L Bears
Childminder in Wolverhampton
Usually responds within 2 hours
Female Member since Jul 2016 Last Updated Sep 2024 Last Login 14 Nov 2024
My Summary
About Me
Hello! I'm Clare and I run Little Bears childminding with my assistant, Coco.
As a larger childcare setting we operate like a micro nursery in a home-from-home environment. We have up to 9 children here daily and are able to seperate into smaller groups by age throughout the day to ensure each child accesses nurturing and learning opportunities that are specifically catered to them.
Little Bears is a curiosity approach and hygge inspired setting, which focuses on creating an atmosphere of warmth, wellbeing and happiness, where children are motivated to learn through play. We offer a nature-based curriculum, with child-led learning at our core. Our learning is delivered through carefully planned sensory, loose parts and nature play, based around the EYFS and 'Development Matters'.
We offer a preschool education for children aged 3yrs+
I live in the Goldthorn Park area of Wolverhampton with my daughter, husband, our 4 cats and our golden retriever, Betty. We live in a smoke-free, 4 bedroom house with a spacious garden, which includes a creative area, climbing frame, wendy house, sand pit, water wall, mud kitchen and lawn. We have a dedicated playroom and a separate space for naps. We have CCTV surrounding all sides of our house.
My Experience
Before Little Bears, I worked in a large primary school for 8 years, mostly within the nursery (within a class of 50 children) but I also have experience of working with children up to 11 years old. I have a lot of experience of working with SEND children, including being the one-to-one support for a child with Down's Syndrome and also for other children with Autism. I am extremely experienced with using the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum for planning, observing and assessing.
I have newborn experience and also medical care experience from looking after my own daughter, who was premature and needed medical assistance for 18months.
Coco, has been my assistant for 2years and has just completed a course to become a childminder..
My Qualifications
I am Ofsted registered and we received a 'GOOD' grade in Summer 2022 - inspection available to see on request.
I also have the following qualifications:
* Level 3 Home-based Childcare (HBCA)
* Level 4 Child Psychology
* Level 3 Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools
* Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene (Pacey)
* Paediatric First Aid (Tigerlily)
* Safeguarding Children (Pacey)
* Makaton - enhanced
* PECs Level 1
(All staff hold Childcare Qualifications, Paediatric First Aid and Safeguarding certificates)
As a team, we regularly have training on all Safeguarding issues, in addition to regular Early Years and curriculum training.
My Availability
Little Bears is full.
* we offer all-year or term-time only contracts.
* a variety of sessions are available, starting at £30 for mornings
* minimum contract is 2 sessions per week (full or part days)
* we do not charge during holidays.
* we offer funded spaces for all eligible children aged 9months+ (subject to availability)
* we are closed on Fridays
Please feel free to contact me to discuss your childcare requirements.
*****
Nb. We are an on-site childcare setting, like a nursery, and so we do NOT offer school drop offs, after school care, occasional babysitting, holiday only care, short-term contracts, evenings or weekends.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before School | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| Morning | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| Afternoon | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| After School | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| Evening | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Overnight | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Last Updated: 25/09/2024 | |||||||
My Fees
- Childminding from £5.26 per hour
Full day - £50 (7.30 to 5)
Other sessions available too.
Lunch, snacks, drinks and wipes will be provided free of charge. Parents will need to provide formula and nappies if required.
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
- Ofsted Certificate (added 01/12/2020)
- DBS Check (added 18/08/2020)
- Training Certificate: NCFE Level 3 Award - Home Based Childcare (added 18/08/2020)
- First Aid Certificate: Full Paediatric First Aid (added 18/08/2020)
Reviews
Below are the latest reviews for L Bears. 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.
My little boy has loved going to Clare and the being part of the group for the last 16months- only leaving for full time nursery- we’re all very sad at this!!
Having a lockdown baby meant everything socially and separation from family has been tricky to say the least but the trust and happiness my little one felt at Clare’s has helped him develop so much. Our little one has delayed speech and they have worked with us to help him learn and nothing has been too much trouble. I absolutely love the ethos and set up Clare has created for the little ones - the playroom is a dream for little ones and is awash with natural tactile resources- something that I was really keen to see being used in his next journey into school nursery. As soon as we went to visit we knew it was the absolute perfect choice for both ourselves and our little one. The assistants are just as amazing and our little one always comes out happy to chat about his day and who he’s been playing with. Clare is amazing she understands our child and our needs perfectly, and receiving photos of his daily antics is perfect to feel part of his day. We can’t recommend Clare and her team enough, they are so thoughtful and friendly we really have loved being part of their world as much as they’re part of ours.
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I found Little Bears by chance, and never looked back. As soon as I met Clare I knew this would be the right setting for my child. Since starting at LB’s there have been two new assistants who clearly share the same passion as Clare and each day, my little one runs in smiling ready for her day with them. Activities are themed each week, with updates by photo and daily (verbal) reports on their day (food/naps/activities/nappies etc). A home from home setting was important for me, and this is exactly what is delivered. I cannot fault the care provided at LB’s.
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Our son started with Clare in September after an unsuccessful settling in at an alternative childcare setting. Clare is warm and friendly, and provides a home from home setting that has a real family feel. After never spending any time away from us, our little boy settled in quickly and reaches out for Clare and both assistants when he gets dropped off, and is always smiling on collection.
The childcare Clare provides goes over and above what you would expect from a run of the mill childcare setting. Clare offers so much more than just a tick sheet at the end of the day or a sheet of paper to stick on the fridge, she offers her full undivided devotion to every child in her care. Our little boy is very sensitive and for him to have formed such a strong bond is proof that clare and her assistants have spent time to nurture their relationship.
From a developmental perspective, in 2 short months we can clearly see an improvement in speech, movement and independent play. We are so happy we found Clare and she has made an what we were expecting to be an awful process incredibly easy.
We are provided with full updates at the end of every day, along with pictures of what our son has been up to regularly throughout his week. Me and my partner much prefer the fact that they are enjoying the activities and getting stuck in than having a phone whipped out every hour to satisfy our needs.
In summary, it is clear from our sons sheer love for Little Bears that he is treated as a member of the family. Furthermore, he is getting the benefit of being in an environment that is tailored to his developmental progress, giving him the opportunity to flourish and grow and that is exactly what we were looking for from a childcare provider.
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Our twins have been with Clare for a few years now, they have developed so fast under her guidance! Nothing is too much and can not praise her enough for the care and attention she provides to our little ones! There really is no one else better! We are regularly updated on all the fun activities she plans with the little ones! I couldn’t imagine a better person for our own little bears! She is fab! We recommend her to anyone !!
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Our child attended little bears for 7 months until very recently when we felt the need to remove them for reasons that have included:
- No reports/evidence/updates on what our child has achieved or learnt during his time with little bears
- Infrequent photos that usually had to be requested. Always the same setting and activity when we did receive them
- The activities are not varied and in 7 months we only received one schedule for the upcoming month ( which funnily enough was when the first ofsted was happening ) No activities or projects were documented nor brought home
- We witnessed a growing setting with a change of assistants in less then 7 months!
- Children are not allowed a biscuit/treat 'unless they eat all their fruit/vegetables’
- No record of what our child had eaten/drank or if they had used the toilet during his time at little bears - I had to ask my two year old what they had eaten for lunch some days as I wasn’t told!
During our child's first day back at little bears after we had handed our notice in for them to leave, he returned home with a full nappy that had not been changed during his four hour session, he was also upset at pick up because he was told he wasn’t allowed a biscuit due to not finishing his lunch - which before this situation I had never heard of this ‘rule’ before - which is cruel and upsetting for a two year old watching others eat a treat and they are ‘not allowed’.
This childminder may look absolutely amazing on the Instagram page, but if you look at the posts how many involve children interaction? Social media can hide a lot of things - don’t believe everything you see online ….
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by
SCB
about
L Bears
on 08/11/2022
Response by
L Bears
on 09/11/2022:
This review was left maliciously by a parent who threatened to leave a bad review if I didn't waive the contract-binding notice period and refund for outstanding sessions. I have emails to prove this and will not tolerate blackmail.
It is completely false and I'm more than happy to discuss the story behind this with any prospective parents.
For a true reflection of Little Bears, please read my other reviews from current parents, some of whom have been a part of Little Bears for two-years. We are a growing business that just received a glowing inspection report from Ofsted in September (where this parent spoke to the inspector and expressed nothing but happiness about the care her child received)
Apologies for this nonsense being on my profile! Thank you 😊
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