Privately-educated pupils ‘more active than state school children’

Research published today at the European Congress in Obesity in Liverpool found youngsters from two private schools in Sheffield were more likely to meet national standards on physical activity than their peers from a state school in the city.

Doctors studied nearly 200 youngsters aged 12-13 and found 87 per cent of those at the private schools hit Government guidelines for moderate to vigorous amounts of activity compared with 71 per cent at state schools even though privately-educated children reported more time spent on sedentary activity.

Emma Davies, from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, said the findings had implications for the amount of time children were active at state schools although further research was required.

“These results show that children at state school undertook less physical activity across a seven-day week, whether at school or home, than their peers at independent schools,” she said.

“These results have potential widespread use for both government and school level policy making in tackling the current childhood inactivity and obesity problems.”

A separate study published at the congress, based on analysis of weight loss among 1.2 million UK members of Slimming World, found people of all sizes were equally likely to lose weight through its programmes.

The research – the largest ever audit of a lifestyle-based weight management programme – found on average participants lost nearly five per cent of their weight after three months.

Those who attended over a 12-month period tended to be more overweight at the start but lost 13.2 per cent of their weight. Men were more overweight and shed more pounds than women.

Jacquie Lavin, who led the company’s research team, said it remained unclear why men lost more weight.

She added: “From a government perspective, this study is particularly good news because it shows that many people have been able to lose weight after referring themselves at no cost to the NHS, and will continue to do so.”

Around two in three people in the UK are obese or overweight.