Deena
Childminder in London: Barnet
Female Member since May 2015 Last Updated Jan 2023 Last Login Oct 2024
My Summary
About Me
Hello,
my name is Darina and I'm an Ofsted registered childminder with many years of experience working with young children.
I live in a garden flat in NW London ( NW4- Holders Hill) right next to a lovely park, Windsor Open Space. I provide a small, home from home setting with various daily activities, both indoors and outdoors. We go on daily nature walks, visit playgrounds, nearby animal farm or play in the garden.
When the weather doesn't allow us to go out there are always plenty of activities we do indoors, from music to arts and crafts or messy play.
I follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework to support and encourage children's learning and development to help them achieve the best outcomes.
I promote healthy eating and offer nutritious and balanced home made meals for the children, always making sure they eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
I send daily updates to parents with photos and comments about their child's day, or even short videos.
Over all I offer a true home from home environment where children can play, make friends, laugh and learn, while feeling safe and happy when away from their parents.
If there's anything else you would like to know about me or my setting, feel free to send me a message, I'll be happy to answer your questions.
Thank you for reading,
Darina.
My Experience
Over 15 years of experience caring for children of all ages.
My Qualifications
CACHE Level 3 Award in Preparing to Work in Home Based Childcare (QCF)
Paediatric Infant & Child First Aid Level 3
OFSTED rated GOOD in April 2018.
My Availability
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before School | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Morning | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no |
| Afternoon | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no |
| After School | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Evening | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Overnight | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Last Updated: 05/01/2023 | |||||||
My Fees
- Childminding from £8.50 per hour
My Local Schools
This childminder has not yet informed us whether or not they provide any drop off or pick up services at local schools.
My Ofsted Inspections
The inspection grades below have been obtained from the Ofsted website based upon the registration number the childminder has provided to us. You should verify this information yourself prior to using the childminder.
My Documents
- EU Passport (added 20/06/2024)
Reviews
Below are the latest reviews for Deena. Please note that reviews represent the subjective opinions of other Childcare.co.uk users and not of Childcare.co.uk. Parents must carry out their own checks and references on childcare providers to ensure that they are completely happy before enaging in the use of their services.
Darina is the most wonderful childminder. She looked after my son from for two and a half years. It is hard to believe he was just 10 months when he started and is now a confident and kind boy of three years. In all this time, Darina loved and cared for him in what truly was a home from home.
Darina plans her days with great care. My son had home made, nutritious meals which he really enjoyed. Importantly to me, Darina kept to his routine with a nap after lunchtime. When the time came, Darina was also very supportive with potty training at her house. This routine and regularity certainly contributed to my son’s happiness.
Darina is also extremely creative. My son made a whole host of craft projects, often to celebrate important dates in the calendar. In my home we now have his Chinese New Year lantern, Mother’s Day hand painted cards and Christmas trees he created - the list is endless. Darina also encourages a love of nature: they regularly visit the local farm and park, plant and eat vegetables in her garden, breed butterflies from caterpillars and grow watercress. My son loves being outside and he had plenty of opportunity to do this in her care.
Darina always kept me fully informed about my son’s progress. She kept a beautiful book of his activities (which we now have and treasure in our own home) and would send my daily updates and photos. In these messages, I could see how happy he was and his close friendships with her daughter and the other child in her care.
As said before, Darina is a truly special childminder who will take absolute care of your little one in her own home. I would highly recommend her to all parents looking for someone to care for their children.
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Darina has been looking after our 2yr-old daughter since October 2017. The quality of the care has been outstanding since then and we are very happy by the development achieved by our daughter. Darina’s qualifications / references are readily available. We have a direct communication about activities and receive frequent electronic updates / pictures / artefacts crafted by our daughter which give us peace of mind and enable us to track her progress. From the outset, Darina has been organising a variety of games, activities such as frequent visits to the local farm, gardening to discover nature, cooking or “playdates” with other children of similar ages. All these activities have benefitted our daughter’s sociability and learning. She is genuinely happy to spend Monday – Friday with Darina. One particular activity at which Darina excels is craft, and she has been particularly skilful to help our daughter develop her creative talent in drawing, colouring, painting, collage, etc. These are activities which we have been able to replicate at home and which have brought a lot of pleasure. As parents, we are impressed with the progress of our daughter on dexterity, her mastery of language and the general confidence she displays to tackle new situations / challenges. Our daughter’s rhythm is never neglected: she sleeps regularly and smoothly when at Darina’s. She also has a very balanced diet as evidenced by the pictures and frequent updates we receive.
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Darina is the best childminder I have ever met. She looks after our 3rd child. Always in a good mood, kind, professional, Darina is absolutely "made" to work with little ones.
Our daughter loves her and asks regularly to go back to her house. There she learns English, she dances, she cooks, she sings... But Darina also brings the children outside every day to the park, the library, the farm,... there is always plenty of things to do and I always got a picture of it !
We will miss her a lot, definitely !
Highly recommended !
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