Twenty-two children who began primary school reception classes in September 2025 were not toilet trained, the House of Keys has been told this week.

Minister for Education, Sport and Culture Daphne Caine confirmed the figure during Tuesday’s sitting in response to a question from Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse.

The number excludes pupils attending specialist provision centres (SPCs) and represents around 3.25% of the 676-strong reception intake.

Mr Moorhouse asked the Minister how many children starting reception in department schools that year were not toilet trained.

Responding, Mrs Caine said: ‘Excluding children who attend a specialist provision centre, the number of children starting reception in September 2025 who were not toilet trained was 22.’

The issue of toileting readiness has been highlighted in the UK in recent years, with some reports suggesting higher numbers of pupils entering school without full independence in this area.

Mr Moorhouse questioned what mechanisms were in place to support families where children have experienced trauma or difficulties affecting toileting.

Mrs Caine told the chamber: ‘Parents can access support through their preschool check with a health visitor.’

She added that where trauma impacting toileting is shared with a school, ‘support can be accessed through the school nurse and the school, parents and school nurse would work together to provide a support plan for the child.’

The Minister also confirmed that while the figure excludes children in specialist provision centres (SPC), some of the 22 pupils may be children with additional support needs who are not registered in an SPC.

Questions were also raised about the distribution of these pupils across the island’s schools, but Mrs Caine said a breakdown by school was not available.

The Department had collected the information from all schools, but she did not identify whether certain schools were more affected than others.

Asked whether the figure was manageable, Mrs Caine said: ‘In terms of manageable, the number on roll, excluding the SPCs, was 676 therefore the 22 represents 3.25% of the reception population. And schools are very good at managing the students who come into their schools.’

The discussion also touched on the wider context of registration processes for children entering school.

While some members sought clarification on how schools assess individual needs during registration, Mrs Caine emphasised that the figure provided related specifically to the wider reception population, excluding specialist provision centres.

It comes as a third of teachers have at least five children in their school's reception class who need help with going to the toilet, a survey of more than 1,000 primary school teachers in England suggests.

Nine in 10 who responded to the Teacher Tapp survey had seen a decrease in speech and language abilities among new starters over the past two years.

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