Sutton and Merton councils have written to headteachers and other early years practitioners, with Sutton warning them that they would be in breach of equal opportunities legislation if they rejected children who are not toilet-trained.
A spokesman for Merton council said, 'We sent out a letter in July after being made aware of concerns among parents that some nurseries had said they could not take children who are not toilet-trained.' The letter, sent to all schools with nursery classes in both the maintained and non-maintained sectors, was from Trevor Cook, head of the council's special needs division, Janet Yerbury, head of child policy and pupil services, and Ruth Dawson, chair of Merton Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.
In Sutton, a letter was sent out just before the start of term from Muriel McIntosh, executive head of parent, pupil and student services at the council. It said, 'There have been several cases recently where schools, pre-schools and LEA out-of-school services have expressed reluctance to admit children who are "in nappies". The fact that a child is not toilet-trained, for whatever reason, cannot be used as a reason to withhold a school/pre-school place, as this clearly contravenes legislation relating to equal opportunities.'
The Sutton letter claimed that in every nursery class in LEA-maintained schools, the ratio of two adults to 26 children 'means there is an additional adult available to attend to the toileting needs of each child'. But this was queried by Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association and owner of two nurseries, who said the trend was to employ classroom assistants 'who are not trained to change nappies'.
She added, 'This problem has been going on for years and is coming to the fore now as the care and education of young children gets more integrated and they enter school at a younger age.'
Mrs Murphy said councils that raised the issue should be congratulated. But she warned, 'It is not enough just to restate the official position that children in nappies must be accepted. There have to be facilities for changing nappies and the trained staff to carry it out. Teachers are trained to teach, not to change nappies.'
She also believed the toileting problem extended to young children out of nappies who have just started school and 'have no idea how to ask to go to the toilet or where the toilets are'.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said, 'No cases of schools refusing to take children in nappies have been brought to our attention.' However, she added that the department would now investigate the issue.