It’s time to take action on school readiness

Too many children are not school ready before they start school – it’s time for a collaborative compassionate approach to support families, explains Siân Wicks, CEO of ERIC, The Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity.

Large numbers of children are entering reception class unable to meet developmental milestones, according to Kindred Squared’s School Readiness Survey 2025, with teachers reporting that 36% of children struggle to play/share with other children, 34% don’t know how to listen/respond to a simple instruction, and a quarter 25% are not toilet trained. We receive hundreds of calls from families reaching out for toilet training advice from ERIC.

We were disappointed to see that there has not been any improvement in the number of children starting school not toilet trained since last year’s survey.

The government has set a target to ensure 75% of children are ‘school-ready’ by 2028. We’re collaborating with the Department for Education to provide toilet training guidance for early years settings – link here. We also provide training for the NHS and provide a free helpline and resources via our website for families.

Children’s needs are front and centre at ERIC, and we are well positioned to support any interventions to make sure children are properly toilet trained before starting school.

A greater need for support

It’s clear that there needs to be more support available for parents, particularly those without familial networks to rely on, those who are working and struggling to balance caring for their children, those whose children have additional needs, or those who may have an undiagnosed bowel or bladder condition.

As a charity, ERIC is passionate about improving children’s bowel and bladder health. We offer information and support to families and work in partnership with education, health and social care professionals to improve outcomes for children.

What is ERIC doing?

Families often find ERIC online or are signposted to our services by early years settings. Demand for information and advice has never been higher.

Over the last 5 years, the volume of calls received by our helpline has increased by 215% (from 1900 calls in the year to September 2019, to 5987 calls in the year to September 2024).

Last year we launched an intervention campaign called Toilet Train, which was aimed at families whose children were due to start school in September and weren’t yet toilet trained. Almost 3000 families signed up to receive advice.

This year we’re making it even bigger and will be relaunching the campaign by reaching out to early years settings and schools, sending out advice and information to coincide with primary school places being given out in March and April.

We hope to be able to support many more families through this process and spread the message that toilet training isn’t something you should try and do in isolation over 3 days, as so many online sources would have you believe. It’s a process that you can start early and do over time before starting school, and there is support and advice available.

Support, not shame

Currently 1 in 9 children in the UK is living with a bowel or bladder condition. Many of these conditions are worsened by the fact that families either find it hard to talk about, or are unable to access support in time. Too many children and young people are suffering in silence, as continence issues remain a taboo subject.

At ERIC, we believe those with continence difficulties should be able to live free of shame or stigma, and that wee and poo are things we should be able to talk about.

It’s time for schools, authorities, the health service and charities like ours to rally together and help improve outcomes for children, and ERIC is ready for that challenge.

If you know of anyone who is struggling with toilet training, our helpline is here to offer support. The lines are very busy at the moment, but if you complete a web form, one of our continence experts will come back to you when they can: eric.org.uk/helpline-enquiry-form/