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Dear Ambassadors,
We hope you all had a brilliant summer and had the chance to get away at some point and relax. It was lovely to see some of you at our 12 wishes ambassador event held in the impressive ball room on the Temple Newsam estate back in July. It was a fantastic opportunity to hear from a range of leaders and ambassadors, celebrating the work taking place in the city to address the priorities of children and young people. It was also a chance to get together to share ideas and identify potential partnership opportunities moving forwards with our 12 wishes ambition. We are now looking forward to our autumn/winter period, continue reading to find out more about upcoming events and ambassador opportunities.
Mitigating the impact of Child Poverty - 18 Oct 2023
We’re delighted to invite you to our upcoming Child Friendly Leeds Workshop on the 18 October at Hamara. Book your place here.
This workshop is an opportunity for businesses and organisations to connect and understand what child poverty is and how we can work together on this agenda. There are many fantastic organisations and projects happening across the city to mitigate the impact of child poverty and we hope to share examples from some of our partners at the workshop. The day will be an opportunity to network, have your say, and tell us about other projects and ideas.
Nominate in the Child Friendly Leeds Awards 2024
Do you know a remarkable child or young person? Do you know a person, place or organisation that goes above and beyond to support children and young people? We want to hear from you!
We have opened our nominations process for the Child Friendly Leeds Awards 2024!
We can only do this when we work together and it really is down to the fantastic efforts of people, places and organisations who go above and beyond to make this goal a reality. This is our opportunity as a city to recognise and celebrate these efforts, as well as the amazing talent and achievements of our children and young people. So, we want to hear from you! The awards are planned and delivered by a group of 10 to 17 year olds who form the planning group. All shortlisted nominees are invited to come to the prestigious awards ceremony in July 2024 at the City Varieties Music Hall for a fun-packed, high-energy, entertaining event organised and presented by children and young people. To sponsor or find out how you can get involved, please email us here.
Baby Week Leeds is back from 14 – 20 November!
Child Friendly Leeds and partners bring you Baby Week for the eighth year running! It is an initiative aimed at bringing sectors and services together to promote the ‘best start’ in life and the theme for 2023 is ‘Culture & Identity’.
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We’re very excited to announce Baby Week is now a national charity taking place in 9 regions – so that’s 1000+ events happening across the UK with many babies, families and of course professionals!
What's on?
Join us at our big family friendly opening party at The Tetley aimed at parents, carers, babies and of course, professionals! It will be a free event for people to drop in with stalls, workshops and activities, exhibitions, speeches and many exciting goodies.
This year we’re bringing back our inspiring half-day conference for professionals at Leeds Central Library so please reserve your place here.
During the week, there will be webinars on a range of topics, parent meet-ups, sensory and messy play, story and rhyme sessions, fitness sessions with a close on November 20th marking World Children’s Day.
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Leeds Creative Skills Festival 2023
Are you ready to unleash your creativity? Then come and join us on Monday 20 November 2023 for the Leeds Creative Skills Festival which is returning to the Leeds first direct arena.
Whether you're an aspiring artist, musician, or writer, or just looking to explore your creative side, this festival is for you. It's a chance for you to learn from some of the best creatives and cultural organisations in Leeds about creative courses, careers, skills and opportunities. And who knows? You might even discover a new passion or talent that you never knew you had. From live performances to interactive workshops, there's something for everyone at the Leeds Creative Skills Festival 2023. So come and join us, and let your imagination run wild! Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun. See you there!
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Christmas Giving Incentive with Child Friendly Leeds
Can you help children and families in Leeds have a magical time this Christmas?
Child Friendly Leeds are committed to providing positive experiences and opportunities for children and young people living Leeds throughout the year. It is often the simple things we take for granted that are so significant to others. Which is why, every festive season we work with many of our amazing CFL ambassadors, who donate gifts, free tickets and/or sponsor events. Their generosity enables us to support thousands of children and families who would otherwise miss out on these experiences. Check our blog post from last year’s Christmas offer. There are lots of ways to support children and their families this holiday period, so please email our team.
Welcoming our latest ambassador: Books Trust
BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity dedicated to getting children reading.
As part of this new strategy BookTrust is currently undertaking place-based research in Leeds, to better understand local need and barriers to reading, and to explore how we might better support organisations and local groups moving forward. We are particularly interested in hearing from local community organisations and groups who work within Early Years and run engagement activities and family sessions within community settings.
If you are interested in being involved, by either meeting with BookTrust or sharing your experience of workinghttps://www.booktrust.org.uk/ with families with children in the early years, please contact Lizzie Davies, Community Engagement Coordinator for the Northern Region at: lizzie.davies@booktrust.org.uk
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Our 12 Wishes Campaign: 'A wish a month'
We are kicking off our ‘wish a month’ campaign with wish 1 and it’s certainly an important one to talk about: 'Children and Young People know how and where to get support for their mental health and wellbeing if they need it.' You can find out more about our 12 wishes campaign and resources here. Every month will have a new page!
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Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) support pathway, utilising a Graduated Approach. - a visual flowchart which has been developed by Public Health in partnership with a wide range of services, to explain how schools can assess need and navigate support services. A version suitable for printing is available here
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A-Z of Mental Health Support and Resources for Schools in Leeds | Leeds for Learning outlines a range of mental health support for children and young people in Leeds and beyond. Designed to be used “at a glance” the A-Z of Mental Health helps school staff to know where to go to find support as professionals in supporting the mental health of children and young people, as well as listing services that offer direct work with children and young people
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How to run a MindMate promotion in your school – a page on the MindMate website that brings together a range of opportunities for schools to promote mental health, including information about inviting in services to attend health fairs, how to order printed resources, content for newsletters, social media links and how to join initiatives led by the Health and Wellbeing Service
Leeds Children’s Mayor 2023-2024: WINNER!
This year, 33 Primary schools submitted manifestos which were shortlisted to a final 12 by a group of youth councillors on 11th July. The finalists had a very busy summer campaigning and canvassing for votes, resulting a total number of 11,111 votes cast! Mohammed Hussein from Ireland Wood Primary School is officially the 20th Children’s Mayor of Leeds!
You can read the 12 finalists’ manifestos here, which they read at a celebratory event on Thursday 5th October before the winner was announced. Mohammed’s manifesto focuses on protecting the environment (Child Friendly Leeds wish number 5), he wants to beat climate change through tree planting and community clean up events, creating a composting program and a community garden. To find out more, link and support the children’s mayor manifesto, please get in touch with the Voice, Influence & Change team here.
Ready to explore Leeds?
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Planning a city break or just a day out? Leeds has a fantastic calendar of events during the year of culture with Leeds 2023. Enjoy Leeds Light Night today and tomorrow!
When it comes to child friendly things to do, Leeds is the place to be! Whether it’s days out, days in, new experiences or magical trails. Find out about all the fantastic family friendly events in Leeds.
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 Child Friendly Leeds City Centre Map with Visit Leeds - Refreshed in 2023 & inspired by children and young people
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