PRESCHOOL HANDBOOK
Toilet Training Policy Updated and Effective, September 8, 2025
Children enrolled in preschool must be toilet trained before attending preschool. Children must be wearing underwear. A child having accidents daily would not be considered toilet trained. Please note that wearing pull-ups is not considered toilet trained.
Why do children have to be toilet trained before they begin preschool?
• There are strict standards for changing and disposing of wet or soiled diapers/pull-ups and our classrooms are not equipped for this.
• When an adult is busy changing a child's soiled clothing, it is taking away from learning time for all students. And it removes one adult from the direct supervision of an interaction with the rest of the class.
We do understand that even toilet trained children will occasionally have accidents. By definition, accidents are unusual incidents that should happen infrequently. In these instances, the teachers will help the children to change their clothes, encouraging independence as much as possible.
A toilet trained child is a child who can do the following:
• Communicate to teachers that he/she needs to go to the restroom before they need to go.
• Alert him/herself to stop what he/she is doing to go use the bathroom.
• Pull down his/her clothes and get them back up without assistance.
• Wipe him/herself after using the toilet.
• Get on and off the toilet by him/herself.
• Wash and dry hands.
• Postpone going if they must wait for someone who is in the bathroom or if we are away from the classroom.
• Wake up during nap time should they need to use the restroom.
We certainly will ask your child many times throughout the day and before nap time if they need to use the restroom. We also have multiple scheduled bathroom breaks throughout the day where the whole class goes to the restroom.
It is not uncommon for a child who is fully toilet trained to have a setback when he/she is in a new environment. Preschool staff are aware of this and will assist the children when necessary. Please have your child dressed in clothing that he or she can easily manage independently. Please send a complete change of clothes, including shoes, appropriate for the season. These will be left at school in case of accidents and returned at the end of the school year. Parents will be notified through Brightwheel if a child has an accident.
We understand that each child arrives at this milestone differently, Therefore, we will allow 3 weeks from the first day of school for your child to demonstrate accomplishment of this goal. However, if the situation is not manageable within the classroom environment after 3 weeks from the start of school, we will discuss the issue with parents and consider adjustments in attendance of the child at such time.
A child will not be considered toilet trained for our preschool program if the child continues to consistently have toileting accidents after the first 3 weeks of school.
After the first 3 weeks of school, the following policies will be in place for children who have accidents:
• If a child has two accidents in one day the parent will be called to come pick up the child for the remainder of the day.
• If three or more accidents occur during five school days, the child will be switched to half day dismissals (11:45am) for one week.
• If after returning to full days, two or more accidents occur again, the child will be required to stay home for one full week until he or she is completely toilet trained.
• If all of the above accommodations have been attempted and the child continues to have accidents, you will be asked to unroll your child with the understanding that you can either continue to pay tuition to save your spot and return once your child is completely toilet trained, or you can completely unenroll and return the next year.
Please note that this policy is not in place to shame or punish a child or inconvenience primary caregivers. Rather, cleaning accidents in the preschool setting is time consuming, and this time that teachers spend attending to and cleaning accidents is time that they are not spending interacting with children and facilitating the curriculum in a safe manner. This policy is intended to ensure the safety and happiness of children and staff at St. Jude Preschool.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.