A PIONEERING boarding school for overweight and obese children is to open in the Lake District.

Aug 3 2008 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

The live-in school — the first of its kind in the UK — will take youngsters aged 11 to 18 who are at least nine kilos (20lb) over their ideal weight and who have had dieting problems for a year or more.

Set to open in 2011, it will be run by Wellspring Camps, the American weight-loss programme company the Sunday Sun featured two years ago when it opened its first summer “fat camp” for teenagers.

The camps are based at the University of Central Lancashire’s Newton Rigg campus near Penrith, Cumbria, and have proved to be a big success, with dozens of youngsters shedding several stones in weight during their stay.

More than 70 young people aged between 10 and 19 will attend the four to eight-week residential courses this summer, paying up to £6500 for eight weeks.

Meanwhile, the school — expected to be based in or near Penrith at a location yet to be decided — will teach the national curriculum while pupils will also learn food science and weight management.

They will also take part in intense exercise regimes and have their diets regulated to just 1500 calories and 12g of fat per day. Ryan Craig, president of Wellspring and an adviser to the US department of education, said the company had been surprised by the levels of interest in the school from parents and children.

He said: “We engage students and drive home learning with real-world experiences.

“Students receive training in ordering in restaurants, and then we go out for lunch or dinner to see how we do.

“Students also receive hands-on training in grocery stores.” If the Lake District school is successful, Wellspring say they have plans to open more across the UK.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, welcomed news of the school.

He said: “A specialised boarding school could give children the confidence to deal with their weight loss by removing them from the stigmatisation often suffered by overweight youngsters in mainstream education.”