Why are more children still in nappies when they start school?

Analysis: A ‘nappy changer’ has been recruited in a Walsall school as some young pupils are not toilet-trained

For many parents, potty training takes up time they do not have (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Education professionals have been warning for several years of the rising number of children who require potty training at an older age. But now the problem appears to have reached a crisis point.

An infant school in the West Midlands town of Walsall has felt it necessary to employ a “nappy changer” to meet the needs of five-year-olds arriving at the school gates unable to use a toilet, a councillor has revealed.

At a time when school budgets are tight – and teaching assistants are being cut left, right and centre – the employment of a designated staff member to deal with toilet training highlights just how bad the situation has become.