Toilet Training

We hope that you find the information on this page about toilet training helpful.

At Oldfield Park Pre-school we fully support children who are toilet training. We work with families and children to provide the best support that we can to enable your child to become toilet trained.

Very often children start Pre-school still using nappies or new to using the toilet.

For those who are in nappies we encourage children at nappy changing times to sit on the toilet - we have steps and toilet seats to make children feel secure whilst on the toilet. Very often it is a brief sit down and stand up to start with, we go at the child’s pace and would not sit a child on the toilet if they become upset.

If children are wearing pull-ups we may encourage them to take their shoes off, pull leggings or trousers down, all part of gaining the skills to be independent in self care at a later stage. We then encourage children to pull leggings or trousers back up and try to put shoes on, once their pull-up has been changed.

For newly toilet trained children we take them regularly to the bathroom, and offer help and support where needed - being lifted onto the toilet, and helping with clothing.

We recognise that this is a huge milestone in children’s development , and can cause some worry about toileting accidents, whilst these are a natural part of children’s learning, by knowing our children really well we work with parents to ensure that toilet training is successful.

We want to start toilet training - Where do we start?

Firstly have a chat with your child’s key person - they may also have noticed signs that your child is ready to start toilet training. Their nappy maybe dry for longer periods of time, your child may tell you if they are wet or soiled.

We would recommend starting over a long weekend or a school holiday - that then ensures that children become familiar with recognising the signs and have some success at using the toilet.

We would suggest sending lots of changes of clothes; pants/knickers leggings, trousers, shorts, jogging bottoms, t-shirts/tops and a pair of shoes.

Jogging bottoms/ leggings work well initially as they are easy to pull up and down.

Once you have made the decision to use pants/knickers try not to also use a pull-up or nappy during the day - this then gives mixed signals to children. It may take a while to become dry at night , and you will continue to use pull-up or nappies for a little longer.

Staff will keep you informed of how things are going at pre-school either via our care dairy on our Online learning Journey ‘Tapestry’ or at the end of the day.

More Potty Training Tips can be found by clicking on the link.

Lots of praise for successful use of the toilet, and lots of reassurance if accidents happen.

If you need any further advice or support, please speak to your child’s key person or another staff member.