The National Child Measurement Programme 2013-14 shows whether children in state schools in reception (aged four to five years) and year 6 (aged 10 to 11 years) are categorised as underweight, healthy, overweight or obese due to their body mass index (BMI). Analysis shows that in 2013-14, obesity prevalence among reception year children attending schools in the most deprived areas was 12.0 per cent, compared to 6.6 per cent among those in the least deprived areas. For year 6 children, obesity prevalence among children attending schools in the most deprived areas was 24.7 per cent, compared with 13.1 per cent among those in the least deprived areas.The overall percentage of obese children in reception in 2013-14 was 9.5 per cent, whereas in year 6, the figure was more than double that (19.1 per cent).
A report summarising the key findings from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) for England, 2013-14 school year is available from the Health and Social Care Information Centre. The report provides high-level analysis of the prevalence of ‘underweight’, ‘healthy weight’, ‘overweight’, ‘obese’ and 'overweight and obese combined' children, in Reception (typically aged 4–5 years) and Year 6 (typically aged 10–11 years), measured in state schools in England in the school year 2013-14.
The Local Government Association's LG Inform holds two measures for both age groups showing the prevalence of ‘obese’ and ‘combined overweight and obese’ children measured in state-maintained schools up to and including the school year 2013/14. These can be accessed as individual metric reports (see links below), or can be viewed through an interactive summary report covering all four measures. This report provides an overview and all England comparison for all measures, and then focuses on the measure, authority and comparison group selected by you.
Individual metric reports are available for:
Obesity in primary school age children in reception
Obesity in primary school age children in Year 6
% of children in reception year who are overweight or obese
% of children in year 6 who are overweight or obese
