York pilots potty-training support as school readiness concerns grow

City of York Council has started sending potty-training leaflets with primary school offer letters to 1,700 families, part of a pilot aimed at easing a school readiness problem that teachers say is growing sharper by the year. The programme also included parent workshops, extra training for teachers and nursery staff, and information in pharmacies, GP surgeries and community hubs.

The move comes as schools are being asked to manage children arriving in reception without basic communication and toileting skills. A school readiness survey by the charity Kindred2, cited by the Institute of Health Visiting, found that one in four children starting reception in England and Wales were not toilet trained. The same survey said 90% of school staff had at least one child in a 2023 reception class who was not toilet trained, while staff were spending an average of 2.5 hours a day away from teaching to support children who were not school-ready.

The pressures are not just educational. When teachers are pulled into toileting support, time disappears from reading, speech, play and early learning, and schools end up absorbing work that sits uneasily between home life, childcare and health services. The National Education Union has said staff should not be expected to potty-train children, and members are seeing increasing numbers of four- and five-year-olds starting school without being potty-trained.

Official guidance from the Department for Education says most children are ready to start toilet training from around 18 months. It adds that introducing a potty can begin as young as 6 months, and that children should stop using nappies between 18 and 30 months for bowel and bladder health. That guidance has taken on new weight as councils, teachers and charities all report a widening readiness gap before the first day of school.

ERIC, The Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity, has launched its Toilet Train campaign to help families prepare children for school. Foundation Years and local council resources have also recently published free posters, handouts and story materials for parents, part of a broader effort to shift support earlier, before reception teachers inherit problems that began long before the school gate.