Examples for developing an orienteering site on school grounds

Mapping of the site

i) Do it yourself

This could be done in conjunction with other partners such as the PE advisor, planning department of the LA, members of staff from the school and the local orienteering club.

The British Orienteering Federation ( is an excellent information point on how to map a school site for orienteering. The 12 page document ‘British Orienteering School Mapping Specifications Release 1’ provides you with basic information on surveying and drawing a map.

They also provide the following information with links:-

OCAD is a mapping programme, an older version is available free to download at You will also need a ‘symbol set’ for school mapping for the version you download, these are also available and free to use.

Once the school grounds are mapped, different courses can be set for beginner/ intermediate/ advanced pupils.

ii) Paying someone else

Mair Tomos is a BOF (British Orienteering Federation) accredited tutor, the Welsh Orienteering Schools Liaison Officer and a Welsh speaker. She has worked closely with PESS Co-ordinators and has mapped schools in both North and South Wales and is willing to travel aroundWales, however for school mapping and courses she requires notice 3 months in advance. Once the school is mapped, various courses can be designed for different levels of ability.

Teacher training and mentoring

Training for orienteering can be done through several different routes:-

  • NGB route – British Orienteering Teaching Orienteering Part 1 & Part 2 courses - neither of these courses are assessed.
  • Part 1 - This is a one day course for teachers and others who work with groups and covers the basics of teaching orienteering in a fun and structured way on school sites and very simple parks.
  • Part 2 – Completers of Part 1 can attend this course and is aimed at teachers wanting to take their pupils to a higher level or those schools doing orienteering as part of GCSEPE.
  • UKCC in Orienteering Level 1 – a two day course covering similar material to the above courses but with more emphasis on coaching rather than the national curriculum requirements. There is a separate assessment for this course and candidates must prepare a portfolio of evidence
  • Outdoor Learning Cards Training – will cover the basics of delivering orienteering, however teachers with no previous background in orienteering/map reading would find it helpful to attend an additional orienteering specific training course.
  • Local Authority training –through locally written/devised inset courses for teachers, the deliverer should be an appropriately qualified coach that is registered with the British Orienteering Federation.

Gwynedd Example:- Gwynedd run a training INSETday for teachers to deliver orienteering within their school. The Part 1 course is offered to individual clusters and is run by Mair Tomos. Before the course is run, Mair will visit all the schools in the cluster and map out the school course for orienteering, the teachers are then provided with a map of their school grounds on the day.

The one day course is split betweenindoor and outdoor sessions. The indoor sessions covers the basics of orienteering, how the map works and understanding the symbols. The outdoor sessions covers the basics of practical map reading followed by a practical session using the orienteering map for the venue where the training is taking place. Assistance is then given on how to design a course on the map of their own schools and CDs of their individual school maps are given to the teachers so they can print out copies and adapt the routes when they wish.

Cardiff Example:- The one day inset training is delivered by Glyn Roberts(Outdoor Education Advisor) with a section delivered by Bethan Frost (Advisory Teacher for Physical Education). During the morning, the tutor covers the use of maps, how to use orienteering within a school site (even indoor orienteering), basic compass reading, organising/ running orienteering competitions and information on different resources/ books that would be useful for delivering orienteering to KS2 and KS3. Bethan covers the new PE curriculum for 2008 and where orienteering sits. During the afternoon the teachers make mini-courses, participate in races, basic navigation and map reading challenges and tasks.

Example of using orienteering in a festival

In Cardiff, an OAA festival took place for the first time in the summer term 2007 and the activities were based around the existing OAA Tops cards. A number of activities were offered including Nordic walking, orienteering and team building activities. The orienteering activities were run by the leisure centre staff who had previously attended the Cardiff 1 day orienteering inset day and the grounds of the leisure centre were mapped. Additionally, GCSE pupils from the feeder secondary school were trained by the PESS Coordinator during one PE lesson and one lunchtimesession to assist the leisure centre staff to run the day’s events.

Due to its success, the PESS Coordinator intends to offer this event on an annual basis. This forthcoming summer the leisure centre staff alongside trained GCSE pupils will run the event to year 5 pupils within one cluster. It is envisaged that there will be a build up to the event by training the teachers to deliver lessons in basic compass and map reading skills to the pupils during the summer term. The aim is to utilise schemes of work and activity ideas that were developed by the Merthyr PESS Coordinator.

Use of secondary school volunteers

  • The Cardiff example of utilising GCSE pupils for festivals/competitions.
  • Sixth formers attend a Young Leaders Award course(see overleaf) and then volunteer at their feeder primary schools/ KS3 classes and help out in festivals/competitions. The volunteering hours could contribute to therequirements of the SLUK Leader courses, Welsh Baccalaureate community participation and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award service section. The course tutor is required to have the Level 1 Orienteering coaching qualification.

Use of offsite orienteering grounds/next steps

Once pupils have gained orienteering experience within their own school site, they could visit other local schools that have been mapped on a reciprocal arrangement. Primary schools should avoid taking their pupils to the secondary school site as they will then become too familiar with the map when the secondary school staff come to use it for year 7.

Additionally, there are numerous permanent sites throughout Wales that could be a useful progression for pupils, these sites are often in forestry commission owned land or in parks allowing for cross curriculum visits. A list of these sites are on the BOF website under the heading Permanent Orienteering Courses, however please note that it does not provide you with information on suitability for children/school groups as they may not have defined boundaries and the course could be over a large geographical area.

To be suitable for use with school groups the area must have plenty of line features – walls/paths/fences – and be simple white/yellow standard courses. There should be clear boundaries – fences/roads/tracks/rivers – so that if the children do get lost they cannot wander far. You could contact the local club to check for suitability or contact Helena Burrows, PESS Coordinator for Anglesey or Mair Tomos as they are currently collating additional information regarding the permanent courses within Wales.

There are four main orienteering clubs in Wales:-

SBOC - Swansea Bay Orienteering Club(covers Swansea and west Wales)

SWOC - South Wales Orienteering club (covers Cardiff area and south east Wales)

POW - Mid Wales Orienteering Club (covers mid Wales)

ERYRI- Eryri Orienteering Club (covers north Wales)

There is a very active junior section to Welsh Orienteering and local clubs could be promoted to pupils who wish to progress their skills further. Contact for the local clubs and event details (including junior events) can be found on the Welsh Orienteering Association website:

Community Use of Orienteering sites

As part of a long term sustainability strategy, Cardiff PESS/Advisory service are currently in discussions with the Parks Department to map the larger parks within the city. These courses would be suitable for primary/secondary schools, SEN pupils, community groups and as a family activity. This will be subject to funding, however some of the costs can be recouped by charging a small amount for the maps.

Orienteering maps of the school sites could be sold at a small cost to community exercise groups to be of use during out of school hours, the small profit made could go towards replacing orienteering equipment.

Contact Details

Helena Burrows – PESS Coordinator for Anglesey/ Chair for the Welsh Orienteering Association/ Level 4 Orienteering coach – tel: 07923 493054

Mair Tomos –Welsh Orienteering Schools Liaison Officer – email:

If you have any examples of good practice in orienteering or in any other adventurous activities within the curriculum then please contact Cat Crimmins at

Young Leader Award

The Young Leader Award is a new course developed for 14-19 year olds who want to develop and learn coaching skills. Aimed to fit in with the SLUK Level 1 qualification the award encourages participants to work with younger children and to teach them the basics of Orienteering. The course:

  • Encourages pupils to assist as volunteers at local or school events, whilst supervised by an adult
  • Enables pupils to practise and gain confidence in setting out and delivering coaching sessions
  • Can be undertaken at school or as part of other youth initiatives
  • Provides pupils with a certificate and a coaching qualification on completion of the course

The course is 6 hours is in duration and can be split into a series of shorter sessions to meet local requirements.

The pupils receive a certificate of attendance.

The tutor pack costs £40 and includes lesson plans, all resources, candidate handouts and the first year registration fee. Information on delivering the Young Leaders Award is on the BOF website.