NNAS Tutor Award – Peak District

The NNAS Tutor Award is a one day course lasting around eight hours. We usually start at 9am and aim to finish before 5pm. The day starts with a short ‘classroom’ session before heading out for some practical work.

Our NNAS Tutor Award courses take place in the heart of the Peak District in the small village of Edale. Only around an hour’s drive from Manchester or Sheffield and easily accessible from the M1 for London and the North, the Peak District is perfectly located in the middle of the country.

Edale also has a railway station on the Manchester-Sheffield line making it accessible to all.

The day begins and ends at the fabulous Penny Pot Cafe where Chris and his team offer homemade cakes, delicious snacks and hot and cold drinks (and local ice creams when the sun comes out to play).

We’re proud to offer some of the best value outdoor courses in the UK. Our NNAS Tutor Award course costs £59. There’s also a £16 course fee which is paid to the National Navigation Award Scheme (NNAS) on your behalf. Successful candidates will receive a digital certificate at the end of the course.

You can either choose to pay in full when you book online or if you book by phone you can avoid the online booking fees imposed by our booking provider.

If you’d like to stay over and make a weekend of it (always recommended!) then there are a few very local accommodation options available:

• Bike & Boot Inn is a new leisure hotel in the Hope Valley just a 15 minute drive away. Use promo code ‘mountainxperience’ to get big discounts on stays!
• The Rambler Inn is the pub just around the corner from where the course meets. It has nine en-suite rooms available as well as a one bedroom cottage.
• The Old Nags Head is just a short walk away in the centre of Edale and offers two small cottages which would ideally suit couples, families and small groups.
• Fieldhead Campsite is a small 45 pitch site again just a few minutes walk from where we meet. It’s a bit ‘rustic’ (there’s no electricity, wifi or even phone signal!) but it’s a lovely little site to get away from it all.
• Newfold Farm in the centre of the village (a five minute walk) welcomes tents as well as campervans and caravans or you can book to stay in one of their luxury bell tents. They also have a cafe and make great pizza at weekends!

If you have a car then you can also look for accommodation in nearby Castleton, Hope, Hathersage and other surrounding villages and small towns. Use your favourite accommodation booking website such as booking.com or airbnb.co.uk and search for ‘Edale’.

You’ll need outdoor kit for a whole weekend in the hills whatever the weather! You’ll also need an Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 Explorer map for the Dark Peak area (OL1). If you happen to have an OS 1:50 000 Landranger (110) or Harvey Peak District Central map then bring them along but don’t go out and buy them specially. The only one you definitely need is the OS OL1 map. You’ll also need a compass. We recommend the Silva Expedition 4 but any long-edged compass will do the job.

Remember to bring enough food and drink with you to last the day and some money for breakfasts and cakes!

There’s a full kit list below. Please have a look at the weather before setting off and dress accordingly. Better to have an extra fleece and woolly hat in your bag just in case. Remember we’ll be outdoors all day in all weathers so be sure to have the right gear. If it’s looking wet then keeping spares clothes to change into in your car is also a good idea.

• Comfortable hill walking clothing – personal base layers and trousers (not jeans)
• Waterproof jacket with hood
• Waterproof trousers (separate to your walking trousers)
• Spare warm/fleece jacket
• Walking boots or walking trainers
• Comfortable walking socks
• Warm hat and gloves or sun hat and sun screen (weather dependent)
• Vacuum flask for hot drink and/or re-usable water bottle
• Personal first aid kit and personal medication
• Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 Explorer map for the Dark Peak area (OL1)
• Compass (long-edge type such as the Silva Expedition 4)
• Day walk rucksack – approx. 20-25 litres
• Packed lunch and snacks for each day

You can get hold of OS maps direct from Ordnance Survey or from any book store including Amazon but we recommend Dash4It – the map superstore. They guarantee the latest maps at the cheapest prices all with free delivery. They also stock a wide range of compasses. Use the discount code MOUNTAINX to get an extra 10% off OS Maps.

The aim of the NNAS Tutor Award is to enable participants to tutor the training and assessment for the NNAS Outdoor Discovery
Awards (ODA) 1, 2 and 3 star, and the Navigator Awards, Bronze & Silver appropriate to their existing outdoor experience.

The main focus of the course is on the delivery of the Bronze and Silver awards.

Key subject areas are:

• Clarity of the ODA, Bronze and Silver Navigator Award learning outcomes and the
  required training and assessment at each level referencing the Tutor Handbook
  (2021 version) and the ODA Handbook. (Supporting documentation for the Bronze
  and Silver awards is in the Provider Resources section of the NNAS Website).
• The importance of using progressions in skills, environment, map scales and working
  in groups progressing to going solo to build navigation confidence.
• A tool box of ideas for teaching appropriate progressions at each award level.
• Assessment options and evidence at each level of award including SCQF evidence for
  Bronze and Silver using the assessment sheets on the NNAS website.

Other topics which should be included are:

• A brief overview of the NNAS.
• Roles and responsibilities – Provider, Course Director, Tutor.
• Available resources from compasses, sports cones, handouts, various exercise cards,
  mapping, the internet and orienteering books.
• The integration and progressions of GPS, and digital navigation aids through the
  awards as a part of training but not assessment.
• Sustainability, environment and access syllabus elements.
• Map copyright advice.
• Inclusiveness and making reasonable adjustments for a wide range of impairments.
  (It is quite possible to deliver a Bronze course for a wheelchair user for instance).
• Delivering the awards using other adventure activity modes of travel, primarily at
  Bronze level such as mountain bike, canoe and kayak (non tidal) activities.
• Quick overview of recording course delivery through Tahdah for potential course
  directors and providers.