OVERWEIGHT Macclesfield parents will be urged to join their children in after-school PE in the fight against rising obesity.
Ten-week fitness programmes are to be recommended to pupils and their families if the youngster is classed as overweight or obese in school health checks, the Express has learnt.
Out-of-shape mums and dads will be invited to take part in a range of physical activities that could include skipping, running and jumping – as well as learning about diet and nutrition.
Statistics show a direct link between overweight parents and the health of their offspring.
The weight management regimes, which won’t be available until September 2009, will be funded by the primary care trust, but are likely to be run in schools, by council staff or possibly teachers.
News of the scheme comes after many north west schools were told to send warning letters to parents of obese children next term.
But Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust feels a system is not yet in place offering parents of overweight Macclesfield children enough support – particularly if they are struggling with their own weight – so has decided to defer any change for a year.
Jane Branson, assistant director of public health at the PCT, said: "Some people are able to make changes themselves but the ten-week programme is for families to attend if their needs are particularly great.
"There will be actual physical activity as well as advice on things like places to go for a walk.
"We don’t want to medicalise it, we want it to be in the community.
"It doesn’t need to be nurses – it could be council leisure services staff or even teachers.
"If we just take the child into the programme, we know we cannot change their diet so it must be a family approach.
"We are working with schools and the local authority and it is good we keep an open mind at the moment."
The scheme is being modelled on MEND, a free after-school project, which has helped children lose weight around the UK since 2002.
Latest figures suggest that more than 20 per cent of children aged four and five are obese and 32pc of 10 and 11 year olds were found to be overweight.
Heidi Reid, a governor at Bollington St John’s School, backed the idea but added a note of caution.
"I don’t know if parents would feel it is dictatorial to get a letter saying you have a child who is fat," she said.
"But anything that gets kids exercising must be a good thing. There is no real obesity problem at our school because most of the children walk to school.
"It should be open-to-all as one of the after-school activities that schools run anyway."
Councillor Graham Evans, a governor at Tytherington High School, said he hoped the scheme would not involve too much extra work for the schools themselves.
"Some children are at serious risk of ill health due to obesity," he said.
"But how would you feel if you got a letter saying your child has got a weight problem? – it could be seen as a bit nanny state."
According to Gill O’Hare, Macclesfield Council sports development manager, the council already runs weight management services within leisure centres that people can opt in and out of.
"The whole of the country and across the world, there is a problem with weight," she said.
"Maybe the Olympics will help us in getting the message across about exercising. Beijing can be a major kickstart."
The government has told schools to send letters home to parents of overweight pupils, believing too many do not realise their children have a weight problem.
