Guernsey children from non-fee paying schools more likely to be overweight

A higher proportion of children in year five were found to have unhealthy excess weight compared to those in year one. Credit: ITV Channel Television

Year one children attending non-fee paying schools in Guernsey are more likely to be overweight than children at fee paying schools, a report has found.

Results from the ninth Guernsey Child Measurement Programme (GCMP) show that health inequality by school fee status is present in the island, despite no direct measure for deprivation in the Bailiwick.

The GCMP was launched in 2013, with the heights and weights of children in school years one and five recorded annually during the spring term since then.

Results are then analysed to allow population-level surveillance of weight status in children aged five to six years and nine to ten years.

This year's Programme found that the number of children with unhealthy excess weight has not changed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, although childhood obesity is still a concern in the island.

The last reported results were in 2019, as there were not enough resources in 2020 to publish them, and then due to the Bailiwick's second Covid-19 lockdown in 2021.

1144 children were measured this year for the Programme and of those, 252 were found to be overweight or obese across years one and five.

Key findings of the report are:

  • Of measured children in year one, 81.4% were found to have a healthy weight status.  This dropped to 72.3% among measured year fives. 

  • Among those in year one, 17.7% (around one in six) of measured children had excess weight; 9.0% with overweight and 8.7% with obesity.

  • Among those in year five, 26.7% (around one in four) of measured children had excess weight; 10.6% with overweight and 16.1% with obesity.

  • Participation remained high at 87% despite a reduction due to absences (impact of COVID-19).

  • There is not currently strong statistical evidence for any directional change in the levels of excess weight among children, although there are some early signs of an upward trend in excess weight for year one and a downward trend for year five.

Jenny Cataroche, Head of Health Intelligence, says: "Levels of excess weight remain a concern and highlight an ongoing need for action, but we must acknowledge that there is a certain achievement to holding the previous position, with no worsening, in what has been a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty for local children and families over the past three years."

Dr Nicola Brink, Guernsey's Director of Public Health addressed the difference in obesity levels in fee paying and non-fee paying schools, saying: "The findings of differences in overweight by school fee status hint that the Bailiwick conforms to the pattern seen in other places - namely that a child's broad socio-economic environment can lead to measurable differences in health indicators like weight status."