LITTLE Savanna Walsh looks the picture of health.
She is a keen swimmer, loves riding her bike - and unlike many four year olds, she eats her greens without complaining.
So her mother Gemma Waterworth was stunned to receive a letter from health bosses telling her Savanna was officially 'overweight' – together with a set of tips on healthy eating.
“It is absolutely ridiculous,” said Miss Waterworth, from Littleborough. “Society today is bad enough where young girls are so bothered about their weight they are going to extremes to be skinny.
“She is a healthy and active little girl who is nowhere near overweight.
"Savanna goes swimming at weekends and plays out on her bike with friends.
“She's just a normal child – and the only child I know who likes fruit and veg.”
Savanna - 3ft 7in and 3st 4lbs – was labelled 'overweight' by the government's Child Measurement Programme, which records the weight of all youngsters as they start and leave primary school.
The scheme is part of a drive to tackle the growing childhood obesity crisis.
Children are weighed at school and their body mass index – a simple calculation based on their height and weight – is worked out.
A letter is automatically sent to parents of any child considered overweight.
Miss Waterworth has also received another letter offering her support to 'help her child achieve a healthy lifestyle'.
When the M.E.N sent the local health trust a picture of Savanna and asked them if she looked 'overweight', they refused to respond.
“We cannot comment on individual cases without speaking directly to the family,” said a spokeswoman.
Obesity is considered a growing problem in schools across the country.
The latest figures show almost 10 per cent of four and five-year-olds in Greater Manchester, and more than 18 per cent of 10 and 11-year-olds, are classed as 'severely overweight'.
Jean Hany from Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Community Healthcare, said: "Every year, children in reception class and Year 6 are weighed and measured so that we can gather detailed information about children's growth across the borough.
"The data is put into a system which automatically generates letters to parents.
“Department of Health guidance requires us to use body mass index as a way of identifying children and families who may need support.
"This system identifies children who may be underweight or overweight and helps us to plan and target services. The school health service will contact parents directly where potential input may be needed."
A spokeswoman for the trust added that the BMI was only one way to judge a person's weight.
If parents were concerned a health worker would be happy to visit families to look into individual cases, she added.
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Why have the child weighed by school if you are happy with her? Opt out of the program. I did.
During the good times Labour took on 800,000 more public employees and many of them had to dream up something to do at work as there was no real job for them to do. Letters like this are one of the consequences.
Now times are hard and the public finances are severely strained we should sack all these useless staff. Keeping on the dole would be cheaper than paying them wages and they wouldn't be able to send silly letters either.
By design, my contacts/dealings with the State and local authorities are kept to an absolute minimum. Having no kids helps with that.
Otherwise I think I'd find myself with a repetitive strain injury as I continually stick up my two forefingers.
Ban Liebour.
What kind of prats take part in this nonsense? Leave the kids alone and stop wasting public money!
ebble, manchester
Interesting point, but I think it ma be the other way round, people see something that they dont like or understand (or more likely don't actually see it but hear a rumour about something and think it is important), then start demanding something is done and that government do something. Government having no real clue what to do panics and sets up some commities and boards to recommend something or other, then hires some new staff to do whatever the commitee says will work, inevitably it dosn't work, so the public demand some be done, a new comitee reports and it all happens again.
If people could just stop being worried about what other people are doing, and demanding government do something to stop them, we could all relax a little
You can't beat the nanny state. Yet again they show how easy it is to spend our money.
I have real concerns about children with eating disorders - anorexia, bullimia and body dismorphia. This isn't going to help! (former NHS nutritionist)
She looks a little on the chubby side to me.
Children are weighed at school and their body mass index – a simple calculation based on their height and weight – is worked out.
This is the problem, not New Labour or the state, it's BMI.
It's a rubbish measure as has been pointed out before on this forum.
The way i see it children go to school to learn as we all have to at some time or another like it or not,but i cant quite grasp the your childs fat/obese/overweight send a letter out and tell the parents ? whats all that about. Its up to parents what you feed your child not the goverment or anyone else for that matter so if theres some obese boffin scribbling away in a school so be it.
Oh my word, so a young child is not allowed to have 'puppy fat'? My girl is big for her age, but she is tall and will no doubt grow some more. She eats healthily but could probably do with more exercise, BUT I am not going to go on at her as that is how eating disorders start! She will do more in her own time and hopefully have a full and happy life without being moaned at by people with nothing better to do. Every single person is different, we grow at different rates and having a chart that says a small child is obese is frankly absurd.
It is a lie to say that the body mass calculation is simple; this is what it is:
the weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of the height in metres. I challenge any of your readers to do this in his or her head. Most of us will not even know our weight in kilogrammes nor our height in metres. The EU had deliberately imposed the Napoleonic metric measures to confuse people. This body mass index was developed by a Belgian, Adolphe Quelet. Enough said.
It is better to attack obesity at an early age and educate children.There is an obesity problem with schoolchildren in this country which must be addressed.Everyday i see overweight children walking the streets , its a national disgrace. Lack of exercise, failing to take part in sports , and eating junk food is the cause ; I fully support the health officials in this matter.
I wonder if the health officials would be willing to show us their photos - to present themselves as the model of perfection to us all. I wonder.
"It is better to attack obesity at an early age and educate children.There is an obesity problem with schoolchildren in this country which must be addressed.Everyday i see overweight children walking the streets , its a national disgrace. Lack of exercise, failing to take part in sports , and eating junk food is the cause ; I fully support the health officials in this matter." Ledbury Lad
Here is a quote from the government's own publication, 'Health Survey for England' Sort of knocks your argument into a cocked hat.
In a direct statement relating to children it states. ‘There was no significant change in mean BMI overweight/obesity prevalence between 2006 and 2007, and there are indications that the trend in obesity prevalence may have begun to flatten out over the last two to three years.’
The BMI index is severely flawed. It may have some use for we average humans, but take anyone involved in a sport that requires strength or athletic skill suching as boxing, professional wrestling or weightlifting.
The index doesn't allow for the huge difference between fat and muscle mass.
I wonder if the likes of sallyg who opted out of the scheme are the ones we saw (was it around 2 years ago) shoving fish and chips to their fat little cha vy kids through the school fence rather than make them "suffer" a vegetable for their school lunches?
FAT CATS on a final salary pension scheme, enuff said.
My lad swims and plays football on saturday and then plays rugby on Sunday. He is 6, a 95% percentile kid in height and was classed as being obese by the school. They'll not find a fitter or stronger kid if they visited 1930's Germany. Most parents at our school just did the sensible thing and ripped up the utter waste of paper that was sent home.
has fat Mr Brown had a letter? ---- thought not.
nanny state at its best yet again
Voter, it's nothing to do with the complexity of the maths or if it's in kilos and cm or not (do a search for BMI calculator and you'll see you can do it in stones and pounds and feet and inches) rather it's that it's a crude measurement, most rugby players, some footballers and many other athletes would be classed as obese as well as it doesn't take things like body type and muscle mass into consideration.
I agree with Brooklands regarding BMI. It is not a correct indication of weight or obesity, if it was the majority of sportsmen and women would be deemed obese.
Looking at the little girl I have to disagree with Marie Curie, she does not look chubby at all.
No doubt you are a supermodel Marie?
My 9 year old is considered overweight because she is the weight of a 12-13 year old... But she is also the height of a 12-13 year old. The charts/programs they use check the weight according to the DOB but not the height of the child.
My child has regular check-ups at the doctor for her asthm. The doctors have no problem with her height/weight so I did get a letter from school I would send it straight back... without a stamp!
I wonder if Ed (boy named Sue) Balls has had his letter yet?