As you will be aware, Aberdeenshire Council’s Procedures for Offsite Excursions document provides guidance on adventurous excursions and activities.
Where adventurous activities are led or provided by Aberdeenshire Council staff or volunteers, these people must have appropriate up to date qualifications. In most cases this will be a National Governing Body award or in some cases a specific Aberdeenshire Council qualification. Some examples are shown below, but this is not an exhaustive list.
This applies to all of the wide range of adventurous activities provided in or by schools and other establishments and includes adventurous activities within the Duke of Edinburgh award.
As part of our Excursion Guidance and as a requirement of our Adventurous Activities Licensing Service (AALS) licence, we are required to have the qualifications which staff and volunteers rely upon to deliver or lead adventurous activities, recorded where they can be seen by Heads of Establishments and by AALS inspectors.
These qualifications must be recorded on the Evolve system. They can be either scanned in or added in as photographs. This is done in the “My Profile” section of Evolve and then by clicking on “awards and training” once you are in “My details”.
While you will only need to include your qualifications once, except when they need to be updated, you will need to complete an Activity Leader Form (ALF) for each adventurous activity on each trip.
Qualifications and ALFs must be added in advance of the excursion to allow those authorising the activity to examine the qualifications being relied upon.
If the qualifications are unable to be seen on the Evolve submission, then the excursion will be unable to be authorised and the trip may be delayed while the qualifications are updated.
The establishment Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) will be able to assist with this and the “Help” pages within Evolve give clear instructions on how to add in the qualifications.
Non- remote terrain below 300m in height requires experienced leaders, but does not require a hillwalking qualification. A current first aid qualification is recommended, as is a maximum Leader to pupil ratio of 1:8.
Hillwalking in non- winter conditions above 300m but below 600m (plus other caveats defining location & remoteness), requires Aberdeenshire’s in-house Lowhills award, with a maximum qualified Leader to participant ratio of 1:8.
The Lowhills scheme requires a Logbook detailing the required level of 20 days’ hillwalking experience, a 2 day initial course then a 1 day update course every 5 years.
All groups operating in Lowhills must be accompanied by an adult holding a current First Aid qualification. As a minimum this should be a 6-hour award, preferably with an additional element of training in outdoor/mountain safety. A 2 day BASP style outdoor emergency first aid course is preferred for Lowhills & required for NGB qualifications.
Hillwalking in non-winter conditions above 600m or in terrain outwith the defined Lowhills geographic area/ remoteness requires the NGB Mountain Leader qualification.
Hillwalking in winter conditions would require NGB Winter Mountain Leader.
RCI - Rock Climbing Instructor - Single Pitch bottom roping climbing and abseiling on non-tidal crags with no objective danger.
2 day outdoor first aid certificate.
The RCI certificate is the most basic for single pitch crags.
RCDI Rock Climbing Development Instructor - as RCI however can also teach lead climbing.
MCI - Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor Award.
2 day outdoor first aid certificate.
British Cycling L2 MTB or equivalent (Legacy)
British Cycling Activity Coach Off Road (within remits)
MTB XC Coaching in Context
MTB Gravity Coaching in Context
2 day outdoor first aid certificate
Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport (3-year renewal)
British Cycling L2 MTB or equivalent (Legacy with additional training)
MTB XC Coaching in Context
MTB Gravity Coaching in Context
2 day outdoor first aid certificate
Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport (3-year renewal)