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National Statistics
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National Child Measurement Programme, England - 2017/18 School Year [PAS]

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National statistics
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Summary

This report presents findings from the Government's National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) for England, 2017-18 school year.

It covers children in Reception (aged 4-5 years) and Year 6 (aged 10-11 years) in mainstream state-maintained schools in England.

The report contains analyses of Body Mass Index (BMI) classification rates by age, sex and ethnicity as well as geographic analyses.

Key Facts

Infographic for reception
In Reception obesity prevalence remained similar at 9.5% in 2017/18
Infographic for year 6
In Year 6 it increased from 20.0% in 2016/17 to 20.1% in 2017/18
Infographic for boys and girls
Obesity prevalence was higher for boys than girls in both age groups
Infographic for deprivation
Obesity prevalence for children living in the most deprived areas was more than double that of those living in the least deprived areas for both reception and year 6
Issue Notification 04/12/2018: Since publication, Leicestershire County Council have made us aware of an error in some of the height measurements taken in schools in the Hinckley and Bosworth area. The height measurements have been underestimated which has resulted in inflated BMI values for the affected children. This has subsequently resulted in more children being classified as overweight or obese than should have been the case. Whilst it is not possible to correct the data at this stage it should be noted that the estimates of the proportion of overweight and obese children in Hinckley and Bosworth are very likely to be higher than the true figures. This has also had a knock on impact to the estimates for Leicestershire County Council and the East Midlands region. The impact on the estimates at national level is likely to be minimal. Using the obesity prevalence figures based on pupil postcode as an example, it can be seen that the estimates in 2017/18 for Hinckley and Bosworth of 19.3% for reception and 21.7% for year 6 are large increases from the equivalent figures in 2016/17 which were 8.3% for reception and 16.6% for year 6. It is possible to provide an approximate estimate of the impact by including and excluding pupils from Hinckley and Bosworth from the estimates. Using obesity prevalence for pupils resident in the Hinckley and Bosworth area as an example (ie. the equivalent of table 3b in the report) gives the following impact (estimates are quoted to the first decimal place where a difference occurs): National level: Exc H&B: year R = 9.51%, year 6 = 20.139% Inc H&B: year R = 9.53%, year 6 = 20.142% East Midlands: Exc H&B: year R = 9.7%, year 6 = 19.85% Inc H&B: year R = 9.9%, year 6 = 19.90% Leicestershire: Exc H&B: year R = 8.1%, year 6 = 17.7% Inc H&B: year R = 10.0%, year 6 = 18.4%. Users are advised to treat the data for Hinckley and Bosworth in this report with extreme caution. A data quality flag has been added to the record level file which is available in CSV format within the zip file. NHS Digital apologises for any inconvenience caused.

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