PE and Health

Childhood obesity is a pressing issue for Government. The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), overseen by Public Health England, collects height and weight measurements of children in reception (aged 4-5 years) and Year 6 (aged 10-11 years) primarily in state-maintained schools in England. It provides robust data on the number of children in Reception and Year 6 who are underweight, healthy weight, overweight or obese.

The prevalence of obesity in Primary aged children rose from 9.3 per cent in 2015-16 to 9.6 per cent in 2016-17 and was 9.5% in 2017-18.
Obesity prevalence is more than twice as high among children in year 6 than in reception age children • More than one in three children (34.2 per cent) in year 6 are either overweight or obese.
Almost one in four children (22.6 per cent) are overweight or obese in reception year.
Obesity prevalence for children living in the most economically deprived areas is more than double that of those living in the least deprived areas.
Obesity prevalence is higher for boys in both age groups.
In Derbyshire the percentage figures for overweight and obese children were as follows:

2013/14

Reception: 21.7
Year 6: 30.8

2014/15

Reception: 21.6
Year 6: 30.8

2015/16

Reception: 22.2
Year 6: 32.3

2016/17

Reception: 23.7
Year 6: 32.7

2017/18

Reception: 23.9
Year 6: 33.0

In August 2016, the government published a response ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action’. As part of this plan, in July 2018 OFSTED reviewed obesity, healthy eating and physical activity in schools and as a result the Government has recently (July 2019) launched their new Healthy Schools Rating Scheme.