South Shields Surf School offering up to 2,000 free sessions - here's how to sign up
As the summer months edge closer a community project is offering hundreds of sessions to get people out to sea.
South Shields Surf School is offering up to 2,000 free sport sessions as warmer weather returns to the region.
The school, which became a community interest company in 2019, is looking to help people connect with the coastline.
Across 2025 the school estimates 1,500 people took the opportunity to enjoy free classes from the spot which sits overlooking Sandhaven Beach.
While offering paid sessions, the site’s main focus is offering people the chance to spend time in the sea.
“It’s a double whammy, people feel good but they also fund future projects” says Nick Jones, who runs the school.
Around 2,000 free sessions were available last year
In addition to recently picking up funding to support women and girls getting into surfing for free and other water sports, the school offers free sessions to people with all levels of disability as well as people from minority ethnic backgrounds.
The site is the leading provider of disabled surfing in the north of England.
Jones adds: “We were offering somewhere between 1,800 and 2,000 free spaces.”
A similar number of sessions will be on offer across 2026.
He continues: “The development of the sport is important, but being in the water and the positive benefits of that, that’s the hook. You enter this flow state.
“You’re in a place where you’re much more open to positive social interactions and to community, your wellbeing and your identity.”
How to sign up to Surf School free sessions
The key to the school is helping people find this feeling which Nick found when he first started surfing, which came when he was 12 years old.
Born and raised in Devon, he moved to the North East and fell for the region.
“We’re in a seaside town, everyone should have access” he says, talking about the stretch of coastline which runs along South Tyneside.
“We do any activity to play and have fun on the beach and in the waves.”
Anyone interested in taking part in free sessions can see if they are eligible by contacting the South Shields Surf School on email or heading to the school on Sandhaven Beach in person.