Awarding Body

Mountain Training

Scheme

Lowland Leader

Course

Assessment

Type

Assessment

Award Description

The Lowland Leader qualification has been designed for people who wish to lead groups on day walks in lowland countryside and woodland in summer conditions. The majority of the UK and Ireland is made up of this type of terrain so you'll never be short of places to go walking.

🥾 Joining Instructions

🧭 Overview

The Lowland Leader assessment course aims to assess the technical skills, judgements and areas of knowledge deemed necessary to ensure an individual is safe to do so.

1. Duration: Minimum of 16 hours
2. Course Info: Mountain Training – Lowland Leader

✅ Before You Attend

Prerequisites

• Attended a Lowland Leader training course (or granted exemption)
• Min age for assessment 18
• You must have recorded a minimum of 20 quality lowland day walks registered in your Digital Logbook (DLOG)
• You must hold a current first aid certificate, minimum 16 hours and relevant to your work as a Lowland Leader.   

📢 Please ensure you have entered your minimum prerequisites in your digital logbook (DLOG) at the time of confirming your place on the course. 

📘 Assessment course content

The course follows the Lowland Leader syllabus. Topics include:

• Leadership and group management
• Route planning, map work & navigation
• Hazards and emergency procedures
• Equipment (personal and group)
• Access, conservation, and land ownership

The onus is on you to be competent in all of areas of the syllabus by the time you attend an assessment.

📖 More details can be found in the Lowland Leader Handbook

📝 Outcomes

One of three possible results: 

Pass: Awarded where the candidate has demonstrated appropriate knowledge and application of the course syllabus, and has shown the necessary experience and attributes of a Lowland Leader. 

Defer: Awarded where the candidate has generally performed well and has shown the necessary experience and attributes, but where complete proficiency has not been attained in certain aspects of the syllabus or where a lack of experience has been identified. 

Fail: Awarded where the candidate’s performance has been generally weak, or the necessary experience and attributes have not been shown. A complete assessment course will need to be subsequently attended. 

When a candidate's performance merits a defer or fail result the candidate will have a formal written report containing individualised feedback. All relevant information will be included to support the deferred/failed candidate and the assessor who conducts the re-assessment.

📅 Course Schedule

Home paper

Part of the assessment we ask candidates to demonstrate their knowledge on some of the theoretical elements by completing a home paper. Your Course Director will email you the paper a week in advance.

Once complete please send it through to your Course Director 2 days prior to the assessment.

Day 1 – Online Intro, 13th October 2025

📍 Online (link sent in advance)

🕖 19:00–21:00
Topics: Course introductions, Qualification pathways and scope of the scheme, Course programme, Outcomes, Discussion of prerequisites

Over the two field days you will be assessed on the following. Assessment of: Route planning, Navigation in a lowland environment, Walking and route finding, Hazard Identification, Group management, Personal equipment, Group/leader equipment, Access and conservation, background knowledge and understanding (access, conservation, weather interpretation), Responsibilities of a group leader, Accident/missing person procedures & Feedback.

Day 2 – Field Day, 18th October 2025

📍 Camer Park, Camer Park Rd, Meopham
🕙 10:00–18:00

Day 3 – Field Day, 19th October 2025

📍 Camer Park, Camer Park Rd, Meopham
🕘 09:00–15:00

⛅ Schedule may vary with weather

🎒 What to Bring

Basic kit list (not exhaustive):

1. Food & water for long days
2. Walking clothes + waterproofs
3. Spare warm layer
4. Rucksack (30–40L)
5. Boots
6. Hat/gloves or sun protection
7. Compass (Silva Type 4 recommended)
8. OS Explorer Map -Maidstone & the Medway Towns 148 OS
9. Head torch + spare batteries
10. Notebook + pen + Sharpie
11. Personal medication
12. First aid kit (group/personal)

🧭 More Opportunities

A further two day Camping Leader Module is available for those who wish to lead and supervise overnight expeditions. The module also covers remote supervision and teaching navigation. For more information please check out the Camping Leader Module

School of Outdoors provide Lowland Leader training, 16 hour outdoor First Aid training, Lowland Leader Assessment and Camping Leader Courses across the South East inc. Surrey Hills, Chilterns, New Forest and South Downs.

Our courses are well placed for candidates from the following areas;

London, Kent, Medway, East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Surrey, Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Dorset, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

If this course isn't the right type, date or location for you then please visit our website to see all the courses we have on offer.

https://www.schoolofoutdoors.uk/adult-courses

📚 Useful Links

Lowland Leader Candidate Handbook

Hillwalking – Official Guide

Mountain Training YouTube Channel

⚠ Important Info

• Insurance: Mountain Training recommends you consider personal accident and cancellation insurance. If you already have insurance cover, check that it covers you for the activity you are undertaking.
• Risk Statement: The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) ‘Participation Statement’ states: ‘The BMC recognises that climbing, hillwalking and mountaineering are activities with a danger of injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement’

By booking on to this course you acknowledge that you will be taking part in physically strenuous activities, and you are physically fit to do so. School of Outdoors Limited are under no liability whatsoever in respect of loss or damage to personal effects which you may sustain. You agree to comply with the safety regulations as designated by the staff at the Company. You agree to indemnify the Course staff and the company against all claims, costs, actions and demands whatsoever resulting from taking part in the programme of activities or the administration of medicines, unless such claims, costs, actions or demands result out of the negligence of the Company.

• Special Requirements: Please log medical/dietary needs via your tahdah profile
• Emergency Contact: Please make sure your profile is up to date
• Reasonable Adjustments: Please use the links below to understand more about the support we can offer for those with additional needs or require reasonable adjustments.
  Support Info

Policy

🚗 Travel

We support sustainable travel:
💬 Lift share discussion in online intro
🔗 Lift share – BMC Community

📌 Booking terms and conditions

Read our Booking Terms

Start

18/10/2025 10:00

End

19/10/2025 15:00

Total Days

2

Maximum Bookings

4

Venue

Camer Park, Camer Park Rd, Meopham, DA13 0AL

Town

Gravesend

County

Kent

Postcode

DA13

Country

United Kingdom

Latitude

51.37737

Longitude

0.36917

Name

School of Outdoors

Phone

01296336644

Website

Email