CYP Now - Weighing children at school increases eating disorder risk, charities warn

Children’s health organisations have warned that restarting a scheme to weigh children in schools could increase young people’s risk of developing eating disorders.

Eating disorder charities have warned the scheme could trigger “unhealthy weight control behaviours". Picture: Adobe Stock

The government has announced that the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) has restarted after being paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The scheme weighs children in reception (aged four and five) and year six (aged 10 and 11) in all state primary schools to alert parents if their children are at risk of developing childhood obesity.

Latest data from the NCMP shows that in 2019/20 9.9 per cent of reception-age children were classed as obese compared with 9.7 per cent in 2018/19 and in year six pupils, that figure rose from 20.2 per cent 2018/19 to 21 per cent the following year.

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