I moved on to the Healthy Schools Celebration Event at Castle Grove in Headingley...

We were there to celebrate the achievements of around 50 primary schools, secondary schools, SILCs and PRUs; all of whom had achieved one of the Healthy Schools standards, Investors in Pupils or PSHE certification for colleagues. The session started with a brilliant 'Hand Jive' performance by children from Swarcliffe Primary School which everyone joined in with before one young student explained where hand jive came from. The theme for the session was distributed leadership and it was wonderful to see the Healthy Schools team who have led this exceptional work here in Leeds. It was also really encouraging to see colleagues from schools who have taken on the initiative and made it come alive and release something quite extraordinary in our schools. The real test though is the young people and the impact they are having in changing schools for the better; improving school food, tackling school behaviour, developing school activities, developing school approaches to important issues like recycling, sustainability, fair trade, transport, drug education, sex education, and tackling bullying, racism and extremism.

It's not the children of the world who have made such a mess of things; they are our greatest hope for a better tomorrow. Judging from the young people I met this morning the world is going to be in safe and caring hands!
Chris