Make the sea your office
- Become an internationally recognised qualified surf instructor, ready to work!
- Duration: 3 weeks (in our experience this would usually take 6 months!)
- Train with Alan Stokes, the best surf coach in the UK.
- Everything you need to become a qualified surf coach, achieved in 3 weeks.
- Luxury Accomodation available for course duration
Suitable for new surfers or those who can surf already. This intensive course is designed to help you attain the skills, experience and qualifications to walk into a job as a surf instructor. For those looking to build surf experience before undertaking this course we offer the Foundation Surf Training bolt on to really improve your surfing.
*Price for course only – £2000, Price for Course & Accommodation £2795
Want More Info?
Would you like to find out a bit more about us or one of our courses?
About this course
About this courseThe ISA Level 1 Surf Instructor Award is the industry standard for teaching surfing in the UK and around the world. Coupled with the Surf Coach Safety and Rescue Award, once you have them both, you’re ready to work!
Turn your passion into a profession and get paid to do what you love! Spend your working days at the beach and be trained by the UK’s premiere instructor in the heart of the UK’s surf capital.
Whats Included:
- International Surfing Association (ISA) Surf Coach Qualification
- Surf Lifesaving Great Britain Surf Coach Safety and Rescue Award
- Surf Skills Coaching from 3 X British Champ and UK Number 1 Surf Coach Alan Stokes
- All Essential Shadow Hours Included in the three-week course
- ISA Logbook completed during the course and submitted on your behalf
- Video coaching to help you to improve your surf skills fast
- All equipment supplied throughout the course
- Job interview with Newquay Activity Centre upon conclusion of the course
If you haven’t surfed before, we recommend doing our Foundation Surf Training prior, however, this intensive course is focussed to get you to pass standard in three weeks.
If you can surf already, you will improve your surfing under the guidance of Alan Stokes and become a better surfer and surf coach.
If you already have a suitable lifeguarding qualification, you can join the course for two weeks at a discounted price.
Itinerary
DAY 1
Meet and greet, welcome to the centre, course overview and allocation of equipment. Surf lesson from Newquay Activity Centre Instructor to demonstrate how a lesson should be delivered in its perfect form.
DAY 2
Surf skills training from Alan Stokes, progression planning. Both in the classroom and practical session at the beach. First video analysis session.
DAY 3
Surf skills development from Alan Stokes. Second video analysis session. Working on lesson presentation and delivery.
DAY 4
Surf Lesson shadowing with the Newquay Activity Centre surf instructor team. Surf skills coaching and video analysis from Alan Stokes.
DAY 5
Day 1 of the ISA surf coaching qualification delivered by Industry figurehead Barrie ‘Baz’ Hall. Free surf for skills development through lunch break.
DAY 6
Surf Lesson shadowing with the Newquay Activity Centre surf instructor team. Surf skills coaching and video analysis from Alan Stokes.
DAY 7
Day off, time to chill out or practice surfing!
DAY 8
Day 2 of the ISA surf coaching qualification delivered by Industry figurehead Barrie ‘Baz’ Hall. Free surf for skills development through lunch break.
DAY 9
Surf skills development from Alan Stokes. Third video analysis session. Working on lesson presentation and delivery. Those who have achieve admissible footage of themselves surfing, will be submitted at this point.
DAY 10
Surf Lesson shadowing with the Newquay Activity Centre surf instructor team. Surf skills coaching and video analysis from Alan Stokes. Surf lesson delivery videoed and submitted for marking.
DAY 11
Surf Lesson shadowing with the Newquay Activity Centre surf instructor team. Surf skills coaching and video analysis from Alan Stokes. Upon completion of your final shadowing hours your ISA instructors logbook will be completed and submitted to Baz Hall for review.
DAY 12
Surf Lesson shadowing with the Newquay Activity Centre surf instructor team. Surf skills coaching and video analysis from Alan Stokes. Those who did not receive a pass for the lesson delivery submission will have the chance to re-present and submit.
DAY 13
Surf Lesson shadowing with the Newquay Activity Centre surf instructor team. Surf skills coaching and video analysis from Alan Stokes. Those who haven’t passed their surf skills will re submit their best surfing footage for review.
DAY 14
Day off, time to chill out or practice surfing!
DAY 15
Surf Coach Safety and Rescue Award begins. Module introduction followed by Timed Pool Swim Assessment then beach environment training.
DAY 16
Beach training including board and tube rescues. Followed by classroom work, intro to first aid.
DAY 17
First aid and Resuscitation. Followed by run swim run and rescue scenarios.
DAY 18
Exam day based at beach for the morning and classroom for the afternoon.
DAY 19
Further opportunity to be assessed for surfing, retake timed swim. Interview with Newquay Activity Centre for freelance instructor work.
Calling all ocean lovers
Calling all ocean loversThis course is perfect for beginner and intermediate surfers looking to turn their passion into a profession and teach the art of surfing to those wanting to learn. It’s also open to those new to the sport who want to change their employment (and life) for the better!
Arguably, undergoing such a process will give you a huge advantage when working with inexperienced students; being able to empathise with their thoughts and feelings whilst on the water in a relatively new environment.
You don’t need any previous qualifications to enroll in this programme. Neither do you need to be a proficient surfer; we have excellent instructors who can teach you from the ground up.
As you can imagine you will be learning lots of technical skills from our team. Some are harder than others and we think surfing may be the most difficult to learn from scratch. However, we have proved this to be achievable for many of our students who were first-time surfers during the course. If you don’t pass the surfing skills within course time you have a further 12 months to make the grade.
If you think you may benefit from a few extra sessions before or during the course, please check out our surf lessons and get in touch, we will discuss how this works. Please bear this in mind for any other technical skill that you think could need improvement.
However, this course does require competent swimming skills and a good level of fitness.
The course includes training & assessment modules alongside optional shadowing hours, helping you gain instructing experience in a variety of areas. You’ll get the chance to find direct employment and further training opportunities depending on your interests and abilities. If you can tick all of the following requirements, then you’re in a great position to start:
- 18+ years old
- Competent swimmer (to attain Surf Coach Safety + Rescue or Lifeguard Award)
- Enthusiastic to learn
- Good level of fitness
PERSONAL SKILLS
In terms of personal skills, You’ll need :
- Patience and the ability to work well with others
- Enthusiasm to learn and train
- Sensitivity and understanding
- Leadership skills
- To be thorough and pay attention to detail
- The ability to work on your own
- Knowledge of the English language
- To be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
- The ability to retain important information
- The ability to remain calm when faced with new situations
Why go intensive?
Why go intensive?We’ve been delivering training courses since 2001 and we’ve identified 8 Reasons why our intensive surf coaching course takes away the headache of doing it on your own!
- We recognised a problem! Each trainee who tries to attain their ‘shadow hours’ always struggles because you have to book in with a surf school for each lesson, they’re rarely consecutively and you don’t necessarily get to shadow with great instructors. The whole process can take months, but with us, you receive them within your surfing coaching module from instructors who are trained to help you get the most out of your shadowing sessions.
- Getting your logbook completed and submitted correctly can be a real faff. If you get it wrong (highly likely the first time), it will be sent back to you, and you must track down the instructor that you shadowed to correctly fill in the document. We solve this problem by assisting you to get it right first time and then submitting it for you.
- Many new surfers struggle to gain the standard required for their ‘surf test’. We teach you the skills required to pass the test and put a huge focus on getting you there. We do this using the 3 x British Champion surfer and number 1 UK surf coach, Alan Stokes. We have proved this to be achievable for many of our students that were first-time surfers during the course.
- If you can surf already, we concentrate on getting footage of you to pass the ‘surf test’. Upon achieving this, we concentrate on taking your surfing to the next level. Not only do your personal surf skills benefit, but you learn from the process of achieving this. Double win.
- Our course is three weeks long for a reason. We concentrate on teaching you real coaching skills both in the classroom and at the beach. Video analysis, goal setting, teaching mixed ability groups, dealing with tricky conditions, these are all skills that we see as essential to becoming an awesome coach.
- The SLSGB Surf Coach Safety and Rescue award was designed to equip surf instructors with safety skills and first aid knowledge to deliver safe, insurable lessons. We get you there in a week. If you already have the award, we can discount the course price and reduce the length by a week.
- With 7 beaches in Newquay, we can guarantee conditions to surf on every given day of the course. Spending 3 weeks in the surfing centre of the UK is something that will benefit all new surf instructors and we’re pretty sure that you’ll LOVE our beaches.
- In a nutshell, we’ve been through this process with pupils repeatedly for the last 20 years. This course has been developed to encapsulate all the features that you need to achieve in an intensive, fun three weeks in Newquay.
We’d love to teach you to be a surf instructor, book online now or drop us a message through our online chat if you have any questions!
Course Dates
25th September – 13th October
20244th March – 21st March 15th April – 3rd May 30th September – 17th October
Our Headquarters
Our HeadquartersOur purpose-designed building is ideally located within walking distance to Towan Beach, Fistral Beach, Newquay Bay as well as the bustling town centre itself.
Our state-of-the-art HQ, with toilets, heated changing rooms, hot outdoor showers, lockers for valuables and storage for clothes and bags. Although we prefer to use the beach and ocean as our classroom, we do have a nearby training room for our theory work.
KIT
If you’ve surfed before you’ll know how much kit and equipment there is, and it can be a daunting prospect having to pay for it all. Or perhaps you’re travelling from abroad and can’t squeeze a wetsuit in your luggage? So, for the duration of the course, we have all of the necessary equipment stocked in our centre for our students to use for free. At the beginning of the course, you’ll get supplied with key kit to use for the duration of the course or until you get your own.
Our knowledgeable team is always happy to offer advice on kit and equipment before, during and after the course!
Equipment
We’re keen to support you in upskilling yourself, so we’ll allocate you use of our boards during your spare time throughout the course. If you want to improve your surfing during the evenings or weekends, our equipment is ready to be used.
This is an unusual privilege on a training course like this, but we feel it will offer you an excellent opportunity to up-skill. Please note this will need to be booked in with the centre for your required times.
Accommodation
To supplement our Intensive Surf Instructor Course, we have a couple of in-house accommodation options available to add on as an extra. We have two apartments, both within walking distance to the beach and both stylishly fitted out with all modern luxuries.
Please note: the cost of accommodation is not included in the course price. Accommodation is charged at £795 for the three week duration of the course and is due 8 weeks prior to the course start date.
SUNSET VIEWS APARTMENT, PENTIRE, NEWQUAY
Our first apartment overlooks Pentire Headland and benefits from lots of natural light in a spacious living area. This two-bedroom property is perfectly located close to Fistral Beach and Newquay Town Centre; ideal for a post-lesson surf or a bite to eat in the evening. Both the Gannel Estuary and Crantock Beach are within a five-minute walk too, with the coastal path or main road being accessible from the apartment.
Our luxury apartment is located on the third floor with both elevator and staircase access. There is also a spacious, open-plan kitchen diner to enjoy home-made meals after a hard day of training. There is a juliet balcony in the kitchen that enjoys morning sunshine for alfresco breakfasts too. The dining room houses a large dinner table which is a great space for working or eating while enjoying ocean views out across Fistral Beach.
During the course we transform the living room into a lush workspace to deliver some relaxed lessons in a chilled atmosphere.
In the large lounge you will find a sofa-bed, flat-screen TV, plenty of space and a private south-facing balcony. This means you will benefit from sunshine all day alongside excellent opportunities to check the surf and catch some epic sunsets.
Each of the two bedrooms have a set of twin beds, a wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside table and reading light. One has an en-suite with two hand basins, a bath, shower and toilet. There is also a separate bathroom and WC. Both bedrooms have stunning sea views for that ultimate hint of luxury.
NEWQUAY BAY APARTMENT, THE HARBOUR, NEWQUAY
The second choice of accommodation is our Newquay Bay Apartment, a place where you really couldn’t get any closer to the action if you tried. This apartment is ideally located directly above the Newquay Activity Centre HQ, making it the perfect choice for those who like to snooze that alarm clock every once in a while!
Newquay Bay Apartment is a modern, quiet, two-bedroom property that benefits from brand new fixtures and fittings due to a complete refurbishment in 2021. There is a new and modern kitchen as well as a brand new bathroom. The apartment is just a two-minute walk to Newquay Harbour where you will find one of our favourite wild swimming spots and idyllic ocean views. In the opposite direction, but just as close, you’ll find Newquay Town Centre with an abundance of coffee shops, restaurants and surf shops.
During the course we transform the living room into a lush workspace to deliver some relaxed lessons in a chilled atmosphere.
Inside the property there is a large and spacious living room/diner, comprising a sofa bed and brand new 52” TV. There is also a sizable dining table that lends itself nicely to group meals. Alternatively, it can double up as a large work or study space to go over your course notes in the evening.
The two bedrooms are both twin rooms with zip-link beds; these can be connected together if you’re after a private double room or you’re staying with a partner. Both rooms have wardrobes, chests of drawers, bedside tables and reading lights.
The living room space benefits from four large windows that face out across Towan, Great Western and beyond – all the way to Watergate Bay on a clear day! There is also a large south-facing courtyard to the rear of the property, perfect for catching some rays or hanging wetsuits out to dry.
There is also the advantage that we will hold a number of classroom sessions in the large lounge in the apartment as it is a great spot for group discussions, training etc. We also base some of the coaching weekends which you will have the opportunity to work as a shadow instructor on, at the apartment. We will explain to you, during your induction how we manage this to ensure that it doesn’t impact on your living environment.
You can view more images of our accommodation.
You will be in an apartment with fellow students from the course and we will do our best to place you with people of similar ages, backgrounds and interests. This will vary depending on course participants. You will be sharing a same-sex twin room.
Please note:
There is a £100 Security Deposit, made payable in cash on arrival. This will be held by the landlord until the final inspection, if there is no damage and the property is cleaned to the agreed standard it will be refunded.
There is also the advantage that we’ll hold a number of our classroom sessions in the living area of the Newquay Bay Apartment, as it’s a great spot for group discussions, video analysis and training. This is super handy for those living there; logistics couldn’t be easier, they can leave their laptop and notebooks at home, and it’s the quickest commute on record!
Payment Plans
SPLIT THE COST OF YOUR COURSE INTO EASY PAYMENTS!
When booking one of our courses the are four easy options for payment:
1. PAY IN FULL – Pay the full amount in one, that’s it, you’re done!
2. 50/50 – Pay 50% deposit and the remaining 50% at an agreed date
3. SPLIT INTO 3 – Spread the cost into 3 equal payments. Pay a third of the cost immediately and the remaining two thirds on agreed dates.
4. MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN – Pay an initial holding fee (of as little as £250 and we can then set up monthly payments to come out on the 1st of each month.
We can’t guarantee your place until we have received a payment from you. To hold the place for more than 24 hours we require a non-returnable holding fee. This can be as little as £250 and will be deducted from your final payment for the course.
Once you have made a payment, you’ll then be sent a confirmation email with booking details on. Full Payment must be received 12 weeks prior to the course start date
Life after the course
Life after the courseSTAYING AROUND NEWQUAY?
After successful completion of the instructor course, you’ll have the opportunity to become a member of our friendly team, or you may go on to work with other providers and expand your experience and training. There’s opportunity to interview for instructor roles at Newquay Activity Centre and Women + Waves.
STAYING IN THE UK?
If you’re thinking of heading inland that doesn’t mean you need to stop Surf Coaching! We’ve got links with the Wave, Bristol so you can spend your time in the city but still get surf time!
THINKING OF GOING FURTHER AFIELD?
For those who want to use this course as an opportunity to travel, we have some excellent partnerships that will allow you to do just that. We got links with centres and surf providers all over the world! Including programmes with partners in New Zealand and Morocco
Once you’re fully qualified and competent in all aspects of the course, you could be given the opportunity to fly out to NZ and work for a season as a surf instructor. As well as being a paid opportunity for work, this is a chance to visit new places, meet new people and experience new cultures.
You’re guaranteed to make new friends, create awesome memories, and maybe even open your horizons with regards to your career plans. Travel is food for the soul; this kind of opportunity doesn’t come around every day!
Our Academy graduates are all over the world so we’re constantly getting new spots and contacts all over the globe!
FAQS
Want More Info?
Would you like to find out a bit more about us or one of our courses?
Course Dates
25th September – 13th October
20244th March – 21st March 15th April – 3rd May 30th September – 17th October
BOOK NOW
Searching Availability...
CONTACT US
Got any questions? Please contact us to discuss your booking (online chat, call or email!)