After seeing the devastating photographs of litter being left around tourist attractions this summer, I have just replanned our Y3 UK / Lake District unit and included a lesson on the countryside code. Why do we need to teach the countryside code in schools?

A survey of visitors to the Lake District this summer found that while 70% had stocked up on alcohol for the trip and 25% were bringing barbecues, only 13% said they were aware before their visit that they should follow the Countryside Code.

The Lake Distict has had to rely on volunteers to clean up after the easing of lockdown this year after illegal campers damaged trees and left litter. Throughout the summer, litter has been left by tourists. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-53693300

The problem is not just confined to our national parks as photographs showing littering at Bournemouth, Durdle Door and Brighton beaches also being shown in the news during the 2020 tourist season.

The government has spent less than £2,000 a year promoting guidelines to help visitors respect wildlife and landscapes. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/26/littering-epidemic-england-countryside-code

Litter is not just an aesthetic problem; it has serious environmental consequences. A styrofoam container takes up to a million years to decompose. A disposable diaper can take more than 500 years; cigarette more than 10 and even banana skins stick around for up to 2 years.

Litter kills our wildlife. A report in 2018 by Keep Britain Tidy looked at litter along roadsides and found that more than 8% of bottles and almost 5% of the cans collected contained the remains of some of our smallest and most rare native mammals.

The RSPCA receives 7,000 calls a year about litter-related incidents, from badger cubs with plastic can holders embedded in their necks to hedgehogs with their heads wedged in empty tins.

In 2015, an estimated £1 billion was spent picking up discarded litter and 2.25 million pieces of litter are dropped in Britain every day [source: Symphony Environmental].

Finally, it should be a collective responsibility to educate and look after our public places including the countryside and if only 13% of visitors to the Lake District this summer were aware of the countryside code then something needs to change!

Have now created and shared an adaptable power point that can be used when teaching the Country Code. I would recommend adapting the headlines page so that it includes some headlines local to your school and therefore more relevant to your class. https://twitter.com/primary_geog/status/1300006913275502594?s=19