Ester

God Answered My Prayers with Ester..So Happy

I was always a parent who wanted my child to go to a nursery setting as it was busy and bustling with people. How wrong was I?
I originally tried to settle my son into nursery and it was just overwhelming for him ,so I looked for alternative childcare.

I didn't look for Ester, God put Ester in my way. I have visited a few playgroups and activities with my son during maternity leave and saw Ester with a little girl a few times. The way she cared for this little girl I thought it was her own or at least family. When I found out she was a childminder and not the mother of this child I had to take her number.

Long story short. I contacted Ester to see if she had an availability for my son to start with her. Luckily she did. She was very quick at communication and invited me to her home nursery at a time suitable for me for me to view and ask any questions.

I love her home cosy setting. Well equipped with fun toys and apparatus for babies.
I knew straight away I wanted to settle my son with her. It took my son maybe a day to fully settle with Ester. He is so content with her it melts my heart.
She cooks lovely home meals, will provide food that your baby likes, goes on little outings. It's like home from home.
I fully trust Ester with my son as I have been blessed with a six sense and I get a really good feeling when I leave my son with her. He is happy and content when I collect him. Ester daily sends me updates on my child's activities for the day. I'm so lucky God put her in my direction.

HOME NURSERY
Clean and well equipped. Lots of toys and books to keep little ones entertained. Child proof kitchen area for messy play and eating. Ester also is buying new toys to keep children entertained.

SLEEP
Ester provides travel cots and a nice blackout setting with white noise if that is a choice. So cosy and warm.

FOOD
Ester provides nutritious home cooked food and will provide healthy snacks.

COMMUNICATION
Communication has been faultless. Quick to respond and it very accommodating to times. Very organised with paper work and fees. Pictures and videos of daily activities. If I call her when I am work she always answers/responds within minutes.

I would definitely recommend Ester to any parent who would like their child to go from a home to home setting. Ester is loving and caring and is very dedicated to her job.
My review probably doesn't do Ester justice. But she is a brilliant childminder and I'm so blessed I found her. ☺️

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by Charms about Ester on 04/02/2024

Response by Ester on 04/02/2024:

Thank you so much for your wonderful review. I am pleased you are happy.

THE BEST!

Ester is a God send..
My daughter lives with myself, her granny and my brother. My mother is retired so she’s never had to have a babysitter. Going back to work after maternity I KNEW it was going to be a hard transition for Le’Anna as she was used to her tiny village. Anyway after the settling in week my daughter jumped out of my arms into Ester’s as we arrived at her house in the morning. Seeing their bond really helped me with my return to work. Le’Anna is so comfortable with Ester and it’s remarkable how quickly it happened too. My favourite things about Ester’s child care service is
1) her variety of food that your kids get
2) she loves an adventure, they are always outside, in nature, at a new park or play group etc
3) I have ZERO routine and I gave Ester my baby who has Zero routine which is so unhelpful especially if a friend or relative is having her for a few hours. Ester provides a diary entry each day which has a thorough break down of everything from nap times, to nappy contents and times, food eaten, activities. You name it she documents it.
4) very Parent lead..she really works with mums, Le’Anna was still only on breast plus some fruit/veg we started with Ester. Ester was really good in listening to what worked at home ect to get her to eat now she eats a vast array of food.
5) both myself and Le’Anna’s Dad are teachers so educational play is also important. And Ester ensures that all early years educational requirements are met
6) they do so much messy play! But her clothes always come home clean.

I could bang on for days about how fantastic she is but give her a try and see for yourself. One thing I would say about Ester is her work speaks for itself. When I was looking for a childminder I went to every play group on Mitcham regularly so I could just observe. When I saw how great Ester was with her kid I was like YUP she needs to have Le’Anna and I just hoped that she had space.

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by Lisa about Ester on 05/12/2023

Response by Ester on 05/12/2023:

Thank you so much it's just my pleasure.

Avoid!!

I'm sad to say that my experience of Ester has not been a happy one. My expectation was that she would be flexible, sympathetic and approachable. I do not believe this to be unreasonable. Unfortunately, her attitude throughout was characterised by discourtesy and unpofessionalism. Any request to vary the child caring arrangements, even on a one-off basis, was greeted with surly dismissiveness. She appeared to regard caring for my child beyond the bare minimum as an unwarranted intrusion on her time. Previous childminders have not only appreciated that working parents require a degree of sympathy and understanding, but they have also devised entertaining and educational activities for the children. Ester seemed unwilling to do any of this (certainly in relation to my chid), to the extent that I did not feel she was genuinely passionate about childminding.
Attempts to address and resolve my concerns in an amicable fashion were not welcomed by Ester. Instead, she either refused to communicate or sent insultingly terse messages.
I do not enjoy posting complaints of this nature, but the quality of service I have received from Ester falls well below the standard any parent has a right to expect.

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by HanHan87 about Ester on 21/11/2023

Response by Ester on 22/11/2023:

Dear HanHan87

I appreciate you sharing your personal opinion, and I am disappointed you have come away dissatisfied. I will have to respectfully disagree with the points you mentioned regarding me not providing entertaining and educational activities. I provided structured activities and outings with visual and written daily feedback, shared with you at the end of each session, so it saddens me that you have left this comment which does not represent the service you received. I strive to ensure my provision is centred around the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (EYFS) as outlined in my profile.

I totally agree that any childcare provider should have a degree of flexibility, and I consider myself to be sympathetic, approachable and flexible, working together with families as much as possible to meet their personal needs. I absolutely appreciate there will be occasions where families need to make changes to scheduled dates and times. In this particular instance, you requested several days to be changed at short notice, which I accommodated.

It’s important to note that as a childminder, I am restricted on the number of early years children I can care for at one time. This can impact my ability to accommodate frequent changes without sufficient notice.

I consider myself to be extremely passionate about childcare and have enjoyed good reviews on this site and other platforms.

Once again, I am sorry that you have come away dissatisfied. I wish you and your family all the best moving forward and hope you find the right childcare that meets your needs.

Kindest regards.

Ester.

Enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated

Ester has been looking after my two boys since September 2022. They are 5 and 2 years old & she looks after my 2 year old for 3 days and does my 5 year old's pick up. I am a junior doctor for the NHS. I will set out two separate feedback:
My 2 year old: Prior to Ester, my 2 year old was in nursery and it broke my heart for 7 months that my son wasn't settling in, he looked upset when I picked him up and he barely ate anything & always looked frightened. My five year old had been at the same nursery and absolutely loved it so when I found Ester I was anxious as I wasn't sure how Aran would find it.
Every day with Ester, Aran has become more confident, loving, unafraid and chatty!! In the beginning he was fussy with food-Ester with time learnt what he liked to eat, introduce foods and it has always been varied. He always sleeps well at Ester's. He was a very shy boy but by believing in him and loving him, Aran has become so much confident and just a very happy child.
My five year old:
Rohan has always been a confident child but when he was at the school's after school club he was overwhelmed by the older children so Ester doing pick ups were so helpful. He loves her food and through Ester, his creativity has blossomed beautifully. Ester every week has a theme on cultural events/ beliefs so for e.g. when it was Chinese New Year that week he came home with drawings of dragons/told me stories about the year and wanted to know so much about why it was celebrated. If he is tired from school, he chills with Ester & Aran and have some down time.

As a junior doctor, I have days where I have struggled to leave on time-Ester has always been understanding and kept the boys entertained.

Sounds awfully cheesy but I do feel like I have won the lottery with Ester!

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by Sinthiya about Ester on 14/03/2023

Excellent

Ester provides an excellent balance of time outdoors and excise with indoors activity with my 4 year old son Riley who has a form of Autism.
Riley also has Speech Delay and is behind on a lot of things that an average 4 year old. Ester has been my saving grace as I’m a single parent and it can be a struggle at times. Riley has learnt to use the toilet only after a week of him starting the nursery. Ester also spends time with Riley with his reading and speech he has comes leaps and bounds. Ester shows a quality that I struggled to find with other child minders for Riley, which is the love and commitment she has for children alongside providing a high standard of childcare. Having patience and a good sense of humour.

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by Emily about Ester on 28/11/2021