Primary school pupils across Leeds have created a thought-provoking message for future generations as the city marks a major historic anniversary.
Children from schools throughout the city prepared a series of time capsules, which were buried on July 13 — exactly 400 years after Leeds received its first royal charter from King Charles I. The initiative forms part of Leeds 400, a city-wide programme commemorating the granting of the charter in 1626 while celebrating the city’s past, present and future. The capsules offer pupils the chance to record what life in Leeds is like today and share their hopes and reflections with children who may discover them in years to come.
Chapel Allerton Primary School is among those taking part in the project, with pupils selecting objects they believe reflect life in both Leeds and their school in 2026. The items were buried in the school playground, where they are expected to remain for the next 100 years before being unearthed by future generations. Alongside objects linked to school life, sport and play, pupils also designed colourful posters highlighting their favourite things about the area in which they live.
Pupils taking part included Nellie Brennan, 11, who chose a FIFA 2026 World Cup sticker book to be buried in the capsule.
She said: “I think people in 100 years will be fascinated to know about the World Cup in 2026 and to know that people at school were trying so hard to collect all the stickers.
“Football might be really different by then and the game could have changed a lot. We might even put a prediction in about how well England are going to do and they’ll find it really funny when they read it and see if we were right or wrong.”
Fellow pupil La-Niyah Fuller, also 11, chose to include a lion mask, which children at the school had made for their upcoming end-of-term musical production of Madagascar.
She said: “In the future, they might not have school plays like we do now, and it’ll be fun for them to imagine what ours was like.”
Joe Salmond, Maahnoor Rauf, and Ranw Amin, all 11, said they were including pens, pencils and pencil sharpeners in the capsule.
Joe Salmond said: “In the future, they might not use pens and pencils anymore, they might not even write things down, so they might think the way we did our school work is really strange.
“The best thing about Leeds today is all the parks and green spaces and places to play so I really hope they’re all still there in 100 years.”
Maahnoor Rauf added: “I think there will be a lot more technology and everything will be more modern in 100 years and maybe some of the old buildings in Leeds will look really different too.
“Everyone might do all their school work online or on tablets, so they might not even know what pens and pencils are.”
Ranw Amin said: “We had a day at school where we dressed up as Victorians and everything they did was old-fashioned and different to us, so the people in the future will probably think about us that way.”
Headteacher, Nicholas Sykes added: “We felt the Leeds 400 celebrations provided a genuine opportunity for the children to reflect on what being a young person in Leeds today means and project forward a century to consider the future.
“We are proud of our school, which shortly celebrates its own 150 year anniversary, and hope learning and play still happens here in another hundred years.”
Chapel Allerton Primary School is one of 19 primary schools across Leeds taking part in the time capsule project, which was launched by Child Friendly Leeds — Leeds City Council’s initiative to make the city a better place for children and young people. The schools join organisations across Leeds in marking the city’s 400th anniversary through a varied programme of events and activities, while residents are also being encouraged to commemorate the milestone in their own way.
The granting of the royal charter 400 years ago marked a turning point in Leeds’s history, laying the foundations for the modern city by establishing it as a ‘free borough’ and a ‘body corporate and politic’.
Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for economy said:
“Leeds 400 is all about celebrating the past, present and future of Leeds, and what better way to do that than to ask children living and growing up in the city today what they think of Leeds and what’s important to them.
“It’s wonderful to see them joining people of all ages around Leeds in celebrating this landmark moment in the city’s history and taking the chance to reflect on all the things which make Leeds such a special place today.”
More information about Leeds 400 and the events programme can be found at Welcome to Leeds 400 – A Year of Celebration | Culture Programmes
