One third of Year 6 school pupils are obese or overweight

Latest figures show little change on last year's findings

Almost a third of Year 6 children in West Berkshire are obese or overweight, according to latest figures.

The data released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows that in West Berkshire, 29.4 per cent of Year 6 children were obese and overweight, and 19.1 per cent of Reception year pupils were in the same category.

Of these, around half the Year 6 pupils were classified as obese rather than overweight and roughly one-third of Reception year pupils were also solely in the obese category.

The figures are below the national average of 33.2 per cent for Year 6 pupils and 21.9 per cent for Reception.

The data was derived from a study of 1,888 Reception pupils and 1,623 Year 6 pupils across the district and was conducted in November last year.

The district’s standings largely reflect that of the South East region and, within Berkshire, only Reading and Slough had higher prevalences of obese and overweight children, at 35 and 39 per cent for Year 6 pupils respectively.

The data for West Berkshire also revealed that two per cent of Year 6 pupils were considered underweight and 1.5 per cent of Reception children were also underweight.

West Berkshire Council spokesman Martin Dunscombe said: “We’re performing well in West Berkshire with the percentage of pupils who are overweight or obese below the national average and consistent with the wider South East region.

“Since measurements began, our performance has been broadly consistent and, in particular, out of the 19 South East local authorities we have the fifth lowest percentage of overweight and obese pupils for Reception Year and the fourth lowest for Year 6 pupils.

“We’re continuing to invest our time and resources to keep supporting our pupils and their families.

“We’ve paid for 48 primary school children to have swimming lessons for a year, we’ve commissioned a healthy eating and physical activity after-school club for primary schools in West Berkshire and we offer free school holiday activities at local leisure centres.

“We’re also excited to have recently commissioned a Phunky Foods programme for eight primary schools.

“This is an award-winning programme which helps teaching staff deliver high-quality, fun and healthy lifestyle activities and lessons through training and teaching resources.”

Following the publication of the figures, the British Heart Foundation has now called for a ban on all junk food TV advertising before 9pm claiming that millions of children are being exposed to junk food adverts during popular evening shows.

Director of policy at the BHF Mike Hobday said: “It’s worrying that so many children in the south east are obese or overweight.

“Carrying excess weight into adulthood increases the risk of developing heart disease in later life.

“We mustn’t allow food companies to continue to exploit a failing regulatory system that allows them to bombard TV screens with junk food adverts at the times when the highest numbers of children are watching TV.

“We need to protect young people against the sophisticated marketing techniques of junk food advertisers to help tackle the obesity crisis which threatens the heart health of future generations.”