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A controversial proposal would see school nurses weighing students to help them maintain a healthy weight.

The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) wants every school-aged child in Australia have access to a registered nurse ‘to provide care and guidance to ensure the maintenance of healthy weight’.

But body advocacy groups have criticised the idea.

As part of its new positon statement the ACN has recommended the normalisation of collecting and discussing height and weight data of all children.

“Nurse-led interventions, which are proven effective in various settings, offer a flexible and cost-effective solution,” Interim ACN CEO, Emeritus Professor Leanne Boyd FACNProfessor Boyd said.

“Supporting nurses with training, resources, and leadership opportunities is crucial to optimise impact in combating childhood obesity. ACN supports policies that ensure every school-aged child has access to a qualified nurse.

“We recommend reforms to prioritise nurse-led care models.”

However, charity organisation The Embrace Collective, said while it’s fully supportive of increasing access to nurses in school, it shouldn’t be done under the guise of better managing you peoples’ weight.

“Weighing children and identifying them as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ can lead to feelings of shame and stigma,” the organisation said in a statement.

“Instead of having the intended effect of motivating them to lose weight and be more ‘healthy’, informing young people of their weight category often has the opposite effect, leading to not only weight gain, but also psychological harm, eating disorders and avoidance of physical activity and healthcare.”

What do you think? Should nurses be weighing children at school? Let us know your opinion in the comments below. 

  • A dietician provides advice and support on nutrition, food and weight; what ongoing resources and supports would a nurse bring to the school around these topics and managing weight. Cooking classes on preparing healthy food, sport classes for being active and encouraging a well balanced and healthy lifestyle each and every day makes sense to me.

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  • We had weigh ins by the child health nurse in kindy and pre primary. It was based off bmi with age added in. My child was classified as overweight. But when I made her older same height and weight low and behold she was a healthy weight. She’s not overweight. But tall for her age.

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  • Nope, traumatising for kids who already are growing and going through puberty.


    • Yep, totally inappropriate especially for the older kids !

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  • I do not support this as I can see problems with children who do not confirm to the idea weight. My youngest daughter who is tall for her age, has a low weight that is managed by our GP. She is a big eater but loves her outdoor life. Her twin brother is average height and looks overweight but is within the range for his age. I would prefer if they need to do this have parents and child’s permission. My grand daughter who is two years younger the my younger two is slightly overweight and really hates anyone mentioning it. with her it might be genetics as it run in her family and they are very active .

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  • I remember being weighed in PDHPE class in front of everyone and having our BMI’s recorded. Over 15 years ago and I am still traumatised.

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  • Absolutely not! Bring back Home Economics to teach healthy cooking skills in schools. Encourage healthy active lifestyles with sports. Don’t fat shame kids when they’re at their most vulnerable and self-conscious.

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  • This is the parents responsibility. We cannot and should not put raising children onto schools.

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  • I think this needs to stay the job of a doctor. More education surrounding healthy eating and fitness should be taught in school to give children life long skills instead.

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  • Hubby said he was weighed by the School Nurse regularly. Not only for health but also for the Football team. He said some kids were large for their age compared to kids the same age so those kids were moved up a level.

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  • It’s a hard topic. I think giving kids more tools to identify healthy choices is a good thing, but it would need to be done in a thought out way.

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  • I definitely think this should be treated as private information. Hard to do at a school.

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  • I don’t think this is a good idea and think it will cause my kids to be more anxious about there weight.

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  • As long as it’s done discreetly and with no negative comments from the people doing it, I think it could be helpful for kids to be healthier

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