Andreacm

Words can’t really do justice to the best childmin

I’ve been trying to write a review for Andrea for months now. But every time I began to write, I kept having the same problem: I just couldn’t write something that was good enough to *really* explain that Andrea is the best childminder we could have hoped for.

Like lots of parents, it was really hard for me to find someone I would feel confident leaving my daughter with. I originally started a search for a childminder months earlier - and then I gave up, because I just wasn’t in the right place to leave my child with someone I didn’t know well. But my daughter needed more varied activities than I was able to provide for her, so I resumed my search - and then, when I met Andrea, I knew within a few minutes that she was The One. She has a beautifully calm and engaging manner, and clearly loves her work. Early years care and education aren’t just “work” for Andrea, they’re her *profession*. She has an enormous amount of skill and expertise in early years child development, and she combines that with an incredible talent and aptitude for understanding very young children and their families.

She’s highly intuitive, and works out what the child and parents need to make them feel comfortable and supported during the transition into childcare.

Andrea and her partner Rui work brilliantly as a team for the children. They build proper rapport with each individual child in their care. They get to know each child’s personalities and preferences, and each child’s individual ways of communicating. They help build the children’s confidence in the group, teaching them how to play together as well as independently. Andrea is flexible in her approaches, and there’s no unnecessary rigidity; any rules are necessary, clear and consistent, and they’re maintained with kindness and patience. The children’s emotional and social development is given just as much importance as learning letters, numbers, practical skills, and all those things. The most important thing is that learning is a really happy pastime for Andrea’s children.

The range of activities the children get to do is terrific. There’s so much learning through play! … messy and creative play, interactive and educational toys, sand, science, and more. They do lots of music, dance and song too. The children spend lots of outdoor time in the lovely garden, which is packed with activities including a water table with fountain, easels, wendy house, ride-on vehicles, and much more - including seasonal plant growing from seed. They get to bake cakes for birthdays, and Andrea throws the loveliest parties for the children. And she even teaches the children Spanish!

Show-and-tell gives each child the opportunity to bring something from home to show the other children, which is a lovely way to not only boost their confidence, but also help them learn to share their favourite items with others.

Rui oversees the children’s dedicated time for exercise, like physical activity (and little age-appropriate obstacle courses!), stretching, and relaxation. This has been especially brilliant for my daughter - she’s developed great motor skills, strength and balance. And the physical education aspect has helped her develop some helpful insight into how to be in tune with her body and how it feels.

Andrea and Rui also get to know each family and find out what the parents’ needs are too. The communication from them is excellent, and they provide parents with guidance and advice on things specific to their child if they think it’s useful/needed. At the end of each day, we’re sent a written activity log along with lovely photos of our children participating in the daily activities.

What Andrea does for her children, in the time they have with her, is to provide them with some solid foundations for the rest of their lives. I’m just a mum, not an expert in early childhood: I would simply never have been able to support my daughter’s early development the way Andrea has done. I would have done my best, don’t get me wrong - but I don’t have the in-depth knowledge and understanding about early childhood learning - never mind the incredible skill and talent! - to give my daughter what Andrea has given her. She’s truly amazing.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve had to deal with a lot of stuff, and during this time, the *only* thing I haven’t had to worry about is my daughter being happy and well cared for.

As I prepare for my daughter to start at a school nursery class in September, I’ve been reflecting - a lot - on how incredibly lucky we’ve been, that she was able to have this time with Andrea. I wish that every child could have access to early years care of such a brilliantly high standard - and provided with such love and warmth - as Andrea gives her children. It’s its own sort of magic, and will stay with us forever.

I’ve tried my best in this review, but I still don’t feel like I’ve managed to explain *exactly* how great our experience has been … and I’m not sure I ever really could. But, if your child is lucky enough to have Andrea as childminder, then I think one day you’ll understand.

We will miss her so much.

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by Lizzie about AndreaCM on 28/08/2024

Response by AndreaCM on 09/10/2024:

Dear Lizzie,

I have no words, and I can add only one sentence "What an amazing person you are!".
It's always heartbreaking to say 'Goodbye and see you soon' and knowing we'll be able to see you sometimes in the near future. Honestly, talking to you, it's also extremely sad to respond to your review.

I am so grateful for having you all for a long period of time, and we would like to thank you for your kindness and generosity throughout those years.
You became our part of the family, and we would like to hear about your new adventures in the near future.
Please come and visit us sometimes.
We are missing you all and we hope to see you every soon.

Best childcare we could have asked and wished for!

Our daughter has been with Andrea for just over 2 years, since she was about 10 months old.

Finding the right care provider for your child is a daunting task and initially we started looking into private nurseries in the area, not being familiar with the concept of a childminder. Some friends suggested that we consider a childminder and that’s how we met Andrea. She has been very warm and welcoming since the beginning, providing us a lot of information and insights into how she works, which combined with the great reviews from current and previous parents gave us the confidence to choose her as childcare for our daughter. 2 years later we couldn’t have asked for more! Our daughter really thrived while with Andrea, she developed immensely during this period, made friends, learned a lot of new skills and had an amazing time with her. Every morning she was excited to go to Andrea’s, see her friends, take a new toy to “show and tell” and was eagerly waiting to tell us what she had been up to at the end of the day. Andrea has a great way of sharing written, verbal and video / photo feedback after each day, which makes you feel like you are accompanying your child throughout the day even if you’re not there. She provides a comprehensive package of play, learning and physical activities, both indoors and outdoors (garden / park) and all children are very happy at the end of the day. I can’t see how we have could have chosen a better childcare for our daughter, including a private nursery, and are very grateful for the love and attention that Andrea has dedicated to our daughter and helping to shape her into the little lady that she is becoming. Thank you Andrea, and to prospective parents - you couldn’t make a better choice than leaving your child in Andrea’s care!

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by Lucian about AndreaCM on 16/07/2024

Response by AndreaCM on 07/08/2024:

Dear Lucian and Ana,

Aw! That's wonderful feedback. I appreciate your effort writing so long one.
The first time when I read it, it made me super emotional, and honestly talking, I wasn't able to reply at all. The goodbye is always heartbreaking.
We know she will thrive in a new school, and she is more than ready to move on in her adventurous life. We are going to miss her a lot, not to forget my partner Rui, who is going to miss her warmth cuddles.
We're super grateful for being with us for so long and being such a lovely family. We'll keep in touch and we're looking forward to meeting you soon.

Our warmest wishes,

Rui and Andrea

WONDERFUL person and environment

We have been with Andrea for 1.5 years and I truly believe that she is by far the best option we could have had in our area and that we have been incredibly lucky to find her. Our son has learnt so much and she has aided him so well in his personal, social and psychological development which I cannot value enough. I just cannot imagine that he would have received the same attention and care elsewhere, Andrea really knows the children well, offers regular activities and opportunities to develop, it is a super nurturing and friendly environment she has created through a passion of love and care for children which is hard to find.

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by CeciliaC about AndreaCM on 24/01/2024

Response by AndreaCM on 14/02/2024:

Dear Cecilia,

Thank you for your valuable feedback. We were thrilled to read your glowing review. We take great pride in our work, and our sincerest hope is that it helps each one of our children achieve their goals and potentials.

Amazing!

Initially a childminder wasn’t our first choice. However, we couldn’t have been happier that we found Andrea.
Andrea has been absolutely amazing every step of the way for our son and us. Andrea and her partner Rui are such a great team and put so much effort in everything that they did with the children! They would be singing, dancing, exercising, yoga, playing in the garden, gardening, baking, learning and so much more. You can see how much they care for the children and always wanting them to succeed. Thank you so much for everything you have done for Elliot and also giving us advice along the way which has been so helpful! It’s been a pleasure!

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by Vicki about AndreaCM on 24/01/2024

Response by AndreaCM on 14/02/2024:

Dear Vicki,

I appreciate the time you committed to providing us with detailed and constructive feedback. Thank you!

Andrea is better than Supernanny

Andrea is an exceptional childminder - experienced, knowledgeable, devoted to children, kind and patient. What surprises me the most is how creative she is and all the activities that kiddies get to learn and experience on a daily basis. Our daughter has been in Andrea's care for over 9 months now and in that time she has learned so much - she's only a year and a half but already knows a lot of words, can count up to 10, shares toys and food with everyone and is always and in a good mood when we pick her up. Andrea and Rui's place is a safe sanctuary where they learn, play, sing and dance, bake cakes and build space rockets! Andrea is clearly very knowledgeable in the early years' development principles, she's also very thoughtful and dedicated about health, safety and covid protocols. Andrea and Rui make a wonderful team and we feel that we are so lucky to have found these amazing people to care for our little one and I could not recommend them more.

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by Eva S about AndreaCM on 12/05/2021

Response by AndreaCM on 14/02/2024:

Dear Eva,

Thank you so much for your kind words. 
I apologize for my delayed response, but I thought we would meet up earlier to give my gratitude for an amazing review. We hope to see you soon.