Year 4 Pilot
Public Health Wales worked with Cwm Taf Health Board to pilot height and weight measurements for children in year four.
The pilot ran in early 2013 and aimed to test whether the standardised child measurement programme already in place in Reception Year could be undertaken in Year 4 as well.
Report of Year 4 Child Measurement Programme Pilot 2012/13 [.pdf, 0.5MB]
Data Tables [.xls, 0.5MB]
Why was Year 4 chosen?
Measuring children in Year 4, as well as Reception Year, gives us a better understanding of growth patterns during the primary school years.
It could also allow comparison of growth patterns in Wales with other countries in Europe who participate in the World Health Organisation Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI)link to an external website - opens in new window.
How was the height and weight information from the pilot used?
Because the Year 4 pilot took place four years after an original study looking at taking measurements in Reception Year in some of the same schools in Merthyr Tydfil and Cynon Valley, some of the same children who participated in the Year 4 pilot had also participated in in the earlier study in 2008/09.
This meant the information was particularly valuable to see how growth patterns have changed since those specific children were first measured in reception class.
Reception Year measurements
The feasibility study from 2008/9 led to new legislation allowing for the introduction of the Child Measurement Programme for Wales in 2011/12, across all primary schools in Wales in Reception Year.
That feasibility study did include measurements taken in Year 4. However Welsh Government requested a further study about the measuring programme in Year 4, including information on costings.
What were the key findings from the Year 4 pilot?
The pilot study found that 20.4% of Year 4 children in Cwm Taf in 2012/13 were categorised as obese. Meanwhile 13.9% of children in Reception Year in Cwm Taf in 2012/13 had been categorised as obese.
954 of the children in the pilot study had also been measured in the feasibility study carried out in 2009, and through linking the records it was found that whereas 120 of this original cohort had been found to be obese in 2009, by 2013 this had increased to 212 children.
Children who were classified as being overweight while in reception year were more likely to achieve a healthy weight by Year 4 than those who were classified as obese. However some did become obese.
The infographic below shows the growth of children who were measured in the original feasibility study in 2009 and the study in 2013;
What are the recommendations from the pilot?
The prevalence of childhood obesity increases significantly between Reception Year and Year 4.
Therefore Public Health Wales recommend that the existing Child Measurement Programme is extended to include children in the Year 4 age group, in order to monitor the outcome of any activity aimed at reducing obesity levels between Reception Year and Year 4.
However Public Health Wales recognise that this will have significant cost implications for all of the Health Boards in Wales.
Will the Child Measurement Programme be extended to Year 4 across Wales?
The regulations that support the programme allowed for measures to be taken in Reception Year and Year 4.