Active Citizenship in Leeds
In 2016, the My Health, My School survey in Leeds revealed that only 43% of primary school pupils and 21% of secondary school pupils felt that they had a say in the way their school was run. In addition, only 17% of primary school pupils and 14% of secondary school pupils felt that they had a say in the way Leeds as a city was run.
The voice and Influence team at Leeds City Council work to make Leeds a Child Friendly city by ensuring that all children, young people, parents and carers have their voices heard and can influence decisions and services that affect their lives. There are lots of ways for children and young people to have their say on the way their school and city are run; sometimes it’s just a case of spreading the word. We want to make sure that all children and young people in Leeds have the opportunity to be an active citizen, so we recruited 9 Youth Councillors to help us!
In October half-term, we invited our youth councillors to the Civic Hall to help us plan an ‘active citizenship’ video for a day. We watched other videos for inspiration, drew storyboards, chose background music, 
wrote scripts and planned what/who we needed for the next session – with lots of games in between! In December, our filmmakers joined us for another day to put our plans into action. We decided on roles (who would be an actor, who would film and who would direct) and then started shooting. The majority of the video was filmed on this single day, which is a fantastic achievement for all of the Youth Councillors involved!
