A pupil from one of our Leeds area schools has been chosen as the Leeds Children’s Mayor for 2025.
Sienna Farber, who is in year 6 at Harewood CE Primary School, was chosen after a selection process involving the creation of a manifesto with ideas and strategies to improve the lives of children in Leeds.
Sienna was put through as one of 12 finalists, and children from all over Leeds were encouraged to vote for their choice of mayor after reading the finalists’ ideas.
In October, Sienna attended a presentation at the Civic Hall in Leeds where she was announced as the winner.
Sienna said: “I still can’t believe I was chosen for this role - the other candidates were great, and it was tough competition especially coming from such a small school as Harewood Primary.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully making some important changes on the way we can tackle bullying.
“Leeds is an amazing city, with lots of different voices - I want to be able to celebrate us all.”
Since Sienna was elected, she has started work to promote her ideas and undertaken a number of formal engagements.
In November Sienna presented her manifesto to the entire city council at the start of the full council meeting, receiving a standing ovation for her presentation and ideas.
Sienna campaigned on a platform promoting diversity and working to prevent bullying and discrimination.
Her ideas included introducing ‘Culture Weeks’ in schools, having ‘Kindness Buddies’ and a ‘Take what you need board’ which is a way of passing on complements, positive affirmations and friendly challenges to build self-esteem and positive wellbeing.
Her promotional slogan is: “One city, many voices – Let’s celebrate us all!”