Next week is Lucas’s (3.5 years) and Kira’s (14 months) last day with Katharine and Neil as we are moving back to Ireland. Although we are looking forward to relocating back home, it is still sad to know that our kids are not going to play in Katharine’s kids anymore.

Lucas was briefly in a local creche but it wasn’t really suiting us. We had heard good things about Katharine’s so when we hear of a place, we moved Lucas to Katharine and Neil’s care in December 2019. This was the best decision ever as things changed for the better very quickly. We all instantly stopped getting sick as frequently as we used to, and I felt that Lucas was much happier, well-looked after and well-fed. It was very impressive to collect my son in clean clothes at the end of the day, Katharine barely ever changed his clothes. I am not sure how she was able to keep him so clean during the day, I am not able to do it at home.

Katharine and Neil really know both of my kids and any problems are always communicated on a regular basis. Katharine quickly picks up anything out of the norm (e.g. sickness, pain, strange behaviour) which I very much appreciate. As regards sickness, there is a very strict policy that after two episodes of diarrhoea, a child is excluded from the setting for 48 hours. It was not always easy for us as we do not have any family in the UK, but myself and my husband managed to work from home when it was necessarily.

A typical day is very structured in Katharine’s. She organises a lot of activities e.g. baking, playing with sand, ice, painting, dancing etc. Last summer, all the kids were chilling in the swimming pool during the hottest days. Katharine also rented a soft play last year and the kids were absolutely delighted about it: I picked up a very tire but happy Lucas that day. Lucas used to bring some home-made snacks regularly (chocolate brownie, flapjack, biscuits) which were eaten by his parents (before he learnt what sweets are).

Katharine and Neil have a large back garden with swings, trampoline, little tikes cars, sand pit, balance bikes etc. and kids play outside whenever the weather allows. Katharine is usually taking a lot of photos and uploads them to her protected Facebook group. It is great to see your child interacting with others and enjoying the day.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication