Some schools in Hampshire have put additional PE activity into their weekly timetables, with fears that the Covid-19 lockdowns have left children 'in a much different shape'.
At a Hampshire County Council select committee meeting last week, Cllr Lesley Meenaghan, Conservative representative for Leesland and Town, said schools need to push this as a priority.
She said: ‘Schoolchildren have spent the best part of two years sat staring at a computer screen all day - I really do hope schools are putting things in place to help these young people improve their physical health.
‘Physical health goes hand-in-hand with mental health, so this is a really important issue to tackle.’
A health and wellbeing report published last year found that a third of Year 6 children and a quarter of Year R pupils are considered either overweight or obese.
Some 32 per cent of children were considered ‘physically inactive’ with the report also noting that the Covid-19 pandemic will have played a significant part in this.
Gosport, Havant and Rushmoor (Aldershot and Farnborough) were considered to be the fattest boroughs in Hampshire.
Natalie Smith, the county council's secondary and post-16 education manager, said: 'There are a number of schools across Hampshire that have increased their physical activity with additional exercise through things like yoga or doing the daily mile.
'Children have come back to school in a much different shape to what they were a few years ago, and that's something that is very much at the forefront of headteachers' minds at the moment.'