MORE than a quarter of 10- and 11-year-olds in Dorset schools are overweight or obese, county council research has revealed.

And shockingly 21 per cent of the county's four- and five- year-olds are already falling into the same category.

The figures will be seized upon by those who believe children are not doing enough exercise, and by those who share chef Jamie Oliver's concern about the lack of healthy school meals.

The findings come from a country-wide voluntary survey of height and weight of school children carried out from 2005 to 2006. It will form the basis of the new National Childhood Obesity Database.

But Dorset's youngsters are still in better shape than the rest of the nation, where almost a third of 10- and 11-year-olds, and more than 22 per cent of four- and five-year-olds, are overweight or obese.

The study revealed by Dorset County Council, in which more than 6,200 children took part, shows Purbeck had the lowest proportion of obese children in the county in both age groups.

Weymouth and Portland fared worst for overweight children in the younger category, while Christchurch had the highest proportion of overweight children between 10 and 11.

In Bournemouth and Poole, a similar study for the Primary Care Trust has found that one in 10 children are overweight aged 12 and a further seven per cent are obese. Three per cent were obese at nursery school age.

Bournemouth councillor Claire Smith, cabinet member for children's services, said: "This is a very serious problem. We need to be stricter and stop killing our children with kindness."

Rebecca Kendall, Dorset Primary Care Trust's dietician for obesity, said the figures reflected obesity levels in adults. She added: "While rates are lower than the national average for children and trends for adult obesity are about the same as the national figures, they still represent a significant threat to the health of a large number of adults and children.

"There are many projects under way for people who are concerned about their weight which they can access via their GP. "

Sam Leonard, head of dietetics at Bournemouth and Poole PCT and Poole Hospital said: "The number of referrals of overweight children is going up, but what is more noticeable is how much more overweight these children are. We are now seeing children at the very top of the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale.

"Dieticians are working on skilling-up other health professionals so everybody is more aware and better able to deal with the problem."

She added: "In Poole we are taking a family-based approach. When children are referred for a 10-week programme we encourage a parent to attend with their child and be weighed with them. We encourage them to look at the whole family's diet."

In Dorset, excluding Bournemouth and Poole, just 14 out of 137 mainstream primary schools offer hot school meals. In Poole, four of the 14 primary and first schools provide hot meals.