The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) (Height and weight checks for children in Reception and Year 6)
Every year in England, school children in Reception (aged 4-5 years) and Year 6 (aged 10-11 years) have their height and weight checked at school as part of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).
Height and weight measurements are used to calculate weight status. This information is collected because it is in the public interest to understand how many children are overweight, healthy weight or underweight and so support and advice can be offered to parents.
The checks are carried out by trained health care providers, and are delivered in a COVID-safe way. Children are measured fully clothed, except for their coats and shoes, in a private space away from other pupils.
Once the measurements have been carried out, parents/carers get a letter with the results. They may also be contacted by the NCMP staff who will talk through their child’s results and offer advice and support.
For more information about this programme please visit the The National Child Measurement Programme – NHS (www.nhs.uk).
Additional information/resources to support healthy living
- Information and fun ideas to help your kids stay healthy can be found at
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/
- Free food scanner app (video) https://youtu.be/et3HrM36pHM
Healthy weight advice https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/childrens-weight/
What NCMP data is collected and how it is used and processed.
Local authorities have a legal duty to collect the NCMP data. They do this by following guidance from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Local authorities are responsible for making decisions on how the data is collected and for making sure it is protected. Local NCMP service providers are contracted to carry this out; this might be through the school nursing team working in schools or a local healthcare provider. The team collecting the data enter it into the NCMP IT system, which is provided by NHS Digital. The data may also be entered into a local child health information system. Your local authority is responsible for sending the data to NHS Digital. NHS Digital and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities are jointly responsible for the data held at a national level. Your local authority is responsible for the data held locally
Data Protection Details- All information is treated confidentially and held securely. Below are links further detailing this:
- Information about how we (Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust 0 – 19 Children’s Services) collect and use information can be found at https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/privacy-notices/patients-privacy-notice/
- Information about how NHS Digital and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities collect and use information can be found at https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/our-work/keeping-patient-data-safe/how-we-look-after-your-health-and-care-information and https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/personal-information-charter
- Information about the organisations NHS Digital has shared information from the National Child Measurement Programme can be found at https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-child-measurement-programme
The information we collect and what it is used for is listed below:
- your child’s date of measurement, sex and date of birth are used to calculate your child’s weight category
- your child’s name, date of birth and NHS Number are used to link your child’s measurements in Reception and Year 6.
- Other data sets held by NHS Digital and Department of Health and Social Care, may also be linked as this would let us add information from health and education records, where lawful to do so, to understand how and why the weight of children is changing, and how this affects children’s health and education and how we can improve the care children receive. This includes your child’s health data relating to; their birth, hospital care (including time in hospital and out-patient appointments and diagnosis of medical conditions); mental health; social care; primary care – includes all healthcare outside of hospital such as GP and dental appointments; public health – including data relating to preventing ill health such as immunisation records; records for when and the reason why people pass away; medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes; health, lifestyle and wellbeing surveys that your child has participated in.
- your child’s ethnicity and address are used to help understand some of the reasons for the difference and changes in child weight across England
- your address is required to send you your child’s feedback letter. This will include your child’s measurements together with information about healthy eating, being active and related activities available in your area.
- your email address and telephone number are required as we may contact you by email or telephone to discuss your child’s feedback/ send you your child’s feedback letter by email/ offer you further support following your child’s height and weight measurement.
How the data is used
The information collected from all schools in the area will be gathered together and held securely by North Yorkshire County Council. We will store your child’s information as part of their local child health record on the NHS’s child health information database (your GP may have access to this)
All the information collected about your child will be sent by us to NHS Digital. NHS Digital is responsible for collecting data and information about health and care so that this can be used to monitor and improve the care provided to people across England.
The information collected about your child will also be shared by NHS Digital with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) which is part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) but in a de-personalised form only. This means OHID will not be able to identify your child. OHID focuses on improving the nation’s health so that everyone can expect to live more of life in good health, and on levelling up health disparities to break the link between background and prospects for a healthy life.
Both NHS Digital and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (DHSC) will use the information from the National Child Measurement Programme to better understand numbers and trends in child weight and body mass index (BMI). This helps with the planning of services to support healthy lifestyles in your area. No information will ever be published by NHS Digital or the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (DHSC) that identifies your child.
De-personalised information from the National Child Measurement Programme may also be shared by NHS Digital with other organisations, such as universities. This is to help improve health, care and services through research and planning. This information cannot be used to identify your child, and NHS Digital only ever shares information for research with the approval of an independent group of experts.
All the data collected is also used for improving health, care and services through research and planning.
All this information is treated confidentially and held securely. No individual measurements will be given to school staff or other children