A Scottish nursery nurse has been struck off after racially abusing a toddler in her care and calling them a “terrorist” and a “bomber”.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) ruled that Nikki Alexander had committed misconduct in June and July 2015 while working for the Busy Bees nursery in Edinburgh.
She was accused of swearing at children and causing one to hit their head.
The body said Ms Alexander had displayed “a pattern of concerning behaviour” which put children at risk.
In one incident, on 29 June, 2015, Ms Alexander placed a child who was under the age of two “at risk of harm” by grabbing their arm and pulling on it, causing them to fall backward and bang their head.
The following month she was said to have shouted and sworn at several children, all aged under two years, and in one case referred to a toddler as a “bomber” and a “terrorist”, saying words to the effect of “go away and bomb somewhere else” and “go away you terrorist”.
The SSSC ruled that in doing so Ms Alexander had racially abused the child and placed them at risk of harm.
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She was removed from the register of Practitioners in a Day Care of Children Services as of 15 July 2016.
In a written judgement, the body’s conduct subcommittee said: “Abusive behaviour by a social service worker, such as calling service users names, swearing at them, shouting at them and pulling them in a way to cause them to fall, is a breach of trust and confidence for social service users.
“Grabbing a service user by the arm and pulling them in such a way that made them fall over and bang their head constitutes physically abusive behaviour towards a young child, putting the child at risk of physical and emotional harm.
“Using discriminatory language is demeaning and devaluing towards the child and caused, or was likely to cause, embarrassment, humiliation and distress for the child.
“It is behaviour which put a service user at risk of emotional and psychological harm and is behaviour that is incompatible with the behaviour expected of a person registered with SSSC.”
