The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) measures the height and weight of children in Reception class (aged 4 to 5) and year 6 (aged 10 to 11), to assess overweight and obesity levels in children within primary schools.
Those children who measure outside of healthy parameters are offered support, advice, and can be referred to the weight management programme.
Why should children be measured?
Although most children in reception and year 6 are a healthy weight, NHS England’s NCMP annual statistics reports consistently show that prevalence of obesity doubles between reception and year 6 (from around 10% to around 20%).
Although the prevalence for year 6 children has decreased, it remains higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019 to 2020. More than 1 in 5 children aged 4 to 5 years and more than 1 in 3 aged 10 to 11 years are overweight (21.3% and 36.6% respectively).
There are significant inequalities between the prevalence of very overweight children from the most deprived compared with least deprived areas, and between different children from different ethnic groups.
You can find more information about the evidence for this in the guidance The link between pupil health and wellbeing and attainment.
You can also access the Government publication with information for schools below.
Contact us
For further information, please contact Connect for Health or visit our Change Makers webpage.
Call: 03300 245 204
Email: connectforhealth@compass-uk.org