Crisp-ban head insists: I’m not the food police
A head teacher has banned crisps from lunchboxes following alarming figures showing almost one in five Year 6 pupils in Maidstone are classed as obese.
Chasey Crawford-Usher, in charge of Wateringbury Primary School, is now only allowing salty snacks to be brought in one day a week.
It comes after new figures released from Public Health England reveal 16% of Year 6 pupils around the borough were declared obese between April 2016 and March 2017, while nearly 3% were classified severely obese.
On top of that, 15% of Year 6 children were described as overweight, meaning more than a third of Maidstone’s youngsters were unhealthily overweight as they entered secondary school.
The policy follows a ban on juices at the Bow Road school put in place in 2015. Ms Crawford-Usher told the Kent Messenger: “Just like we insist on no sugary drinks, we’re going to set out crisps only on a Friday.
“I’m not the food police. Parents are responsible ultimately for the health and wellbeing of their children. All I can do is insist when they’re in our school they follow our best guidelines.”
At the school, teachers are encouraged to take pupils out of the classroom three times a week for a 10-minute run, on top of the two hours of physical education required by government.
But Ms Crawford- Usher believes some schools may be cutting that time short, saying: “We have two different PE sessions, both in the afternoon, which makes them difficult to fit in.
“I know that’s a pressure on schools because we have to meet high standards in maths and English and we also have to fit in a lot of requirements in terms of non-core subjects.
“Its tempting for schools to cut back on PE times because they need to keep the pressure on producing the results in maths and English.”
During the last financial year, 190 of Maidstone’s Reception children were declared obese, while over the same period, 266 in Year 6 hit the same unhealthy weight.
Ms Crawford-Usher said: “We do everything for the best interest of the children. If parents kick back, I can only say that I’m trying to set good habits.”