Good day, nursery children from the latest migrant group to Britain are saying. Annette Rawstrone finds out what kind of greeting they are getting in return.
Unprecedented numbers of Eastern Europeans have come to the UK since joining the European Union (EU) in 2004. The Government predicted 15,000 people a year entering from the eight new EU member countries, but it approved more than 400,000 work applications between May 2004 and June 2006. More than half of these people are from Poland and many have brought children with them. Around 27,000 UK child benefit applications have already been approved.
Along with the Government statisticians taken by surprise, schools and nurseries have been taken unaware, especially in areas where staff previously had little experience of including ethnically diverse children. Peter Baldock, of the Cultural Mentoring Service, acknowledges that such an influx is a new issue for many settings. But it is one that will not go away, especially now that Bulgaria and Romania have also joined the EU this year.
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