ended up being 100% online. One had an email today confirming he is registered which included. (This is for London, full time LPC BPP - not accelerated)

"Timetables​

We are in the process of creating your timetable. This will be made available to you in the Office 365 Outlook calendar associated with your BPP email address. So don't worry if you don't see your timetable immediately."

We will not be holding our breath. It is not too bad for us but eg those who have to arrange childcare or have other caring responsibilities never mind those with some kind of job to manage you really do need to know if you will be in 4 half days a week or 3 days or 2 days etc. I thikn the BPP web site still says what it did when my daughters did the course - you can choose in London 4 shorter days, 3 or 2 long days and I know my sons are hoping to be able to opt for the 2 longer days as they will have an hour's travel each way.

 

[whisperingrock]

BPP is so flakey with this stuff that even if you get a firm commitment, they might go back on it at any point. They have sneaky tiny asterisks on every webpage and pdf that say that any schedules are subject to change whenever they want. They pulled the rug out like this on several of my friends who needed to know their schedule for work, and they had no recourse.

There was not much notice a year ago for my sons who did the BPP PGDL which ended up being 100% online. One had an email today confirming he is registered which included. (This is for London, full time LPC BPP - not accelerated)

"Timetables​

We are in the process of creating your timetable. This will be made available to you in the Office 365 Outlook calendar associated with your BPP email address. So don't worry if you don't see your timetable immediately."

We will not be holding our breath. It is not too bad for us but eg those who have to arrange childcare or have other caring responsibilities never mind those with some kind of job to manage you really do need to know if you will be in 4 half days a week or 3 days or 2 days etc. I thikn the BPP web site still says what it did when my daughters did the course - you can choose in London 4 shorter days, 3 or 2 long days and I know my sons are hoping to be able to opt for the 2 longer days as they will have an hour's travel each way.

 

[Jane Smith]

BPP is so flakey with this stuff that even if you get a firm commitment, they might go back on it at any point. They have sneaky tiny asterisks on every webpage and pdf that say that any schedules are subject to change whenever they want. They pulled the rug out like this on several of my friends who needed to know their schedule for work, and they had no recourse.

People need to plan, even decide whether to rent a room in London. Not knowing a month or less in advance is unhelpful. The only reason I am involved (as a parent who has never been a "helicopter" parent - I never even read a bit of GCSE course work) is (i) I am a lawyer (ii) I am paying and (iii) I just want to know which days they will be out attending the LPC in the physical sense (if any). If it were likely someone answering the phone would know the answer I suppose my sons could just call them and ask. Perhaps we should try that.

Hopefully timetables will appear shortly. Even the email I quoted above about timetables is a little unclear. The BPP online description of the London LPC implies there remains a choice of 4 days, 3 or 2. If that is untrue that should be removed. So if there are still choices this Autumn (as to 4 3 or 2 days) then they presumably cannot send you a timetable until you have made the choices of which options for attendance you have picked. It may well be different and more certain for those sponsored by big firms who may well have specified what they require eg 3 days.

"Study options* Full-time (2, 3 or 4 days)
*All modes and modules run subject to demand. They may differ across locations and start dates. **Part-time days/evenings and times are Year 1 only. Depending on your choice of electives, you may be required to attend a different part-time mode to study your electives. ***Non-credit bearing and not examined. +Weekly patterns are subject to change and not guaranteed. Consecutive weeks may occur during assessment periods."
(From Keyfacts download via https://www.bpp.com/courses/law/postgraduate/lpc-legal-practice-course )

I am guessing it is possible they will want fewer people in and on fewer days so might prefer people going for 2 long days rather than 4 short ones for example or perhaps they have decided everyone will do 3 days. It is anyone's guess at the moment.

 

[M&A]

It is incomprehensible to me tbh. I called weeks ago and they told me it was too early to know and that they would reach out at end of July...Well, that didn't happen. Also implicit in the tone was the "how do you dare ask" message, but that is by the by.

I don't understand it in my particular case either, because I'm a sponsored student and so my firm must have agreed a tuition package based on the standard numbers of yearly cohorts, so how that is not allocated for in advance or how they are unable to give an indication or a rough timetable is entirely incomprehensible to me. I also say that having spent the last 10 years in the education sector myself I'm being used to arranging planning provision in the industry.

As a mum to a 4 year old, it is incredibly unhelpful as I cannot afford a nanny, so need to rely on childminder or school clubs, which have to be booked.. by yesterday. Luckily a childminder I know is happy with the wait and see approach, but it goes both ways, so if she is booked up in the end by September.. then [insert zombie emoji].

 

[Jane Smith]

M&A, all I can guess is they are trying to find out how many people they can persuade to move from in person to online and only then decide which options for attendance they will be offering particularly for those who are not sponsored by a firm. Also the email I quoted above is not consistent with what they advertise - that you can choose long or short days etc. if instead they will be imposing a timetable on people having advertised the course as being one where you could choose 2 long days, 3 days or 4 short days. My other son who sent his paperwork and paid slightly before his brother has not even had the email his brother had saying you are now enrolled.

Anyway it would be very useful if as soon as anyone does have information about their own timetable they could let others know.

 

[Jane Smith]

M&A, all I can guess is they are trying to find out how many people they can persuade to move from in person to online and only then decide which options for attendance they will be offering particularly for those who are not sponsored by a firm. Also the email I quoted above is not consistent with what they advertise - that you can choose long or short days etc. if instead they will be imposing a timetable on people having advertised the course as being one where you could choose 2 long days, 3 days or 4 short days. My other son who sent his paperwork and paid slightly before his brother has not even had the email his brother had saying you are now enrolled.

Anyway it would be very useful if as soon as anyone does have information about their own timetable they could let others know.

My son called BPP today and was told a form is being emailed to students tomorrow (which they sent him today) to indicate preferences of days for attendance this Autumn. I think he called it a survey. I presume BPP will be checking how many people want 4 half days or 2 full days or whatever and once BPP knows demand will form groups accordingly. There is a section at bottom of the form where you can indicate any other information (eg my sons want to be in the same group for travel reasons).

Also this might appear that they are identical twins in identical clothes moving in sync or something weird which is not so. The LPC would be the first time they have been in the same class ever. Even at age 4 they exercised a choice to be different classes at school and even did the GDL in different cities.

 

[Jane Smith]

My son called BPP today and was told a form is being emailed to students tomorrow (which they sent him today) to indicate preferences of days for attendance this Autumn. I think he called it a survey. I presume BPP will be checking how many people want 4 half days or 2 full days or whatever and once BPP knows demand will form groups accordingly. There is a section at bottom of the form where you can indicate any other information (eg my sons want to be in the same group for travel reasons).

Also this might appear that they are identical twins in identical clothes moving in sync or something weird which is not so. The LPC would be the first time they have been in the same class ever. Even at age 4 they exercised a choice to be different classes at school and even did the GDL in different cities.

My son has received the term dates today for the LPC (BPP) and has completed the survey of preferred days (gone for 2 days a week and added reasons for in the box at the end).

 

[AOD]

My son has received the term dates today for the LPC (BPP) and has completed the survey of preferred days (gone for 2 days a week and added reasons for in the box at the end).

Which campus is that for? I start with them in September but have not received anything.

 

[Daniel Boden]

Which campus is that for? I start with them in September but have not received anything.

Same here

 

[M&A]

Nothing yet either!

 

[Jane Smith]

London BPP LPC full time.

In case it helps people let me go through what my sons have had. However if you are sponsored by a law firm it could be different and the firm is likely to set the number of days a week etc. So I would not worry if you have not heard yet but do call them / chase it.

1. 5 July "studentenrolment" team sent an email - Welcome to BPP... giving start date and saying pay (I am their lawyer parent who is paying) and asking for documentation (which we had already sent - passport, transcript, degree cert etc - one of them has sent it 3 times now). It asked them to complete a "contact details form" It said once they had the payment and form and documents they would register them.
2. I then paid on 13 July. 27 July son sent contact details form and photo to BPP and his brother would have done around the same time.
3. On 30 July his brother received an email "You are now registered" saying he could log into "the hub" (although I don't think anything LPC related is on there yet when he last looked), It gave him his user name (which is the BPP email address he had last year) and said they were waiting for documents - they were not but he sent them a third time and the email said that time tables would be created in due course.

4. His brother did not receive that "you are registered" email (3), however so he called them, got through and they said they were about to register him which they did whilst he was on the phone. They said that needed some of the documents he had already sent (his transcript- he sent it yet again) and that a survey was going out the next day about which days you would prefer to attend in terms of 2 times a week or whatever and they sent it instead to him right away. Around the same day 5 August they emailed him the survey link " Thank you for your call today. Please see below for the timetable survey link we discussed. https://forms.office.com/pages/resp...1&wdLOR=cB2B38635-CF55-4A3E-8567-A0BD991B5754 "

You need to be registered and to have a student ID number to fill in that linked survey which my sons do have. I just checked the link just now. Their student ID number for the LPC is the same number as they had for the BPP PDGL last academic year just ended.

That survey starts with:-
"BPP University Law School Timetable Preference Survey
We look forward to welcoming you as a student to BPP University.
We will do everything we can to accommodate your choice but, these options can't be guaranteed and are subject to availability
Your preferences are for September to December workshops or tutorials and don't apply to any lectures or second term schedules
The full time workload is 40+ hours per week of your time, so please speak to your Admissions Officer if you feel this is not achievable
If you are being sponsored by a particular Law Firm the survey will direct you to the options you are required to select
Classes may be scheduled outside of your regular timetable but only when necessary"

I cannot paste here the options as I have not completed the survey myself and don;'t have a copy but was present when one son did it. They clicked to choose 2 days a week.

5. They have both filled in the survey around 5 August saying they would prefer the 2 long days a week option. I cannot remember exactly what the survey asked but it was very short indeed and it did ask if a law firm is sponsoring you and name of the firm if the firm did not come up on their automatic list of law firm names.

6. 6 August -they received an email from the senior admissions officer at BPP (a "do not reply" email ) headed Term Dates which gives the dates for the year for various LPCs - normal full time, accelerated etc. I will see if I can attach it here. It is a pdf. There is a slight error on it - end of Christmas holiday is down as 1st January but 2nd Jan 2022 is a Sunday (unless my 2022 diary is wrong) so I doubt term starts then but will be 3 Jan. First main exams are mid Jan. for the full time September starting normal BPP LPC.

I think that is the latest position above, but one son is working full time as a paralegal so very busy and the other has been busy too so may be they have missed something more recent.

Sorry the above is long and probably repeats what I said in earlier posts but I thought it might be helpful.

My advice would be check your emails - eg we had a slight delay ( 13 - 27 July) as my sons had not noticed that one email said quite far down the email that you must complete the contact form before you will be registered and then my second advice is to call them as it was only by calling my other son speeded up his registration, was told they did not have one of his documents and was sent the timetable survey link. Also if your law firm is not paying then check payment issues as I doubt they register people until some fees are paid.

I am happy to update people when we hear from them on h ere. It is useful having 2 sons on the same course at the same place as they can compare who has had what. I must say with the GDL last year although some documents and registrations were a bit late due to the pandemic and the PGDL being brand new, by the time we got to the start date it was all fine, even if a bit last minute, although one son (the one who did it in London) is still waiting for his last year's student ID card from BPP...........

I will see if I can get the son who is not working to log in to the BPP email account today to see if there is anything new up there.

 

[ScrappyDoo]

London BPP LPC full time.

In case it helps people let me go through what my sons have had. However if you are sponsored by a law firm it could be different and the firm is likely to set the number of days a week etc. So I would not worry if you have not heard yet but do call them / chase it.

1. 5 July "studentenrolment" team sent an email - Welcome to BPP... giving start date and saying pay (I am their lawyer parent who is paying) and asking for documentation (which we had already sent - passport, transcript, degree cert etc - one of them has sent it 3 times now). It asked them to complete a "contact details form" It said once they had the payment and form and documents they would register them.
2. I then paid on 13 July. 27 July son sent contact details form and photo to BPP and his brother would have done around the same time.
3. On 30 July his brother received an email "You are now registered" saying he could log into "the hub" (although I don't think anything LPC related is on there yet when he last looked), It gave him his user name (which is the BPP email address he had last year) and said they were waiting for documents - they were not but he sent them a third time and the email said that time tables would be created in due course.

4. His brother did not receive that "you are registered" email (3), however so he called them, got through and they said they were about to register him which they did whilst he was on the phone. They said that needed some of the documents he had already sent (his transcript- he sent it yet again) and that a survey was going out the next day about which days you would prefer to attend in terms of 2 times a week or whatever and they sent it instead to him right away. Around the same day 5 August they emailed him the survey link " Thank you for your call today. Please see below for the timetable survey link we discussed. https://forms.office.com/pages/resp...1&wdLOR=cB2B38635-CF55-4A3E-8567-A0BD991B5754 "

You need to be registered and to have a student ID number to fill in that linked survey which my sons do have. I just checked the link just now. Their student ID number for the LPC is the same number as they had for the BPP PDGL last academic year just ended.

That survey starts with:-
"BPP University Law School Timetable Preference Survey
We look forward to welcoming you as a student to BPP University.
We will do everything we can to accommodate your choice but, these options can't be guaranteed and are subject to availability
Your preferences are for September to December workshops or tutorials and don't apply to any lectures or second term schedules
The full time workload is 40+ hours per week of your time, so please speak to your Admissions Officer if you feel this is not achievable
If you are being sponsored by a particular Law Firm the survey will direct you to the options you are required to select
Classes may be scheduled outside of your regular timetable but only when necessary"

I cannot paste here the options as I have not completed the survey myself and don;'t have a copy but was present when one son did it. They clicked to choose 2 days a week.

5. They have both filled in the survey around 5 August saying they would prefer the 2 long days a week option. I cannot remember exactly what the survey asked but it was very short indeed and it did ask if a law firm is sponsoring you and name of the firm if the firm did not come up on their automatic list of law firm names.

6. 6 August -they received an email from the senior admissions officer at BPP (a "do not reply" email ) headed Term Dates which gives the dates for the year for various LPCs - normal full time, accelerated etc. I will see if I can attach it here. It is a pdf. There is a slight error on it - end of Christmas holiday is down as 1st January but 2nd Jan 2022 is a Sunday (unless my 2022 diary is wrong) so I doubt term starts then but will be 3 Jan. First main exams are mid Jan. for the full time September starting normal BPP LPC.

I think that is the latest position above, but one son is working full time as a paralegal so very busy and the other has been busy too so may be they have missed something more recent.

Sorry the above is long and probably repeats what I said in earlier posts but I thought it might be helpful.

My advice would be check your emails - eg we had a slight delay ( 13 - 27 July) as my sons had not noticed that one email said quite far down the email that you must complete the contact form before you will be registered and then my second advice is to call them as it was only by calling my other son speeded up his registration, was told they did not have one of his documents and was sent the timetable survey link. Also if your law firm is not paying then check payment issues as I doubt they register people until some fees are paid.

I am happy to update people when we hear from them on h ere. It is useful having 2 sons on the same course at the same place as they can compare who has had what. I must say with the GDL last year although some documents and registrations were a bit late due to the pandemic and the PGDL being brand new, by the time we got to the start date it was all fine, even if a bit last minute, although one son (the one who did it in London) is still waiting for his last year's student ID card from BPP...........

I will see if I can get the son who is not working to log in to the BPP email account today to see if there is anything new up there.

Very useful information thank you! 😊 Also thank you for taking your time to write us a detailed timeline!!

 

[Jane Smith]

I was putting off work hence long email yesterday.... Also yesterday one of my sons sent me another email from BPP headed "timetable options survey and online form" from the senior admissions officer which again sends the time tabling survey link for completion and gives people their student reference number in the body of the email (which we already have and is the same as on the BPP GDL last year) and also mentions a service where you can ask questions via their student enquiry form. My son thinks only once they have collated the surveys will they decide how many days and which options for that they will offer to people whose law firms do not require particular days (this is for September starters).

 

[Elle W]

Does anyone know what the term dates are for the London campus September full time intake?

 

[Daniel Boden]

Does anyone know what the term dates are for the London campus September full time intake?

They're in the attached pdf above - we start on Monday September 6

 

[Jane Smith]

Yes as stated above and below if from the PDF - full time BPP LPC London (not accelerated)

LPC / LLM LPC FULL TIME - SEPT 2021
Dates Activity
6 September 2021
Teaching starts

25-29 October 2021
Reading week

20 Dec 2021 – 1 Jan 2022
Christmas break

10-18 January 2022
Core Practice Areas and Skills Assessments

24 Jan – 18 Mar 2022
Skills teaching and assessments

w/c 21 March 2022
Electives preparation week

28 March 2022
Electives teaching starts

11-22 April 2022
Easter break

30 May – 17 June 2022
Elective assessments

19 August 2022
LLM only - LRR hand-in date (unless arrangements made for early submission)