Overweight schoolchildren are being put at risk of bullying by Government schemes designed to help them, a charity warns today. Pupils could be singled out and made fun of by thinner classmates when they are weighed as part of projects to cut childhood obesity, Parentline Plus claims. It says concerned parents have called its helpline to say they are worried their children are being stigmatised by the measurement programme, carried out by health workers in reception and Year 6 (age 10-11) classes in all schools. In a report today, Parentline Plus says that teachers who use statistics about pupils' weight in maths lessons are creating further opportunities for overweight children to be bullied.

Hilary Chamberlain, the charity's policy manager and author of the report Eat Your Greens, said: "Our concern is about the stigmatisation of children. I can see the advantages of weighing children in demographic terms, but on an individual level I think it needs to be handled discreetly.

 

"Some nurses are fantastic at being discreet but others have to do the weighing in open-plan areas. Parents have contacted us and said their children felt embarrassed by it, and the parents were worried about them being stigmatised by their peers.

"Some nurses are fantastic at being discreet but others have to do the weighing in open-plan areas. Parents have contacted us and said their children felt embarrassed by it, and the parents were worried about them being stigmatised by their peers.  It has been said in some numeracy lessons they are using the data to draw graphs of the children's weight, and that does leave some very vulnerable if they are outside the norm. That is a concern."

 

A study produced for the NHS Modernisation Agency last year also warned health workers to show "great sensitivity" when tackling obesity in children, "in order not to reinforce stigmatisation". Colin Waine agreed that obese children should not be singled out to be weighed in classes.  But he added: "If children are obese they are going to be bullied and victimised. Children should be weighed from birth so obesity can be picked up before people call them 'fatty' ."

 

Parents told Parentline Plus's survey that they are "fighting a losing battle" to keep their children fit and blame a lack of places to exercise, a decline in sports at school and the popularity of computer games.