Weighins for childhood obesity- Scotland middle class pupils targeted
KEVIN SCHOFIELD
EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT (kschofield@scotsman.com)
PUPILS are to be weighed and measured throughout their time at school as part of attempts to tackle childhood obesity.
Research has identified middle class pupils to be particularly at risk of piling on the pounds.
Parents of overweight children will also be given cookery lessons so they can prepare healthier meals as part of the measures announced yesterday by East Renfrewshire Council.
The local authority said the move was necessary after research showed a fifth of youngsters in the area were classed as overweight before they reached school. The study also showed that children from wealthier areas were more likely to be overweight, suggesting their parents gave them unhealthy snacks.
Under the plans, the first of their kind in Scotland, East Renfrewshire pupils will be weighed and measured at primary one, four and seven, as well as the third year of secondary school.
The council hopes the scheme will also enable it to identify pupils who are underweight.
As well as the cookery classes for parents, the scheme will provide physical activity for pupils and encourage more to take school meals.
Mary Montague, the council's education convener, said the authority wanted to "set children on the road to a healthy life".
She said: "To do that, we and our colleagues in the health service need to monitor children and obtain consistent and reliable data.
"That means weighing and measuring pupils at key points in their school careers and working with them and their families to promote healthy eating and exercise regimes which they will take with them into adult life."
According to the East Renfrewshire research, which was carried out in 2001, 19.3 per cent of pre-school children in the area were overweight, while 7.4 per cent were obese.
Pupils across the country are already weighed when they begin primary school. According to the most up-to-date figures from NHS Scotland, 21.5 per cent of primary ones were overweight or obese in 2004-5.
From 2007-8, the Executive also plans to weigh pupils in primary seven on a three-year cycle. Unlike in East Renfrewshire, however, the move is designed to detect long-term health trends rather than as a way of identifying and helping overweight youngsters.
A spokesman for the Executive insisted ministers were taking forward "a comprehensive programme" to increase the physical activity and improve the diet of young people.
This included moves to improve the nutritional quality of school meals, banning the sale of fizzy drinks in schools and increasing PE lessons.
Carina Norris, a nutritionist based in Dunfermline, said she was concerned about the project. "I'm very worried about making children conscious of their weight at such an early age and bringing it to the fore again when they are 13 or 14," she said. "I can see the logic behind it, but it's quite a simplistic way of gauging it."
Judith Gillespie, the development manager at the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said she was worried about the effect the scheme would have on pupils' emotional wellbeing.
"If we focus too much on weight, kids can end up getting bullied about it," she said.
"While it is right and proper that a school provides nutritious food, there are areas where we have to leave it to citizens to make judgments for themselves."
Childhood Obesity fight in Scotland
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