One of our greatest challenges here in Leeds is to improve the health and well-being of our children and young people...

The Be Healthy! 2007 campaign represents a truly city-wide push to build on all the excellent work which is being done to make Leeds a healthier place, including our Leeds Healthy Schools Standard, and Be Healthy! 2006. Be Healthy! 2007 was launched on Friday... children and young people from schools in Leeds were joined by Leeds Rhino star, Nick Scruton for the launch which also let schools know how they can take part in Be Healthy! 2007 - an initiative encouraging children and young people to devise and take their own challenge to either increase physical activity, eat more healthily or improve their emotional wellbeing.

Last year over 135 schools and 40,000 children and young people took part in the Be Healthy! Challenge. The initiative encouraged various activities across the city aimed at improving health such as sports events, telling a joke a day, swapping crisps for healthy snacks and taking part in a laugh-a-thon, crunch-a-thon or skip-a-thon. Being healthy is a choice - like swapping fatty snacks for an apple - and we’re working together with our partners across the city to make it an easy one for young people to make. We want all our children and young people to be happy, healthy, safe and successful.

Our wonderful schools and their brilliant School Councils are central to this work, and we're hoping to build on last year's 135 schools and 40,000 young people that took on their own "Be Healthy!" challenge and make this year's new campaign even more successful.

How are you going to get involved?
Chris