Teresa has looked after my son (Ben) for the last 14 months, from shortly after his first birthday, 4 days per week after I returned to work. We originally found Teresa as temporary 6-week cover while we waited for a nursery place for Ben but he settled so well with her (and not very well at nursery), and my husband and I were also much happier with the love and care he was getting and the range of activities with Teresa that we terminated his nursery place and moved him to full time with her. She was also a huge support to me while I went through the emotions (and tiredness!) of returning to work.

Teresa does a range of activities with Ben every week from regular classes and softplays to special outings (e.g. the zoo last week!). Importantly for us, he gets a lot of outside time in local parks and Teresa's garden - we don't have any outside space in our flat. Ben has made lots of friends with the other children Teresa looks after and also through her childminder friend network - he talks about them all a lot which is lovely for us to hear.

Teresa creates the most wonderful Profile books. We will genuinely treasure them forever and my husband and I love looking through at the pictures and little stories from the activities they do together. She also takes the time to have regular development reviews with us so that we can discuss any concerns and check on his progress.

She has always been really flexible, babysitting on a number of occasions and allowing us to do some late pickups every so often. She's always really responsive when we get in touch with her and keeps us updated through her app with lots of pictures and information about where they are and food, sleep, toilet etc so we feel connected at all times.

The thing that has by far exceeded my expectations of what I thought a childminder would do, is how she has made Ben a part of her family. Teresa and her boys give Ben so much love and affection and he absolutely adores all three of them, talking about them a lot and telling me that he loves and misses them. I will be forever grateful for how she has loved and cared for my little boy over the last year and a bit - I couldn't have hoped for more.

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• Communication