Our Sponsors

National Child Measurement Programme

What is the National Child Measurement Programme?

Each year in England, school children in Reception and Year 6 have their height and weight checked at school. This is called the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).  

The checks are carried out by registered school nurses or trained health and care providers. Children are measured fully clothed, except for their coats and shoes, in a private space away from other pupils. 

Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council commission the organisation Everyone Health (www.everyonehealth.co.uk) to provide the National Child Measurement Programme locally.

Further information on the NCMP process can be found here: 

If you have any questions or would like any further information about the NCMP, please contact the NCMP Team on 0333 005 0093 or at [email protected].

If you would like to speak to someone about why we are commissioned to undertake the NCMP, please contact Imogen Gray at [email protected]. 

Why do we need to measure children? 

Children’s height and weight measurements are collected to build an understanding of how children are growing.  

The information from the NCMP is used by local councils and the NHS to plan the provision of health and leisure services for families to promote healthier growth in children. Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, along with other key partners such as the NHS, care deeply about our children’s health and know that parents/carers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are working hard to help their children grow up healthy and happy. We also appreciate that the environment we live in can make it difficult to make healthy decisions, like eating healthily and being physically active. That is why we are taking steps to improve the environment for local residents so that it becomes easier to support ourselves and our families to be healthy.  

Following measurement, parents are sent their child’s measurement data, because this can be useful information about their child’s growth. It also provides an opportunity to offer support to parents where required.  

If you would like to speak with an NCMP Coordinator to discuss your child’s result, please contact our Healthy Families service on [email protected] or 0300 330 5497.

Children’s BMI centiles 

We use a child’s height and weight to calculate their Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is not perfect, for example it does not consider the child’s ethnic background or physical activity levels. However, BMI is currently the most accurate method available for assessing weight in children. Both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the NHS recommend its use. 

We calculate BMI for children in a different way than we do for adults. For children, we take into account their date of birth and their sex, as well as their height and weight to calculate a BMI centile. This shows how their BMI compares with children of the same age and sex who took part in national surveys.  

BMI centile tells us part of the picture about a child’s health. However, there are many other factors such as where we live and work, our social connections, and our emotional and mental wellbeing that all impact our overall health and wellbeing. 

Measuring my child at home

If you would like to measure your child’s BMI centile outside of the NCMP to track how they are growing over time, you can do so by measuring their height and weight at home and then using the NHS BMI calculator here: Calculate body mass index (BMI) for children and teenagers – NHS

Alternatively, you can access a self-weigh station at a Child and Family Centre local to you. Further details can be found here: Self-weigh for older children and teenagers (5 to 19 years old).

Community pharmacies will also often have equipment available to measure your child’s height and weight.

Additionally, the NHS now recommends that you also look at your child’s waist to height ratio as this can tell us more about how a child is growing than BMI alone. Further information on how to do this can be found here: Calculate your waist to height ratio – NHS

What information is collected as part of the NCMP and why 

Your child’s height, weight, age, sex, and date of birth are collected to calculate their weight category (also known as child body mass index). 

Your child’s ethnicity and address are collected to monitor differences in child growth and weight between ethnic groups, where children live and their backgrounds. 

Your child’s name, date of birth and NHS number are collected to link their measurements from reception and year 6 to other information from health and education records held by NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education, where it is legal to do so. 

Parental contact details (address and phone number) are collected to allow measurement feedback letters to be sent, and supportive follow up from our local healthy families service, where appropriate. 

Information about how personal information and data is collected and stored 

You can read more about how the Department of Health and Social Care collects, stores and uses your child’s information and data in the National Child Measurement Programme privacy notice. 

You can read more about how NHS England collects, stores, and uses your child’s information and data at National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP): GDPR information.  

At the NHS England National Child Measurement Programme webpage you can read more about: 

· taking part in the programme 

· how your data is collected 

· how your data is used 

You can read more about how Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council and Everyone Health (Healthy You) collect, store, and use your child’s information at: 

Privacy notice | Cambridgeshire County Council 

Corporate Privacy Notice | Peterborough City Council

Privacy Policy – Everyone Health 

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Healthy Families Service

Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council have commissioned the organisation Maximus (also under the brand ‘Healthy You’) to provide a new Healthy Families service.

This service is for families who are looking to get support with healthy eating, weight management, portion size, physical activity and cooking ideas, and all support is free to access.

To find out more and register your interest, go to the Healthy You Families page –  https://cap.maximusuk.co.uk/

Other information, advice and support

  • You may find the local healthy child programme webpage useful, for information on topics such as healthy eating and physical activity. There is a specific page on fussy/picky eating. Health visitors and school nurses can also support you with a range of other areas such as mental health, behaviours and emotions, sleep and child development.
  • Another way to help maintain a balanced diet and physical activity for your family is the NHS Healthy Steps email programme. Sign up for the 8-week Healthy Steps emails and you will be sent lots of low-cost simple tips, fun games, healthy swaps, and tasty recipes on a budget.  
  • If you would like advice about talking to your child about weight, visit the University of Bath’s ‘Talking to your child about weight: a guide for parents and caregivers of children aged 4-11 years’ guide here – Talking to your child about weight.
  • Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) – If your child is in receipt of benefit related free school meals they could be eligible to access a fully funded place at one of our camps/activities in the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays. For further details please visit:

Cambridgeshire residents – Cambridgeshire Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme | Cambridgeshire County Council

Peterborough residents – Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme | Peterborough City Council

Top of Page