Children will only be allowed water or milk on the school drinks menu as part of a campaign to tackle obesity.

Thirty primary schools in Knowsley are taking part in a healthy schools programme, run by the council and the school meals service, which will see a variety of changes to help children stay healthy.

Recent NHS data found that the Merseyside borough had the highest proportion of obese and overweight 10-11 year olds in England.

Colin Richardson, headteacher of Westvale Primary School in Kirkby, who joined the initiative, said children were “responding well” to the changes.

Mr Richardson said the children had adapted to drinking only milk and water and these changes were just one of many.

he said BBC Radio Merseyside: “Children need to have opportunities to develop their health and well-being and then we can educate them so that we think about exercise, think about the amount of sugar that they consume.”

The school also encourages students to walk or cycle to school and even has a smoothie maker that can only be used with walking power.

Healthier meals were also introduced, including more varieties of fruit and fewer desserts.

“We notice that after lunchtime they get a bit more tired and so with the afternoon lessons we really need to start with a bit of a spring in our step so we’ll do things like daily miles, bits of exercise on the way to input, just to get them moving, to energize them,” Mr Richardson said.

In the data, more than 30% of 10-11 year olds were defined as obese, with a further 14.9% of children defined as overweight, meaning almost half (45.6%) of them are either obese or overweight.

Knowsley also has one of the highest rates of obese and overweight foster-age children in the country.

More than 13% of four- and five-year-olds were defined as obese in the 2023/24 academic year and a further 15.3% were identified as overweight.

According to NHS health advice, obesity can have a seriously damaging impact on physical and mental health and can even shorten a person’s life expectancy.

Dr. Knowsley Director of Public Health Sarah McNulty said the programme, which she hopes will expand to secondary schools, is about giving children healthier options.

“We want to make sure that what they have to eat at school is as nutritious as possible,” she said.

“If you’re overweight or obese as a child, you’re much more likely to stay overweight or obese into adulthood, and then you start to accumulate a higher risk of many long-term conditions.

“If you start life at a healthier weight, you’re much more likely to maintain a healthier weight throughout adulthood.”

Additional reporting by Elliot Jessett, Local Democracy Reporting Service.