National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) and Healthy Lifestyles

We support you with monitoring your child’s growth and development, including maintaining a healthy weight, and deliver the Government’s National Child Measurement Programme in Warwickshire. 

There’s more to weight than just a measurement. It involves looking at your child’s growth and development, diet, eating habits, portion sizes, sleep, fluid intake and physical activity levels to name a few. 

Weight is one measure of wellbeing that can be helpful in identifying health problems both now and in the future. 

How do we monitor children’s weight? 

To begin with, you may weigh your baby at a family hub or delivery site and record the weight in their Personal Child Health Record (Red Book). Weight is recorded on a ‘centile chart’ which allows us to assess your child’s rate of growth. We will also assess your child’s growth and development at the child’s 2–3-year developmental review. 

When your child reaches school age, you are invited to take part in the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) in reception and year 6. 

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is a nationally mandated public health programme and is delivered through the Warwickshire Child and Family Wellbeing Service on behalf of the local authority. If you do not wish for your child to take part, or if you have any questions, please contact us on 0300 247 0072. Children will not be made to take part if they do not want to. 

The programme monitors the BMI and growth of children on a national scale and helps to inform the development of services at a local level. The information collected about your child is held by your local NHS provider and is treated confidentially, it is not shared with your child, school staff or other children. 

After the programme, we contact parents where the programme identifies children that fall outside a healthy weight range for their age, sex and height to offer access to the free support across Warwickshire. These results can be surprising but are a snapshot of your child’s growth at that moment of time. The information is intended to help identify where changes can be made and provide the support to help you make those changes and support your child to grow into a healthy weight. 

Guidance and helpful information  

To support your child with a healthy weight, you might wish to consider their: 

• Portion sizes 
• Levels of physical activity and active play 
• Diet and eating habits 
• Lifestyle and hobbies 

If you have recent growth measurements, you can check your child’s BMI using the NHS BMI calculator. We’ve included useful links to other websites with helpful information below.