Coffee. Cameras. Networking. Have you guessed yet? Welcome to the Glastonbury of politics — Party Conference season! And as usual, we activists showed up for business, to ensure children’s health was at the forefront of the agenda.

After some MP spotting, a quick pit stop with the Premier League trophy, and traipsing around the expedition hall at the Labour Party Conference, Kaz, Toby and I got to work. We ran into the likes of Bridget Phillipson MP, Alistar Campbell, and even had a quick brush with our Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

But the highlight of Day 1 had to be our meeting with the School Food Minister, Paul Waugh. We spoke to him about our latest campaign win and a historic moment for children’s health: the expansion of Free School Meals, and the promise of updated and stronger English School Food Standards.

What is the point of new School Food Standards if we don’t really know what’s being served in schools? How do we support teachers in creating a healthier school environment? How do we overcome the flood of unhealthy and unappealing school food in our canteens? These are just some of the questions we put to Paul Waugh, who shared a genuine passion for school food and youth voice. One thing that came out of the meeting was our point about cleaner, accessible water fountains, which Paul said he would raise (yay)!

After a debrief and well deserved sleep, we entered Day 2, which was all about Bite Back. Our pop in event was a HUGE success, where people poured in from the get go! Even a few sneaky food companies passed by. Our young activists made sure to tell them the tangible impact of their marketing tactics on our health. After a LOT of talking, we wrapped up the day watching Andy Burnham's first party conference speech.

The buzz that we brought to the Conference just shows how important young people are to spaces like these.

And whilst all the conversations we had were great, that’s not enough…

We don’t need consultation, we need action. That was our key central message to politicians.

So after about 10,000 steps per day, it’s safe to say we ate (pun intended) at the Party Conference, fighting for a version of children’s health where we are the priority.