Nursery World - Smile, please!

Children's teeth need good care from the moment they emerge and early years practitioners can support this in the nursery and by advising parents, says Clare Walters On a table in the nursery class of Oliver Goldsmith's Primary School in London are some cartons of milk and a jug of water. There's no fruit juice on offer, but each child has fresh fruit every day.

On a table in the nursery class of Oliver Goldsmith's Primary School in London are some cartons of milk and a jug of water. There's no fruit juice on offer, but each child has fresh fruit every day.

Nursery teacher Maria Ellery explains that this is to encourage the children to eat and drink healthily. 'Because the school lies within the Brunswick Sure Start area of Southwark we have an allowance of half a piece of fruit per child per day,' she says. 'The selection is wide, from satsumas to strawberries. And last summer we had a special healthy eating and oral health week where the children tried lots of fun activities. They got a lot out of the experience and are still talking about cleaning their teeth even now.'

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