RLSS National Surf Coach Lifesaving Award (NSCLA) - November 28th, 29th & 30th 2025 (All dates) Portrush, Northern Ireland

About the National Surf Coach Lifesaving Award (NSCLA)

The National Surf Coach Lifesaving Award aims to be instrumental in developing surf coaches in the UK.

To become a qualified surf coach in the UK, you must initially undertake a suitable lifesaving award before enrolling on the instructor/ coach course.

The NSCLA was developed with support from Surfing England and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to ensure surf coaches adopt the highest standards of beach safety.

The NSCLA course length is a minimum of 20 hours, followed by a practical assessment on group management/ supervision, First Aid, Life Support, swimming pool and ocean skills.The NSCLA is a non-regulated award.

Upon qualifying with the NSCLA, the certificate is valid for two years from the date of successful completion.

Prerequisites

Each candidate attending a NSCLA course must:

• Be 16-years-old or over at the time of assessment.
• Have a good level of fitness.
• Surface dive to a depth of 1.5 metres.
• Be competent at swimming in the sea.
  
• Before the course, candidates must be able to swim 300m in a pool in 8 minutes or less using a continuous front-facing stroke and showing urgency.

  Make sure you can attend all of the dates as refunds will not be given.
  
  Fitness Testing 

   Day 1 of the course your swim time will be tested and must be up to the standard of 300m in the pool (25m long) in 8 minutes or under. 

  Fitness standard not being met will mean new full course fee will be charged to book into a new course if there is availability. 

  
  

  Read our term and conditions 

  https://sub6life.com/pages/terms-conditions

  Location : Portrush, Northern Ireland 

  Timetable is 09.00 - 17.00 each day but is subject to change , exact timings and location will be emailed when we receive your booking and enrolment forms. 

  Final information will be sent 2 weeks prior to course start date. 
  

   

  Potential Funding for courses 

  Apply at the link below for the Personal Learning Account Fund, guidance is available at the link to download.

  https://grants.ccgbcapps.com

   

   

Course Content

The NSCLA covers group management and supervision, First Aid, Life Support, and pool and open water skills. The course is physically demanding and includes swimming to set times and lifting. The NSCLA comprises three modules; you must successfully pass all three to qualify.

• Module 1 – The beach environment, hazards, and supervision
• Module 2 – Rescue skills in surf environments
• Module 3 – First Aid and Life support

Assessment

The NSCLA assessment takes place at the end of the course. It determines your competence, skills, and knowledge of working as a surf coach and assesses your ability to apply the skills and knowledge learnt in a surf environment.

The assessment falls into:

• Group management, supervision and First Aid theory
• Life support practical
• First Aid practical
• Ocean skills
• Pool skills