School-starters, key skills and continence - what data tell us.
This topic seems to have been in the news - a lot.
This topic seems to have been in the news - a lot.
I'll warn you before reading that this issue of the First-Aid Room focuses on a very important topic that is increasingly common.
1. Earlier this year, in March, the BBC reported that staff in nurseries in some of the country's most deprived areas were being asked to supervise young children brushing their teeth under a new national toothbrushing programme.
2. At the turn of the New Year, a school in Lincolnshire and its headteacher, Mrs Boothe, were interviewed about the extra lengths they go to for their children, including teeth brushing, financial support and additional clothing.
3. In June 2024, a headteacher remarked on some students' lack of communicative skills and "a range of social issues unrelated to teaching.". The BBC reported, "At the start of Reception in September, eight of the 27 four-year-olds came to school in nappies".
It's clear that a few minutes on Google can produce several articles from schools across the country encountering similar issues with children's skills development - these are only a select few!
So, what does the data tell us, and how is this useful for you?
Medical Tracker's 'intimate care' logs.
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Using Medical Tracker data, we can see that the number of intimate care logs has sharply increased since September 2022.
In 2022, the number of logs totalled just over 4,000 in September alone, compared to over 50,000 for September 2025.
Factors to consider:
- Fewer schools used Medical Tracker in 2022 compared to 2025. Despite this, this does not account for an increase of 1,150% in incidents logged.
- Intimate care logging has been available on Medical Tracker since its inception in 2015. This isn't new functionality that schools can access.
The story behind the data
As reported by the BBC, TeacherTapp, and other news outlets, the scale of this challenge is enormous. It's a national trend that needs to be addressed.
The advantage of having data to substantiate these trends is that we, Medical Tracker, can now highlight the story behind the story.
Aside from the out-of-school factors that have clearly influenced the skills development of young children (for example, the COVID-19 pandemic), increases in incontinence and assistance with toilet habits could reveal more about a child's health than you think. For instance:
➡️ Bladder and bowel habits can be influenced by health conditions, disabilities or psychological issues that can be unknown to teachers, parents, carers and GPs.
➡️ Regular incontinence or assistance with visits to the toilet can impact the mental health of children as they navigate relationship building with their peers in the classroom.
➡️ Tracking incontinence with greater detail may reveal underlying health issues which must be referred and involve additional healthcare professionals; referred too late, and these conditions may worsen.
Tracking continence in children could be a hugely significant tool for schools to support parents/carers and relieve the burden of additional child support.