I first heard about Ferdous, while talking to another mother about how stressful it was to find a childminder. The mother told me, ‘if you want to find a really fantastic childminder, contact Ferdous in Dalston!’ I memorised her name and looked her up and went for an informal first visit and was so glad I did!

Ferdous is warm and friendly and certainly loves children! She is very approachable and we felt able to discuss any matters. My son progressed well developmentally. He was originally a bit behind in his milestones and wasn’t able to crawl when he arrived at 13 months, but by 14 months, with her help, he started crawling and then he pulled to stand and eventually started walking. Ferdous gave us the confidence to follow on with various activities to promote his development at home. She did different activities both at home and at local drop ins, libraries and play areas.

Ferdous was always available when picking up, to give a personal report every day about how his day was, what he had to eat, how long he slept and how his bowels have worked etc. She also sent pictures, with our permission, of him doing various activities. She was always happy to have contact out of service hours for advice or discussion over the phone or by text which felt supportive. She was very encouraging and positive about my son and especially at the time when we felt frustrated by what we felt was ‘slow development’ compared to his peers of a similar age.

Ferdous had a very good large playroom with safe softer flooring and we liked it because it felt safe for my son who was a bit slow in his development. Ferdous had established regular assistants, whom we were able to meet, and my son was secure with them. We were also able to arrange our own food which was a particular requirement we had and therefore my son was able to have home-cooked food. She had a safe medication management policy was able to manage him at her service on the last few days of his prescribed antibiotic once he was well enough to attend her service again.

Ferdous is very health and safety conscious, as she always had her stair gates locked and watched the behaviour of the children to ensure they don’t hurt each other inadvertently. When sunny he has a sun hat outside and suncream. She was also very observant as she always informed us if noticed any change in behaviour or his skin such as pink eyes or rashes. He was always very clean and never had nappy rashes that developed in her care.

We were extremely happy with the service that Ferdous provided in the 2 years we used her service and we feel confident recommending her highly. She is an established and experienced childminder and her environment is clean, safe, emotionally warm and stimulating.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication