One in four children in England are obese by the time they start secondary school, alarming figures show.
Before the Covid pandemic, around 21 per cent of year 6 pupils were obese, with the number climbing to 25.2 per cent in 2020 before starting to fall again.
However, the decline has now stalled, with obesity rates rising from 22.1 per cent in 2023 to 22.2 per cent in 2024, and 22.8 per cent last year.
Boys were more likely than girls to be severely obese by year 6, according to the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) report.
Meanwhile, obesity in reception children has reached
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