Nursery World - Editor's view (14)

With tension still running high in Iraq and elsewhere around the world, early years practitioners are seeing the knock-on effects in racist incidents affecting the children in their care and in the wider community. So it is more important than ever for staff in nurseries and other settings to provide support for the families they work with and to help children appreciate the UK's multiracial society.

So it is more important than ever for staff in nurseries and other settings to provide support for the families they work with and to help children appreciate the UK's multiracial society.

This week's Special Report, 'Tense times' (pages 10-11), has lots of advice and information to help you deal with prejudice.

And our 8-page pull-out 'All About... Supporting Children New to English'

(pages 15-22) provides an invaluable guide for those working with bi-lingual and multi-lingual children. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that around 3 million people in Britain speak a language additional to English, and nearly all practitioners will come into contact with children whose first language is not English.

The language theme continues in the latest article in our 'Caring for under-threes' series (pages 12-13), with some great suggestions for easy to assemble resources and activities to help foster communication in babies and toddlers.