Dawn's Reviews

Lovely, warm, caring child-minder

I would highly recommend Dawn Spearing as a child-minder. Dawn has been looking after my two daughters, aged 4 years and 19 months, since they were both nine months old. Over the past three years Dawn has taken exceptional care of my children and been a pleasure to deal with on a daily basis due to her friendly-manner and professionalism.

Dawn is a very caring and loving person and always puts the needs of the children above everything else. Her home is a lovely, clean, caring and stimulating environment where my daughters have always settled quickly and been very happy. Dawn provides a great variety of toys and activities to ensure the girls are engaged and feel challenged to learn and develop. Dawn has gone out of her way on several occasions to provide games and activities that my daughters have shown a particular interest in, often buying new resources to add to her already impressive collection.

The girls have enjoyed walks around the lake which is close to Dawn’s house along with their regular visits to the playground. Dawn provides very healthy and varied home-cooked meals for my daughters and my eldest daughter already knows the importance of getting fresh air and a balanced diet due to the great example set by Dawn.

Along with her excellent care of my children, Dawn has been a great source of advice and knowledge to me and my husband when facing different challenges with the girls. Whether it is difficulty sleeping, fussy eating habits or just pushing the boundaries behaviorally, Dawn has given us very practical and effective tips drawn from her extensive experience in childcare.

I am very sorry to be losing the services of Dawn due only to a change in my work circumstances and the girls will miss her as well.

I know Dawn will be a very welcome addition of her new family.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Parent about Dawn on 06/11/2017

Wonderful child-minder

Dawn has been looking after our daughter Maria four days a week since last July. Maria was nine months old when I returned to work and I felt very reassured leaving her in Dawn's excellent care. Dawn is an exceptional child-minder. She is professional and takes great pride in her work. Her home provides a lovely environment for the children. Maria is extremely well looked after and I know Dawn provides Maria with the same love and care as if she were her own child.

Dawn also babysat Maria when she was only a few weeks old. Dawn knew immediately how to comfort and soothe Maria and I knew I had met a wonderful, kind person. I am delighted Dawn is looking after our daughter and I highly recommend her.

• Overall

by Parent about Dawn on 10/11/2014

Response by Dawn on 11/11/2014:

Thank you Elaine for such a lovely review, I am enjoying Maria's company so much. She is such a bright, contented, little lady and is very entertaining I look forward to a long and happy relationship with you all. I am so pleased you are happy with the care I provide for Maria, this is very important to me.

I highly recommend Dawn as a babysitter

Dawn has baby-sat for our daughter for the past 12 months. She has always been so helpful and courteous and prompt. Recently, due to my husband working overseas, she has been babysitting 3 evenings a fortnight so I can continue my studies. With the change our daughter has been a bit unsettled being left and Dawn has been very caring and considerate with us both. She has taken time to help her settle and always lets me know she has settled down after I have left and lets me know how the evening has gone when I get home.
I have also been to Dawn's house recently, it is so well equipped and always spotless.
I think Dawn has the right balance of being warm and caring whilst providing discipline and structure and would highly recommend her to anyone.

• Overall

by Parent about Dawn on 05/11/2014

Response by Dawn on 11/11/2014:

Thank you Jennifer for such a lovely review, I strive to conquer the challenges that Scarlett presents for me and feel we are finally becoming friends. She really is a lovely little girl when she allows me in and I am sure we will continue to build our relationship , hopefully she will soon feel more secure and less anxious when separated from you. I think regular contact is helping us to achieve this. Thanks again.

Fantastic babysitter

We are recently relocated to Surrey and therefore needed to find a sitter for our 3 1/2 year old twins. It was a bit of a daunting task, not really knowing anyone to ask for personal recommendations so I signed up for childcare.co.uk. Having used these sites before, I know you can find all sorts of individuals who claim they are experienced, etc., but we gave it a shot. Imagine how excited and blessed we felt when we found Dawn. From the first moment we made contact with her, we were impressed. She is courteous, prompt, and straight-forward. Upon meeting her, she was very professional with the adults, but also incredibly caring and sweet with our children. Her references were stellar and justifiably so. Dawn truly cares about the children--their needs and wants, likes and dislikes. She always brings books with her to share with the children and they very much look forward to their story-time with Miss Dawn. Given her experience as a mom, grandmother, and preschool teacher, she is very in-tune with the needs of the children--in terms of setting boundaries, making them feel safe and valued, and watching out of signs of sickness, etc. Getting to know Dawn, she is a wonderful person with a kind heart and a great sense of humor. I heartily recommend Dawn as a sitter or child-minder as she will truly treat your children as her own.

• Overall

by ErinC24 about Dawn on 23/02/2014

Response by Dawn on 06/11/2014:

These two boys are an absolute delight to spend time with, they enjoy our story time sessions. They have many interesting books of their own but look forward to me taking some of my books to read to them also. I appreciate how valued the family make me feel and love to help out whenever I can, especially as they have no family near by. Thank you Erin for such a lovely review.

Truly Outstanding Childminder

Dawn is a fantastic childminder and truly deserves her Outstanding status. She is dedicated to providing excellent care in her lovely home. Our daughter Holly (2yrs, 2 months) has been with Dawn since August last year and we could not be happier with the care she provides.

Dawn ensured Holly had a great settling in period and she has really been happy there since day one. Dawn provides a really wide variety of toys and equipment and whilst she is always happy to let Holly choose her favourites, there are always new and engaging activities on offer.

Dawn is really friendly and approachable and I can freely chat to her about Holly's development - we feel really supported as a whole family by the excellent and nurturing care that Dawn provides for Holly and cannot recommend her hightly enough!

• Overall

by Parent about Dawn on 20/02/2014

Response by Dawn on 06/11/2014:

I enjoy taking care of Holly and have loved watching her change from a baby into a delightful little girl. I have been able to use my training, knowledge and experience to help me work in partnership with her parents to support her in her development. I am proud of the relationship that I maintain with Holly and her parents and look forward to a long and continued relationship with them all. Thank you Kate for such a lovely review.

Brilliant Child Minder

We needed to find childcare for our son (Paddy) when he was 3 months old and this was a real concern for us, from the moment we met Dawn and ever since then we have been DELIGHTED and very thankful to have found her to look after Paddy.

My wife was nervous of leaving Paddy with someone, as he was so young. This transition has been made so much easier with the knowledge that Dawn will be looking after Paddy’s well being as much as it would be at home.

Entrusting someone with experience of looking after young babies was vital to us, Dawn has that experience in spades. Her home is a really peaceful sanctuary and spotlessly clean, she has a wide assortment of toys, chairs and mats for our son to lie and play on and she has a real love for looking after young children. Dawn even went the extra mile and bought a travel cot for Paddy to use for daytime naps.
We are regularly kept informed on how our son is getting on day to day and she goes out of her way to be helpful, such as washing any clothes/bibs if they get messy or ‘accidents’ occur. Dawn also makes sure his feeds and sleeps coincide with what he does at home.

Dawn has been incredibly adaptable and flexible too, on occasions he has been dropped off early or we have collected him a little late – none of which is a problem.

We feel genuinely lucky to have found Dawn and I am convinced Paddy would not be cared for better anywhere else.

• Overall

by Parent about Dawn on 10/10/2013

Response by Dawn on 06/11/2014:

I have loved every minute of the precious time I have spent looking after Paddy, having had him from only three months old, I soon became very attached to him. I have enjoyed working closely with his lovely parents building a routine for him and helping to guide them through the weaning process. Paddy is one of the most contented babies I have had the pleasure to care for.Sadly for me Paddy left me shortly after his first birthday due to his mum being on Maternity leave with baby number 2. Unfortunately due to the fact that they live an hours drive away it would no longer be practical to bring both children to me on a daily basis. However we remain in close contact, baby Arthur arrived safely in August and is gorgeous. Paddy was very pleased to see me despite us being apart for three months and when he held out his arms to me I realised why I love what I do. I am hopeful that I may have occasional opportunities to work with this delightful family again, but know we will remain friends forever. Thank you Ed & Jo for such a lovely review.