Beckyosc

Flexible and accommodating

Due to working shifts I needed flexible childcare. I was sceptical as to whether it was realistic to use a childminder or if I may need a nanny with my work pattern been so irregular. I'm pleased to say that my experience of using Becky has been great. She has always been able to help out and even managed to fit us in when my shifts have changed at last minute allowing me to take on extra shifts at a time when I was supporting my children alone. Thankyou Becky :)

• Overall

by Parent on 28/11/2015

Best Childminder- extension of the family

I have always used Becky for my childcare needs. She has supported us as a family with school runs holiday Care and overnight care. Becky goes above and beyond to meet everyone's needs. She's helped me with my youngest who has autism and additional health needs greatly. Attending school meetings and going through training to be able to administer his medicines too. Her partnership with me as a parent is second to none as she provides a consistent approach in a stable and reliable environment for my boys. I wouldn't trust anyone else and cannot recommend her highly enough. My boys love her like a member of the family and often ask me to send them to her for extra days. 5 star childminder.

• Overall

by Parent on 28/11/2015

Fantastic with the kids

Becky is fantastic with the kids. My little one absolutely loves her. She always goes the extra mile by even taking them to classes to advance their learning and pays for them herself. Clearly the kids get lots of variety in the day. Fab fab fab!

• Overall

by Parent on 15/11/2015

Fantastic Childcare

While being heavily pregnant I sent my eldest child (2years old) to Becky and found the service to be fantastic. My little boy was excited every time I told him it was his day to see Becky. He has grown in confidence and his development has come on so much. Becky is well organised with healthy meals and fun activities for all the children. She also has a large amount of toys for the children and encourages many different learning styles and abilities.
Becky goes beyond her contracted duties, being there on standby for extra childcare when I needed due to going into labour. Making my son feel at ease even though the extra childcare was out of his routine. I am so happy to have found a childminder that both me and my children love.

• Overall

by LindsQR on 15/11/2015

unreliable

We had no problems at all with Becky while she was looking after our daughter initially apart from taking a long time to reply to emails and texts. However when she was due to return back permanently to Becky after the school holidays, Becky contacted me two days before I was due to start work to tell me that due to family illness she could no longer take my daughter at all. I understand that family illness cannot be planned for but this had been long-term illness and so I could have been contacted before, she also failed to reply to my emails two weeks before my work date.

I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt but I contacted her recently to get my daughter's learning journal for my new minder and she told me she had deleted it, without even offering it me first. I have been disappointed and told her so and was then accused of bullying her. It has been a very distressing experience for me.

• Overall

by Parent on 15/11/2015

Response by BeckyOsc on 21/11/2015:

Hi Kerry,

Thank you for your comments on the fact that you were happy with my levels of service whilst looking after your child. It's unfortunate that once I was unable to continue the care (due to the unavoidable family illness you noted) you felt cause for complaint. I thoroughly enjoyed looking after your daughter and as you mentioned sometimes illness occurs and cannot be avoided. Please understand that although there was an ongoing illness, things took a sudden turn for the worse which left me in a last minute situation. If I'd have been able to give you more notice I assure you I would have. You have always known me to be as accommodating as possible and I have always gone above and beyond to help my parents when they find themselves in a sticky situation.

I must remind you, however, that I did offer you the majority of the hours you needed and in addition to this I feel I should point out as you were on a temporary contract with myself back in March/April, and this contract was never officially extended. Therefore, I was keeping the space for you in good will and intended to fulfil all the hours for you.

In response to your point about communication. It was clear on the policies I gave you that I will of course respond to correspondence from parents. However I do this during working hours and not at the weekend and evenings. This is simply an attempt to ensure that my work doesn't over impact my personal and family time and I feel that this is not unreasonable. I can't be expected to be available at all times, which is why I operate this policy. I think it would be unreasonable to expect me to be available at all times as in any other profession this wouldn't be the case.

To address the comments about you bullying me. When you expressed your unhappiness that I did no longer have the full learning journal you requested I did explain that you can contact me via email or post at any time where I would of course address your concerns. However, you chose to repeatedly send me messages to my personal mobile. This is simply not acceptable and is harassment. The messages I have kept are proof of that fact and I found it particularly saddening and distressing that you would do this at a time when you understood there to be a family illness to cope with.

In terms of deleting your child's development file.
As I did explain, it was not deleted, it was lost due my computer breaking and for that I apologise. Since the laptop broke I now back up all files. I should make you aware that by law I am required to delete certain data after 3 months (such as photos) for confidentiality and child protection purposes however had they not been lost and if you'd requested them I would have of course given them to you before deleting them in accordance with regulations.

In closing, I do appreciate the short notice was not appreciated but I assure you it was unavoidable and I do thank you for you comments about being happy with my service whilst your child was under my care. I do, however, find it inappropriate and totally unfair to bombard me with messages. In short, this is bullying and not acceptable.

I hope that I have answered the concerns you raised. However, if not please feel free to use the complaints policy I have provided to you.

Kind regards,
Becky