Children at non fee-paying schools more likely to be overweight

Wednesday 11 December 2019

Children from non fee-paying primary schools in Jersey are more likely to finish Year 6 obese than those attending private primary schools, new figures have shown.

The finding came in one of two reports related to adults and children’s weight in Jersey released by Statistics Jersey today.

It showed that 22% of children in reception at States schools were overweight or obese, compared to just 15% of private school attendees.

That figure then rose to more than a third in Year 6, compared to less than a quarter at fee-paying schools.

We have just published the Obesity, Diet and Physical Activity Profile for 2019. You can read the full report here: https://t.co/TzdDlv7KHr. pic.twitter.com/XyE1X8KsI5

— Statistics Jersey (@JsyStats) December 11, 2019

The data in the ‘Jersey Child Measurement Programme 2018/2019’ also showed differences in children’s weight depending on the area they live in.

Children aged 10 to 11 living in rural areas were less likely to be overweight or obese (24%) than those living in semi-urban (33%) or urban areas (38%).

Meanwhile, the ‘Obesity, Diet and Physical Activity Profile 2019’, which focused on adults, showed that around one in six islanders is now classified as obese (BMI of 30 or more).

It found that there had been no substantial improvement in this figure over the past ten years.

Similarly, levels of obesity among Year 6 children showed little change from 2011.

Pictured: One in six adult islanders are now classified as obese.

Both adults and children were found to have failed to reach NHS standards of daily activity.

Just half of Jersey adults were meeting recommended guidelines of 150 minutes or more of moderate physical activity in a typical week.

Only a quarter of Year 6 children managed at least one hour of physical activity per day.

Two fifths of Year 6 boys and a third of girls had spent three hours or more on ‘screens’ the previous day when surveyed.

This figure rose to nearly three quarters among male and female students in Year 10.

Pictured: Three quarters of Year 10 students reported spending around three hours on 'screens' in one day.

When it came to diet, less than half of Jersey adults ate the recommended portions of fruit and veg per day. Women were slightly better than men, with four in ten eating five or more items compared to three in ten males.

Among children, fruit and veg consumption seemed to worsen as age increased.

30% of Year 6 students ate five or more portions, but that figure dropped to just one in five by Year 10.

Read both reports by clicking here.