Joanne O

Truly wonderful childminder

Our eldest daughter was with Jo for over two years, and now our youngest daughter (who is 9 months old) is with her. Both girls love spending time at Jo’s house – she has taught them to be creative, kind, thoughtful and interested in the world around them. We are always so impressed by the variety of activities and the effort that Jo puts into their care and their development. From arts and crafts to nature trips and butterfly hatching – it is wonderful to hear about what they have been up to each day. They have plenty of interaction with other children through the baby and toddler groups that Jo takes them to.

Jo’s communication with us is always faultless – clear and quick to respond – and she has been flexible and wonderful to work with. The girls have a varied and healthy diet at her house, and always come back happy. We feel so lucky to have found her, and would recommend her to anyone considering where to send their children.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Tony about Joanne O on 13/04/2024

Wonderful caring and professional childminder

Jo is the most wonderful, caring and reliable childminder who has looked after both of our girls, and we are so sad to be saying goodbye to her now that both are at pre/school.

Jo provides a creative and nurturing play and learning environment in her home, with a dedicated indoor area and outside garden and play options. She is dedicated, organised and highly professional with great communication. We didn’t need the Ofsted report to know that she is more than outstanding, and we couldn’t have made a better decision for our family than to have Jo as part of it.

All of the policy’s are well communicated, and the use of the software Baby Days is really helpful to see daily photos, updates and milestones, as well as for administrative purposes such as food diaries or any medical/additional necessary communication, in addition to the everyday verbal and phone communication.

Jo would ensure to take the girls to a different park, the Horniman Museum, or a playgroup everyday unless the weather was particularly inclement. The food provided was healthy and tasty and was always eaten by my girls. The play opportunities were varied and seasonal and there was so many beautiful artworks or cards or crafts that came home to us that had been made with Jo.

We highly recommend Jo, and would be more than happy to be contacted to discuss further if that were helpful to prospective parents.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by BR3fam about Joanne O on 02/04/2024

Highly recommend

We have had a great experience with Jo as our childminder. Our child has been with her since 11 months and will leave to go to a preschool a few months before turning 4 to experience a bigger environment before school.

Our child is happy, capable, energetic, kind and curious - and we think a lot of that is down to Jo.

What we’ve valued most:
- Jo takes the children on brilliant adventures to parks and woods and they’ve been outdoorsy whatever the weather
- They do brilliant activities together from nurturing seedlings to imaginative crafts
- Our child speaks so positively about Jo, her family and home (and the cats!) and they’ve built a really special bond
- We get daily notes and photos about their activities, food etc
- Jo has been a really open communicator, sharing milestones with us and inviting us to be a really engaged part of our child’s care
- She’s very responsive to the children’s needs and adapts accordingly, she’s affectionate and warm while also being clear about the respectful behaviours she expects to see.

I’d be happy to speak to any prospective parents who’d like a reference and Jo can provide my contact details.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by BR3mum about Joanne O on 13/07/2021

Brilliant Childminder!

Jo has been looking after our son Alex since August 2016, for three days a week. He was one year old at the time and I returned to work from maternity leave. From the moment we met Jo it was obvious what a professional and dedicated childminder she was. As a first-time mum, returning to work and having our son being looked after by someone else was a bit daunting, however Jo put me at ease, scheduled a few settling in sessions, kept me informed and reassured me that our son was being looked after in the best possible way.
I can honestly say that having Jo as a childminder has been one of the best choices we have made in relation to our son and I strongly believe our son has been helped immensely by Jo to become a happy, confident and independent little boy. She is following the EYFS framework by providing reports regarding his development and suggesting areas to focus on in the future. I have really enjoyed reading these reports, especially the examples provided for each milestone. Jo has also been very open and professional when I had a few ideas for her to focus on and I was able to see how my suggestions were put into practice.
On a more practical note, Jo has a dedicated playroom with a wide range of toys and educational resources and garden with more play equipment (sand pit, trampoline, slide etc). I have been very impressed by the range of activities she is putting together for the children, including a wide variety of arts and crafts (such as painting, card decoration, hand/foot prints, Easter/Christmas/Mother’s Day decorations etc). When the weather allows she is also very keen to ensure the children are out and about and she has been taking our son to museums, local parks, toddler groups, animal farms.
Another aspect that sets Jo apart from other childminders and childcare providers is her family. From the beginning our son has been welcomed into the house like he was part of the family. Jo’s children have been brilliant in engaging with him and at times it really felt like he was visiting relatives. I have really appreciated that and I know this has been more beneficial to my son’s development than if he had been in a nursery.
Jo is using the brilliant Baby’s Days online system where she is logging everything daily, including meals, nappy changes, sleep etc. She is also writing daily journals to describe how the day went for my son and reading this is always a highlight of my day. I would also like to mention all the photos that Jo has been taking of Alex and uploading onto this system, we probably now have hundreds of photos of him and they are invaluable to us.
Jo is also very professional, she has comprehensive policies that parents are required to read and agree to and I think her Ofsted rating of Outstanding is more than well deserved. I should also add that Jo is very flexible and very reliable, I don’t think we have had to find alternative childcare because of sickness or any other reasons in the last 2 years.
We are moving to Hertfordshire this summer so sadly Alex won’t be going to ‘Jo’s house’ anymore. Finally, I would like to express our gratitude to Jo for everything she has done for our son, we really can’t thank her enough!

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Parent about Joanne O on 06/06/2018

Modern day Mary Poppins!

I feel this review is so important to me as I’ve had the privilege of having Jo as our childminder for both my son (from 1-3 years old) and now my daughter who will be leaving her care in July to move to pre-school. So Jo (and ‘Jo’s house’ as my children call it), has been an important part of our family life for the past 4 years and it’s with a sad heart that we’ll be saying goodbye.

What can I say and where do I start, if you are lucky to have Jo as your childminder you will have hit the jackpot. Her Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ rating speaks for itself but it’s so much more than that. From the moment I met Jo, I instantly warmed to her friendly, caring, fun and approachable personality and I felt that I’d known her for years. Jo also has a lovely family (3 older kids) who are very welcoming and engaged with my children, and a warm inviting clean home. Most importantly, Jo is highly experienced and clearly loves looking after young children and my children clearly loved her and were very happy in her setting, and she takes a very professional approach to her childminding role, taking great pride and concern in what she does, ensuring they settled well into her care.

She offers a dedicated playroom with lots of engaging toys plus a large garden with play equipment. On top of this, she plans interesting and engaging daily activities (dress up, number play, reading, listening to music, messy play), nourishing meals, dedicated nap times and daily trips outside (various parks, Horniman museum, local playgroups, farms), to ensure their development, engagement with the world and growing independence takes centre stage. If it’s raining/too cold, she will have dreamed up a fun indoor craft activity and I have loads of lovely artwork, cards and sculptures to cherish forever. Jo and my daughter even decorated a vase and arranged some lovely flowers for me for mother’s day – that’s what she does!

On the professional side, Jo’s policies are very comprehensive and she follows the EYFS scheme to the letter, providing termly reports on tracking my child’s progress as well as ideas for the next stages in their development. She also takes a collaborative approach with you, no question is too silly, and she’s happy to respond to messages during the day if needed or a quick chat each morning/pick up. She provided a written daily diary for my son detailing everything he did that day, words he’d spoken, what he’d eaten etc which was so reassuring for a new first time mother going back to work. She’s now using the amazing ‘Baby’s Days’ online system which enables you as a parent to log on and read a daily diary, progress reports and photos so you have the pleasure every evening of reading this which often provides a chuckle and the reassurance that your child is happy and well cared for. She’s also been very flexible when my son started school and I needed to amend start/pick up times for my daughter and she has never taken a day’s absence (apart from holiday) in 4 years! Amazing, so she is completely reliable and professional to a tee and has never let me down, we trust her 100%.

So to end this review, we couldn’t have asked for a better childminder than Jo and we are eternally grateful.
From the bottom of my heart Jo, thank you for giving my children the best start in life.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Parent about Joanne O on 15/05/2018