A Nottinghamshire primary school headteacher said some children start school unable to say their own names, and half of pupils in reception and nursery are not toilet-trained.
The head - who has remained anonymous - also said four-year-old pupils communicated their need for a drink by saying "bot-bot", and that the school has had to employ care workers just to change nappies. It comes as The Times Education Commission found British education is "failing on every measure", with 59 percent of parents with school-aged children believing schools do not prepare pupils for life, while 60 percent feel it does not prepare them for work.
Polling also found the majority of parents (65 percent) think the current school system places too much emphasis on exams, with over half (56 percent) stating that this was bad for pupil mental health, in a national poll of 1,993 parents in April 2021-22. The commission also heard reports of "three-year-olds unable to walk properly because their muscles had not developed after spending days sitting in front of the television and five-year-olds speaking with an American accent, mimicking the cartoon characters they had been watching".
