Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average height was for state school pupils in (a) reception and (b) year six in each academic year since 2005-06; what the average height was for state school pupils in each ethnic group in those academic years in that period; and how many state school pupils were in each ethnic group in those academic years in that period.

The height of state school pupils in Reception and Year 6 is measured in the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). The following table shows the average height in centimetres of boys and girls aged five and 11 years old, in the academic years from 2008 to 2024:

Source: data is from the NCMP, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/obesity-profile-november-2024-update

Height data has not been published for the years 2005 to 2008. Height data by ethnic group of pupil is not available, but is due to be published by the Department on 4 February 2025, and will be available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/obesity-profile-february-2025-update

The Department for Education publishes information on the number of state school pupils by ethnicity. This information can be found in the Schools, pupils, and their characteristics publication on GOV.UK website, which is based on January school census data. Statistics from May 2010 onwards are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers

Data is not published for Reception and Year 6 children specifically. Statistics from 2005 to 2009 are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupil-and-their-characteristics-2002-to-2009-data