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.

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• Cleanliness
• Communication