Mary has been childminding our children since 2016. When the time came for us to seek a childminder we had no idea where to start, or what to look for. As soon as we met Mary we knew we had found the person to look after our children.

We have been extremely happy with the care that has been provided to our two children over this period. They both made such great progress whilst in Mary’s care. Mary’s home is always welcoming, clean and well organised and they both had great fun playing with all the toys available and taking part in the activities organised. Beyond all this though, it is Mary’s warm and friendly but no-nonsense approach which gave us absolute confidence that our children were in a safe and positive environment where they could develop. She provides a wide, fun range of activities including plenty of outdoor exercise. I know both of our children really enjoyed the activities they undertake outside in the garden.

Mary is a great communicator and has no trouble in gaining children’s confidence and therefore encouraging good behaviour and kindness and compassion to others, both skills which are important to us at home.

During Covid it was very clear that Mary spent time and effort to implement all of the expected measures and we never ever felt that the setting was unsafe or posed any risk to the children attending, Mary completes a diary detailing what our children have done each day. From this we had a complete picture of their whole day including what they had eaten, how long they had slept and all of their activities. Mary also shared photos during the day so whilst at work we received precious moments to make us feel comfortable.

Mary is also so much more than a childminder. It is clear that she really cares about what she does and is in a job that she is very very good at. When we had concerns about either of our children we knew we could discuss them with Mary and she would use her vast experience to guide and help us. For example when trying to decide when the right time to start potty training as no one tells you how to do it! Enter Mary who politely supported our wishes but guided us away from our mistakes!

I have asked my daughter, who is now six to describe Mary. Her response was, Mary is the best childminder in the world”. I asked our son, who is four the same question and he replied, I like playing with her toys and she is this good” (arms wide apart).

All in all we could not have been happier with the level of care our children received from Mary and I’m certain that being in such a positive and happy environment has helped them to develop into the confident and self assured children they are. We would absolutely (without hesitation) recommend Mary as a great, highly capable and reliable childminder.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Communication