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

The participation rate is the percentage of children who have been measured in mainstream state-maintained schools out of those eligible for measurement¹.

The overall national rate has increased from 80% in 2006/07 to 95% in 2017/18.

The participation rate can affect the accuracy of estimates derived from the data.  For example, if the participation rate is very low in a local authority then the prevalence estimates for the BMI categories should be treated with caution as those children measured may not be representative of all children in the LA². Torbay had a particularly low participation rate so their data should be used with extreme caution.

^{1. Excluding children who could not be measured due to physical or mental impairment.}  

^{2. See annex B.}

^{For 2017/18 data at local authority level: Table 8, National Child Measurement Programme, England, 2017/18 school year.}