York school children benefit from successful toilet training initiative
Groundbreaking scheme sees significant improvement in school readiness
The number of children starting school in York without being toilet trained has almost halved this year, following an innovative pilot programme aimed at helping families toilet train their children before starting Reception.
City of York Council collaborated with the national charitable foundation, Kindred Squared, to support families through this developmental milestone as part of the York's Best Start in Life initiative.
The pilot brought together schools, health professionals, and community partners to set citywide expectations, aiming to ensure children are ready to learn without the need for nappies, preventing delayed learning issues.
New data has shown a 42% improvement: last year, 148 children were not toilet trained upon starting school compared to 85 this year.
Other councils across the UK are now considering replicating York's pilot project.
A citywide campaign launched in April involved distributing The Potty Training Guide and Starting Reception leaflet to approximately 1,700 families alongside their school place offers.
GPs, pharmacies, schools, and charities joined forces to provide online information, parent drop-in sessions, and staff training workshops.
Major community campaigns spread the toilet training message via posters and postcards across 56 pharmacies, 11 GP surgeries, and six community hubs.
Parents could attend workshops at locations such as Clifton SEND Central and Hobmoor Primary School.
Practitioner training for teachers and nursery staff also helped implement a guide developed by York's health visiting team and consultant Jill Webb of Families First.
Cllr Bob Webb, York City Council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, noted, “These results show the positive impact the campaign has had in York. Behind each data set are real success stories… I’d like to thank parents, schools, childcare and health professionals for their support.”
Kindred Squared’s Chief Executive Felicity Gillespie added, “These impressive results are making such a huge difference… our annual school readiness surveys show teachers have lost significant teaching time helping non-toilet trained children, but now York’s targeted message proves community support can bring real progress.”
Gail Brown, CEO of Ebor Academy Trust, also commended the initiative’s positive classroom impact.