Michelle looked after our son during the day from the age of six months and even though he's at school now, he still goes to her for days during the half term (he's now seven). She provides a family environment and he's known many of the kids she has cared for since he was a baby. Her setup is very structured and safe, and her provision of care is excellent. It's a highly creative, stimulating, sensory-packed environment, and the kids are encouraged to develop their skills through a large range of equipment and free-flow, supervised play in her home. She also takes the children to the usual play centres and playgrounds. Her half-term care schedule is very structured around themes - at Easter, for instance, the kids are taken to Heathfield park for arts and craft activities and an Easter egg hunt, and her outings are diverse (woodland detectives in Crane Park, den marking in Strawberry Hill woods etc.). I don't think many other childminders provide quite the same level of diversity in their care and input for kids.

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