Many Children Are Starting School In Nappies


by Mother & Baby Team |
Updated on

Just weeks after Ofsted issued a ten point checklist that children have to meet before starting school, it’s emerged how many five year olds haven’t been potty training properly

Ofsted’ first ten-point checklist requires that all children are ‘potty trained and able to use the loo’ before starting school – a requirement that isn’t yet being met, new research has shown.

A report conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research and commissioned by Sky News Investigation has found that many five-year-old school children are still wearing nappies.

Some 602 primary school teachers around the country were asked to complete a survey showing just how many of their pupils were still wearing nappies and almost one in 10 of the senior staff polled said a child aged between five and seven had worn a nappy to school in the past year. Classroom teachers said this figure was five per cent.

And it’s not just younger school children still wearing nappies. The investigation showed that a shocking number of older children without medical problems – up to age 11 – still don’t know how to use the toilet properly.

‘We're seeing more and more children wearing nappies,’ says Anne-Marie Middleton, a deputy head from Dover. ‘We find that more and more children have an issue with toilet (training) further up the school.’

If you need help with potty training, take a look at the 10 steps for success.

Do you think it’s fair to ask that all children should be potty trained before starting school? Let us know in the comments box below.

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