I was so lucky to have Mary as my children's childminder for 4 fantastic years and I would highly recommend her services. Mary is a complete natural with babies and preschool age children. She gave my 2 children (who both started with her when they were about 6 months old) the most incredible experiences when they were with her 3 days a week.

I particularly liked the activities (often outdoor and often cooking) that Mary undertook with the children, almost always instigated by the children themselves. One of my boys might arrive at her house with a favourite train toy, for example, and they would then spend the day visiting the local train station, building tracks at home and role-playing journeys. Or bringing in a tiger toy resulted in reading the story of 'The tiger who came to tea', making cakes and having a tea party! Mary has the ability to plan activities brilliantly and also adapt them quickly with the children's needs. Mary has a fantastic knowledge of Early Years education and a huge amount of books, games and toys which means that she is able to pull out relevant resources that the children are interested in, and can use resources and play to promote learning.

The relationships that Mary has formed with the children in her care are lovely and very strong. Mary is incredibly patient and teaches them great behaviour through this approach. She always puts the needs of the children first so will never have too many children attending the same day and is careful when introducing new children to ensure that they mix well with existing children.

I only stopped using Mary as a childminder because she moved out of our area and know that we will not find another childminder like her. However, the relationship between her and the children is so close that we shall definitely be still seeing her. The children really enjoyed their time at her house and miss her lots which is the most important aspect of childminding and the highest recommendation I can give.