Bridging the gap

When Sister Joseph Harding opened the Caribbean Day Nursery in the north London borough of Hackney in 1992, parents came from up to 15 miles away to enrol their children there. 'They came to get a Caribbean nursery, run by a black person, because they wanted a home-from-home atmosphere,' she says. 'One parent who was doing a psychology degree told me she'd looked at nurseries where 90 per cent of the children were black, but all the staff were white. She thought that would be damaging for her child.'

Nearly a decade later, things have moved on but the Caribbean nursery is still offering full-time childcare for 15 children, for 80 per week. Sister Joseph, who was born in Jamaica but lived in Liberia in Africa for several years, offers a setting that is culturally familiar to families of both African and Caribbean origin. 'The black community have their own way of behaving with and speaking to the children at home,' she says. 'The children come here and find similar attitudes and mannerisms that they would not find in a nursery run by white people. For young children it gives continuity, because even using English there can be a language barrier. We have white staff as well - we want to prepare children for the real world.'