Head of NHS says our schools should be inspected for kids’ fitness levels as well as their academic grades
Simon Stevens wants Ofsted to look at how physically active children are when it is grading schools
SCHOOLS should be inspected for fitness levels of pupils as much as for their academic achievements, the head of the NHS says.
Simon Stevens wants Ofsted to look at how physically active children are when it is grading schools.
The NHS England chief executive said inspectors should pay “clear attention” to the amount of activity children are doing.
He pointed out twice as many are obese when they leave primary school as when they start.
Mr Stevens said the country needs to “raise its game” when it comes to fitness, and said this included local councils, employers and schools.
He told the UKactive national summit in Westminster: “Ofsted should pay clear attention to the fitness levels of schoolchildren in the same ways they do to maths and English attainment.
“One in ten children, when they start primary school are obese — not overweight, but obese. By the time they leave that becomes one in five.
“So something is going terribly wrong with the environment in which our children are being brought up.
“And we are storing all kinds of trouble down the line for them and their generation.”
He added: “Exercise alone won’t solve the obesity crisis, that has got to be matched by changes in our food and drink.”
Mr Stevens yesterday proposed a ban on all sugary drinks from hospitals in an attempt to fight obesity in doctors and nurses.