Allison

A wonderful childminder

Allison is a wonderful childminder and I would whole-heartedly recommend her.

My family has been working with Allison for over four years. My daughter Annabelle started with her when she was one and continued until she started school. At this point my son Mylo started, but Annabelle continued to go occasionally during the school holidays. Annabelle is especially fond of Allison whom she will miss. The only reason we have had to end our contract with her is because of a change in circumstances following the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year.

It’s obvious to me that childminding is Allison’s vocation, because she pours in her heart and her passion and is always willing to go the extra mile for the children she is looking after. She takes them on trips (town, Milton Country Parks, the cinema, botanical gardens, toddler group, the train) and she always has interesting craft activities ready for the children to enjoy and to challenge them. She is always very professional and creates this wonderful calm and safe environment for the children.

Another thing that I have always noticed is that Allison has very good values, and I think this is important to see in someone looking after your child as they learn from everyone around them. She teaches the children to value diversity and she models compassionate behaviour. For example they often do trips to the food bank, they have made friends with elderly people and write cards for them, and she supports the children to be kind to one another.

Another really positive thing for us was that Allison supported Annabelle to develop strong friendships with the other children who attended. She created a very family-like atmosphere and Annabelle is still very attached to the other children, who were her first real friends. She keeps a photo of her ‘Allison-friends’ by her bedside.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Communication

by Alice on 25/06/2020

The kindest childminder ever!

Allison has looked after our two sons part-time from 2015 until 2020 and we've had an excellent experience with her. We really recommend her!

Our elder son is quiet and sensitive and we'd previously tried to settle him into two different local nurseries without success. With Allison, he settled quickly and easily. Astonishingly, he didn't cry at all at drop-off, making my return to work so much more bearable for me too. He was able to trust Allison and bond with her straight away, as she is kind, caring, reliable, and consistent.

Our second son is an extrovert and has also really enjoyed his 'Allison days'. He comes home telling us exciting stories about toddler groups, the local library, Milton country park, doing crafts, baking crumbles, feeding ducks, and playing in the garden and log cabin. He got really excited and interested in a recent project, collecting food and other essentials to make a box for a food bank. He's made good friendships with the other children in the setting. We think it's a great combination of doing some things in a home environment, as well as going out and about every morning to meet more people in singing groups etc. Allison has taught both boys to behave well, e.g. sharing and taking turns, and being sensible and holding hands when walking around together.

Our sons have really loved all the seasonal aspects of what they've done with Allison (e.g. eating noodles and making masks for the Chinese New Year, doing crafts about chicks and eggs and baby animals in spring, walking through leaves and looking at spider webs in autumn, birthday celebrations...). We think this is a great way for small children to gain a sense of time and seasons, given that they don't understand months and other bigger measures of time.

Overall, we feel very fortunate to have found Allison. She's an excellent childminder who has the experience to get the best out of children with different personalities and interests. We feel our sons are developing very well, and we are very grateful for all that she has done for them.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Communication

by Irenka on 29/04/2020

Allison is great!

Allison is currently looking after my 2 year old daughter and we are very sad to be leaving her care at the end of June due to me going on maternity leave.
What a lovely 9 months my daughter has had being looked after by Allison. She has made some lovely friends and is quite clearly very settled in with her.
She has picked up so much at her time there, has been counting to ten + since Christmas and picks up lots of new words and phrases everyday. She regulary chats about her friends when she comes home.
Its lovely to see all of the activities she does and she comes home regulary with lots of crafting and arty bits that she has done in the day. Allison also sends me pictures of Poppy in the day of what she gets up to which brightens up my afternoon at work!

I cant speak anymore highly of Allison and the next child who takes the place will be very lucky.

• Overall

by Parent on 19/06/2013

Wonderful childminder!

Both my boys (1) and (4) are looked after by Allison and I can not recommend her enough. Right from the start she has been a kind, responsible and organised childminder. She provides a range of fun activities for them- often picking up on a seasonal theme and involving something creative, she takes them to the park & playground and also to other toddler groups so that they have a chance to interact with other young children. I am delighted that they are stimulated in such a happy and safe environment.

• Overall

by Parent on 02/03/2012

Parent's review

Allison Souter looked after both our sons and we were very happy with the care that she has provided. Allison structures her days with the children very carefully and includes a good balance and variety of activities. Both our children responded very well to this routine and structure and were stimulated by the activities, games and toys that she provided. She took the children to toddler groups in the neighbourhood and met up with other registered childminders to undertake activities together. We were particularly pleased by the amount of crafts, painting and cooking she undertook with the children; over the years they made drums for Chinese New Year, papier maché balloons, bird feeders, spring and autumn trees, chocolate crispies, biscuits, mini pizzas, fruit kebabs and even apple crumble.

Allison’s home is very well set up for her childminding work. She has a log cabin in the back garden which is the children’s designated space and which is wonderfully decorated with bright posters and pictures (often the children’s own) and equipped with toys and games and a computer. In addition, she uses her garden for outdoor play and has a wonderful assortment of ride on toys, a paddling pool and slide.

Through the use of a diary and photos my husband and I were kept informed of what our children did each day whilst in Allison’s care and of any problems or difficulties they encountered. At drop off and pick up times I was also able to discuss any issues with Allison or ask any questions.

Allison takes great pride in her work, and rightfully so. She is always cheerful and calm, organised and prepared. She has a lot of experience of working with young children and is resourceful and imaginative. She is also very flexible and was happy to accommodate any last minute changes to my timetable.

• Overall

by Parent on 02/03/2012