Five-year-old children arrive in primary school still in NAPPIES and unable to speak or recognise their own name More than 60 per cent of primary school staff reported increase in number of children wetting or soiling themselves at school Almost one fifth of four-to-five-year-olds could not sound or name the letters of the alphabet Teachers are having to toilet train five-year-old children who come into school in nappies and are unable to say their own name, a report exposing the 'heart-breaking' educational failures in England has warned. More than 60 per cent of primary school staff said they had noticed an increase in the number of children wetting or soiling themselves at school during the past five years, according to a survey quoted in the report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). And staff in some schools said they routinely carried disposable gloves to clean up after pupils who were not potty trained. Behind: The report said some children started school acting as if they were 12 to 18 months old The chairman of the working group that drew up the report, Sir Robin Bosher, he said that one in ten children in each class he had seen was 'so unsociable that they hurt others, adults and other young children'. Education experts who put together the survey for the right-wing think tank said they had been told of children entering primary school at the age of four who 'commonly act as though they are 12 to 18 months old'. They added that 19 per cent of four-to-five-year-olds could not sound or name letters of the alphabet or link sounds to letters, and six per cent of boys did not know English was read from left to right. The report, which looked at education in England between 2007 and 2012, blamed 'shockingly acute disadvantage' in children's home lives that 'stretches the capacity of schools and threatens to place those children at a disadvantage for the rest of their school careers'. The CSJ also warned that pupils from poor white families - particulary white British boys - were in danger of becoming an 'educational underclass' as they slipped further behind children from ethnic minorities. White British boys from the poorest families - already the lowest achievers - are now half as likely as boys from impoverished Chinese or Indian families to get good qualifications and far less likely to succeed than boys from the worst-off black Caribbean or African families. Mark Edwards, the principal of Manston St James Primary Academy in Leeds, said: 'Sometimes I see children arriving at school aged four or five unable to string a sentence together, almost completely unable to speak. I can easily spot which children have not gone to nursery. These children get easily frustrated, explaining why some bite or lash out in the classroom. Janet Cooper, programme manager at Stoke Speaks Out, which tackles language delay in the Staffordshire city, told researchers: 'I believe most parents love their children but do not have the knowledge and skills to promote their development fully. Parents do not always realise the significance of the first three years when the majority of brain development is taking place, and fall foul of marketing of dummies, forward-facing buggies, bottles, TV, game stations, iPods. Many parents opt for what they think is an easy life - putting the child in front of the TV - but do not realise that this will cause them more issues in the long run. It affects disadvantaged children and makes reform urgent.