As part of its Children’s Healthy Weight Programme, the City of Wolverhampton Council is asking for feedback on the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), ahead of an upgrade to the system by NHS Digital.
The NCMP measures the heights and weights of all participating children in Reception class (aged 4 and 5) and Year 6 (aged 10 to 11). The results show trends and differences between groups of pupils and are used to inform the planning and delivery of services for children to tackle obesity.
In Wolverhampton, 1 in 4 (27.6%) children in Reception class are overweight or obese. By Year 6, this rises to 42.9% of children, which is double the 21% national average for England.
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: “Like many places, we have an issue with childhood obesity here in Wolverhampton and, through the Wolverhampton Healthy Growth Partnership, we have adopted an ambitious and positive approach to support all our children to grow healthily and be a healthy weight.
“The National Child Measurement Programme is an important tool for the monitoring, assessing and addressing overweight and obesity levels in primary school children, and it is vital that we get feedback from families about the existing process and system.
“We are asking parents and guardians to complete this short national survey which will enable us to make recommendations to NHS Digital for any changes to the programme which might be required.
“Responses will be kept anonymous and will only be used as part of this project.”
The survey asks parents if their child's height and weight have been measured in school, whether they received and understood the results, and how they would prefer the results to be recorded in the future. Parents can complete the survey.
