Ordnance Survey is giving away ‘Free-Maps-for-11-year-olds’ to encourage children to get out and discover the world around them, Ordnance Survey Minister Iain Wright announced today.
Every Year 7 pupil in England, Scotland and Wales can receive a free 1:25 000 scale OS Explorer Map of their local area. Since its launch in 2002 the initiative has had an overwhelming response. Each year, Ordnance Survey distributes over 700 000 maps to pupils through their schools.They also receive a copy of the leaflet Map reading made easy peasy. Today Iain Wright and Vanessa Lawrence from Ordnance Survey will visit Dyke House Comprehensive School in Hartlepool to hand over the maps to the pupils. Head Teacher, Bill Jordan, will also be presented with a special gold covered Ordnance Survey map of the school to mark the year that the 5 millionth map is to be given away. Pupils from Dyke House’s 7 will then take part in a treasure hunt at the school where they will have special ‘treasure maps’ of the school grounds to find 11 clues that will spell out the location of a grand prize. The free maps scheme and treasure hunt are designed to encourage geography and environmental studies - both in and outside the classroom - helping to get pupils to explore their local community with their families and learn about practical map reading.

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2 October 2008
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