Salsa66

Whoever secures a place with Sonya is very lucky

Our first born son has been with Sonya since he was nine months old and I returned to work.

Sonya not only helped him achieve every early milestone, but she reassured us, and helped make his promotion to big brother a lot easier.

My husband and I feel very grateful that we found Sonya. She’s very kind and considerate and incredibly experienced. For example, when she took on another child last year, she thought about what was best for our son as well as her family.

Happiness

We hear regularly from Sonya about what they’re getting up to, and as my son learned to speak, from him about his day. He is always in a great place when he comes home and loves sharing about his time with Sonya and her family.

Education

We owe a lot to Sonya in this space. She is always very creative with what she does with the children and as parents we often joke that all the best behaviours have come from Sonya, whilst he runs rings around us! As he’s hit the terrible twos we have also asked Sonya for advice, which she has readily given, and we’ve worked together to make sure we’re consistent across home life and his time with Sonya.

Food

We get sent the menu every day and Sonya cooks lovely meals for the children, which are seasonal and balanced. I’m relieved to know that he’s eating so well.

Activities & Safety

Sonya takes the children out nearly every day and we see photos of what they’re up to. I’ve always felt sure my son is safe in Sonya’s care and appreciated the clear policies and precautions in place (especially during the pandemic). Sonya regularly sends updates and official guidance, for example when the NHS issued guidance to get kids vaccinated for polio.

Why we’re leaving

At 2.5 years, our son is ready for a nursery with more kids his own age, to prepare him for school. We also want our two children at the same setting for ease. Whilst we’d love to send our daughter to Sonya’s we’ve therefore decided to move them together. It’s a tough decision because we don’t think we can beat the start in life our son had with Sonya.

Echoing previous comments, we really couldn’t recommend Sonya highly enough. Whoever secures a place with Sonya is very fortunate.

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by SoSac about Salsa66 on 07/02/2023

Truely wonderful

Our daughter has been with Sonya since she was 10 months old when I went back to work.

During that time Sonya has supported our family through my daughter learning to eat, to walk, to talk, to use the toilet, and through a pandemic!

As a result I can honestly say we have trusted Sonya with our lives, and she has been amazing.

It felt very quickly like we had established a parenting partnership, and Sonya has been instrumental in nurturing our daughter through her formative years.

Happiness

I know our daughter has a wonderful time with Sonya, not only from the regular updates that we get throughout the day, but because she runs in excitedly in to Sonya’s in the morning and can’t stop telling us about her day when she gets home. She regularly asks to go to Sonya’s on the weekend.

Education

Sonya follows the early years foundation. She has a great range of educational activities as well as play time resources, and I’m sure we owe our daughters good manners and grasp of numbers to Sonya’s teaching.

Food

Sonya cooks delicious meals from scratch and I know our daughter enjoys them. She is considerate of nutritional needs, avoids added sugars and checks with us before offering new foods.

Activities & Safety

I feel confident that Sonya always puts the children’s safety and happiness first, and I feel very happy knowing our daughter is doing fun activities with Sonya throughout the day.

Why we’re leaving

Recently Sonya has been helping our daughter develop her independence in preparation for nursery (she’s about to turn 3), and while she is ready to move on to nursery, I’m not sure I’m ready to leave Sonya and the comfort I have knowing our daughter is with her everyday.

We were hoping to send our youngest daughter to Sonya but we are moving away, and will be very upset to say goodbye to Sonya and her family.

We really couldn’t recommend her highly enough.

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by Lucy about Salsa66 on 12/11/2021

Fantastic!

I honestly cannot recommend Sonya highly enough. She has cared for both of my boys, my eldest starting with her when he was 10 months old. I knew we had made the right choice in Sonya when at the time I was having problems getting my eldest to take solids. On his second day with Sonya, she sent me a video of him opening his mouth, ready for the next spoon! I couldn’t believe it! Ever since then, she has always exceeded our expectations, offering excellent care in a comfortable, safe and clean environment.

Sonya always took the boys out every day, whether that be to music classes, playgroups, trips to the park, the train station, etc, and often sent photos of them during the day so I could see how they were getting on. She helped them to get creative too, always sending home beautiful artwork that she had helped them make, as well as home-made birthday cards, Christmas cards, etc.

Every day she ensured they ate wholesome, nutritious home-cooked food, and helped me enormously with stages such as potty training. She has a wealth of experience and knowledge.

Between my two children, I have know Sonya for four years now and am so grateful to have had her in our lives. I would recommend her to everyone.

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by Georgina about Salsa66 on 08/06/2020

Fantastic

I cannot say enough nice things about Sonya, she has been fantastic. She is quite rightly rated Ofsted Outstanding.

Sonya has looked after my son for the last two years, since he was 11 months old. Unfortunately, we are moving out of London, otherwise I would have loved Sonya to look after my son until he went to school! If I could take her with us I would!

Sonya is super professional and passionate about what she does. She provides a vast and rotating array of different toys and games for the children she cares for, which is no easy task, when they are all different ages! She takes the children out every day and has weekly trips to the library, playgroups and often does one off special trips to Hounslow Urban Farm, Richmond Park, soft play. She provides daily updates about how my son is, with pictures and texts and a daily diary.

She is really caring and nurturing and has been a second mummy to my son in these important formative years. My son loves going every day and I think, especially thrives on the home from home environment that Sonya offers. My son has developed so much confidence and over the time he has been with her and his physical and language skills have come on so much.

Really sad to take my son away from her!

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by Jessie W about Salsa66 on 21/09/2016

Feedback for Sonya

Our son has been with Sonya from 10 months old until nearly 3 years old and we couldn't have made a better choice of child minder. Having three lovely, well mannered and kind natured children of her own, showed us that our son would be well cared for and all would be a positive influence on his development.
We've always been kept very well informed of our son's day to day activities through daily discussions, the comprehensive diary and occasional photos, texts and emails throughout the day.
Sonya has helped our son through various milestones including learning to walk, feed himself and potty training. She always works with us to further his development in any way she can.
We're very happy with every aspect of the care that Sonya provides. They go out every day on a planned activity, ensuring that the children get exercise and are stimulated, including visits to the library, weekly playgroups and play dates with other childminders, and as such our son has made other friends in addition to the children Sonya cares for.
Our son absolutely adores Sonya and her family. He clearly loves his days with her, which is evident in how happy he is when he sees her and how excitedly he talks about his day. We really cannot recommend Sonya's childminding service enough.

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by Parent about Salsa66 on 10/04/2015