York's Potty Training Pilot Cuts School-Ready Failures by 43%, as 20 Councils Sign Up to Copy It

A city-wide experiment to help parents toilet-train their children before they start school has produced a sharp improvement in school readiness, and its approach is now set to be adopted across England. York ran the pilot, which combined written guides, parent workshops and extra training for early years staff, and the results have prompted twenty local authorities to commit to launching similar programmes.

According to figures shared exclusively with the BBC, the number of reception pupils in York who arrived at school not fully toilet-trained fell by 43% compared with the previous year. Last September, 148 of the city's 1,364 reception children – about 11% – were recorded as not being toilet-trained. This year that figure dropped to 85 out of 1,374 pupils, or roughly 6%.

The scheme, which began in April, reached families through an unusually broad network of community contacts. Information and offers of support were channelled through GP surgeries, pharmacies, family hubs, schools and nurseries, rather than relying on a single point of contact. Potty training guides were also sent to every household in York with a child due to start reception in September.

The aim was straightforward: that all children should be able to use the toilet independently by the time they begin school, with exceptions made for those with medical issues or special educational needs. The results were drawn from all 55 mainstream primary schools across the city.

Parents have welcomed the additional help. Lucy, whose daughter starts reception next year, said she had spotted drop-in potty training sessions at her local children's centre and described the idea as a really good one. She said it was important that children are better prepared for that aspect of starting school.

Natalie, another York mother preparing her daughter Freya for school, said toilet training had been a priority but acknowledged the pressure parents feel. She pointed out that starting school is difficult enough for children, and said it mattered to her that Freya could use the toilet confidently and independently, without having to rely on teachers in a setting where staff already have many children to look after.

Natalie also suggested that the convenience of disposable nappies may explain why some parents delay potty training. She recalled that when she was a child, families used terry towelling nappies that had to be washed and hung out to dry, making disposable alternatives far easier to rely on for longer.

Teachers in the city report a noticeable difference in the classroom. Jo Mould, who teaches reception at Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy in York, said she has seen pupils arrive better prepared this year. She said her class had spent more time teaching in the first three weeks of term than in previous years, because the children came in more settled and better regulated socially and emotionally. She described it as a very positive start to the school year.

The national picture, however, remains a concern. Around one in four children in England and Wales started school last year without being fully toilet-trained, according to the latest research from the children's charity Kindred Squared. Teachers surveyed for that research reported spending more than an hour a day changing nappies – time that would otherwise be devoted to teaching.

That lost classroom time is one reason the issue has moved up the policy agenda. The government described the York pilot's results as encouraging, and confirmed its commitment to 75% of pupils reaching a good level of development by the end of their first year in school by 2028. Toilet training is treated as part of a wider set of school-readiness skills, which also include the ability to listen to and follow instructions.

York councillor Bob Webb said the impact of the scheme had been extremely positive for both schools and families. But he acknowledged there is a possible gap in support for parents between the point when they see health visitors with a toddler and the point when the child arrives at school – a stretch of years in which families can lose contact with formal services.

He said the key to the scheme's success lay in collaboration between health visitors, schools and other community settings, and added that there is always more that could be done at an earlier age. That view is reflected in the decision to expand the model: twenty local authorities across England have now signed up to adopt the approach, which was developed by Kindred Squared.

The expansion means the York experiment will serve as a template for councils elsewhere seeking to reduce the number of children who begin reception unable to manage their own toileting. The model's emphasis on early, repeated contact with families through trusted local settings – rather than a single letter or leaflet – appears central to its early results.

For schools, the stakes go beyond hygiene. Pupils who are not toilet-trained often need one-to-one adult support, which pulls staff away from whole-class teaching and can unsettle the child involved. Teachers like Mould argue that when that barrier is removed, children settle faster and more learning takes place from the very first weeks of term.

For parents, the pilot offers reassurance as well as practical guidance, though it also touches a sensitive nerve. Toilet training is a milestone that families approach at different speeds, and advice can feel contradictory. Natalie's comments reflect a common tension: wanting a child to be independent, while resisting the sense that parents are being judged for the timing of a developmental step.

With twenty councils now preparing to follow York's lead, the coming school years will test whether a city-level pilot can be reproduced at greater scale. The early evidence from York suggests that coordinated, community-based support can shift outcomes measurably – and that the benefits are felt not only by children and parents, but by the teachers waiting to welcome them into reception.