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Dear Ambassadors, 

We hope you are all keeping well at this challenging time.  All our ambassadors have been very much in our thoughts and we know what a difficult time this is for businesses and charities everywhere.  If there is anything you think we can do to help promote your work, please just let us know.  

We’re sure like us, you’re really missing seeing people face to face and we wanted you to know that we are currently exploring ways to connect with you all in the coming months particularly using the webinar format – so watch this space.  In the meantime, we would love to hear from you about any work you are doing or would like to do to support children and their families.  If there are things you think we could work on together or help you to promote, please do get in touch at childfriendlyleeds@leeds.gov.uk.

Like many of you, we have had to postpone and cancel some of our planned events. This is disappointing but unavoidable.  However, we continue to adapt to the current circumstances and wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the things that we have been working on during lockdown.  We also wanted to highlight a recent article featuring Child Friendly Leeds in the Yorkshire Evening Post.  Cllr Fiona Venner was interviewed about the work of Child Friendly Leeds, and she took the opportunity to praise children and young people in the city for their  fantastic response to the challenges brought by the pandemic.  You can read the article here. So thank you again for your ongoing support.  We send you our very best wishes and look forward to hearing from you soon. The CFL team.

NEW BLOG SITE We are adapting to the current circumstances and here is an update about some of the work we have been doing during lockdown. We have refreshed and relaunched our blog site to make it easier for children and families to access information and articles which are of interest to them including guidance, activities, educational resources and events.  This is proving really popular, so please do have a look.To hear more about how you can get involved in supporting young people in Leeds, and find volunteering opportunities, please visit our 'ultimate guide during COVID-19' post.

#OURCHILDFRIENDLYLEEDS    We are using the blog to promote a competition that we have been running during lockdown, to help keep children and young people entertained with fortnightly themes and prizes. The blog also highlights other competitions that children can take part in during lockdown.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S VOICE Recently, our new interim director, Saleem Tariq, enjoyed talking to young people who are on the Youth Council – they posed questions to him about what he is doing to support children and families in the city during Lockdown.  “It was fantastic to do the Q&A with Sal because it felt like he was really listening to what we had to say. In times like these it was great to feel like we are still having our voices heard.” – Charlotte Williams, Leeds Youth Council Chairperson Leeds Youth Council and Sal will continue to have regular online meetings with each other to help connect senior leadership with the views and priorities of young people in the city.

COVID DIARIES

We have been working with CEG to develop the ‘Covid Diaries’ which will give future generations an insight into life during the pandemic, as they give expression to the experiences of people within the city. Covid Diaries would like to capture, collect and preserve this unusual moment in time for future generations to see, hear and read about. Your diaries, experiences, films, pictures and other multi-media entries, will help to paint a picture of what life was like in Leeds and the challenges we all faced. We want to make sure that the voices of children and young people from Leeds as well as our ambassadors are heard, collected and remembered and remembered so enter yours here: www.coviddiaries.co.uk

City’s young stars align to record inspirational lockdown anthem

A group of talented youngsters have teamed up with sports stars and musicians to create a rousing reworking of Chumbawamba’s iconic hit Tubthumping to give the city a much-needed lockdown lift.

Replacing the hit’s famous “I get knocked down but I get up again” lyrics with “Leeds got locked down”, the video is the brainchild of Breeze Leeds and features energetic submissions from young artists and community groups as well as appearances by Leeds Rhinos players and world champion triathlete Jonny Brownlee.

Enrichment Team Update

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel all of our planned summer projects for care experienced children and young people this year. We have not taken this decision lightly and we are committed to re-arranging everything we are able to, when it is safe to do so.

Following the new guidelines we are looking into the possibility of developing outdoor activity sessions on a small scale, to help support care experienced children and young people through this challenging period. We’re closely following national guidelines and if any of you have any ideas or would like to be involved, please drop us an email at cflenrichment@leeds.gov.uk, we would love to hear from you, even if it’s just to catch up and let us know what you have been getting up to during this time.