2020 INVOC Schools O League CANCELLED
Following guidance from the British Orienteering Federation that all orienteering activities in the UK need to be suspended with immediate effect due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the INVOC Schools O League will not take place this year.
The INVOC Schools O League was started in 2015 and is a series of entry level events for school age children.
In 2019 events were held at Ord Hill, Evanton Wood and Culloden Woods through May and were attended by over 250 children from 22 schools from Inverness and the surrounding area. For 2020 events will be at Craig Phadrig, Ord Hill and Craigmonie (Drumnadrochit).
The INVOC Schools Orienteering League is sponsored by Innes and Mackay Solicitors and Estate Agents. We are grateful for their support.
The INVOC Schools O league for 2020 will run across three Wednesdays in April and May (29th April, 13th May and 27th May).
We look forward to seeing you there!
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The programme for 2020 is shown below and available here. The series co-ordinator is Jenny Hall This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To take part you will first need to register your school and then submit entries to Jenny for each event in advance (deadlines for each event will be on the event entry form). Information on how to register your school is at the bottom of this webpage.
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DATE |
VENUE |
EVENT TEAM |
DETAILS/ RESULTS |
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Wed 29 April
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Craig Phadrig |
Organiser: Veronica Vargas Planner: Colin & Eilidh Simpson SI: Val Springett |
TBA |
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Wed 13th May |
Ord Hill(Munlochy) |
Organiser: Jon Shepherd Planner: Connor Atherton SI: Joan Noble |
TBA |
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Wed 27th May |
Craigmonie (Drumnadrochit) |
Organiser: Alec Keith Planner: Angus Laird SI: Ronan Blackwood |
TBA |
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Other schools/Juniors events Moray and Highland Junior Championships - Craig Leach - Sunday 7th June Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival -Scone Palace - Thursday 4th June |
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Starts are normally available from 3:45pm with most schools finishing by 5:30pm. White, Yellow, Orange and Light Green courses are available with the event aimed at P5 through to S2. Shadowing is permitted for young and inexperienced participants. Entry costs are £2.50 per child per event (pre-entry) and £3 (late entry) and all schools MUST pre-enter (no entries on the day are permitted).
INVOC Schools O League in the news
In the papers
2018 Fortrose Academy winners of INVOC SChools League and Scottish Schools Best High School
- read the newspaper report here
2018 BSGI winner of INVOC Schools League and Scottish Schools Best Primary School
- read the newspaper report here
On TV:
A wee video from YouTube from the BBC Alba News of Inverness Gaelic School enjoying the final event of the 2016 series at Carse of Ardesier - enjoy the pictures if you can't understand all the commentary....
Credit: BBC Alba
Previous winners
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Top rural school (<100 pupils 2019 on) (<50 pupils to 2018) |
Top primary school team |
Top secondary school team |
Results |
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2019 |
Culbokie Primary School |
Cawdor Primary School |
Inverness Royal Academy (also 1st Scottish High School 2019) |
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2018 |
Farr Primary School |
Bun-sgoil Ghaidhlig Inbhir Nis |
Fortrose Academy |
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2017 |
Stratherrick Primary School | Bun-sgoil Ghaidhlig Inbhir Nis |
Fortrose Academy |
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2016 |
Balnain Primary School | Holm Primary School |
Fortrose Academy |
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2015 |
Foyers Primary School |
Avoch Primary School |
Millburn Academy |
Photo credit: Johannes Felter
How do schools get involved:
1. Register your school with Susan Blackwood, Active Schools (Registration form here). Once registered you will be included in any subsequent mailings regarding the schools programme for 2019 (Tel 07774 337761 email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). The event rules can be viewed here
2. Identify someone to lead your orienteering group (there needs to be someone responsible for each school group at the events). It could be a parent with an interest in orienteering or a teacher. Speak to your Active Schools Coordinator who may be able to help with volunteer recruitment and support.
3. Start training your group in the playground so they are primed and ready to run in the woods by April. The league events are primarily aimed at P5-S2 pupils but older novices are also welcome to attend. White, Yellow, Orange and Light Green courses will be available (see below) and can be completed individually, in pairs, or for those completely new to the sport, as a group “walk O”.
4. Want to learn learn more about coaching orienteering? ” Twilight Orienteering “ and “Teaching Orienteering” Courses are available for those wanting ideas on how to run a group; for info contact, Susan (Tel 07774 337761 email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
5. All schools must pre-enter their teams – there will be no entry on the day for schools (deadline for entries is usually 10 days before the event). Please help with this by getting entries in in plenty of time - this helps the organisers ensure that there are enough maps and SI equipment for everyone on the day.
6. Sort out transport to the events . All school groups must complete EVOLVE forms for these off-site excursions and submit them for approval to Outdoor Education in addition to their school EVC. Please remember that Orienteering is classified as an adventurous activity for the purposes of EVOLVE and must be risk assessed accordingly. All the events are planned and risk assessed by experienced INVOC members in accordance with British Orienteering Federation guidelines but school leaders will have do their own group risk assessment with any medical and behavioural needs unique to their group.
Any questions – just ask! We love hearing from people whether it is simply to get more information, to tell us what we are doing well or equally to tell us how we can improve things. Any comments/ queries, please contact Susan Blackwood, Active Schools, Tel 07774 337761 email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Notes: A quick guide to colour coded courses White Courses (1-2km) Ideal for beginners. The route is all on paths and tracks or following very obvious line features. A control is placed at every decision point. The basics skills required include understanding map colours and symbols, setting the map, folding the map and thumbing (keeping thumb on the last known position) Yellow Courses (1.5-2.5km) Again the course follows obvious line features like paths, walls and streams. Skills required are the same as for White but there is not a control at every junction making the decision making more challenging. Orange Courses (2-3.5km) progress to basic use of the compass and route choice. They are ideal for novice adults or experienced youngsters. New skills are required to make simple route choices, eg cutting corners or crossing blocks of forest between paths and working out where to leave a path to find a control on an obvious point feature Light Green Courses (3-4.5km) are for more experienced orienteers. The navigational difficulty begins to increase and uses contours and ‘point’ features. Much of the route will be off paths and tracks. Runners need to be confident in the use of a compass, relocation and route choice. |