Sarah
Childminder in High Wycombe
Usually responds within 24 hours
Female Member since Apr 2011 Last Updated Jun 2024 Last Login 14 Nov 2024
My Summary
About Me
About Me:
I am a kind, caring individual who simply adores looking after children. I have been in the industry for 30 years now, and the chidren never fail to suprise me! I simply love supporting the development of each child; they often have me in fits of giggles with their creative minds and wonderful imaginations.
I pride myself on being incredibly reliable, hard working and trustworthy and these qualities run through every aspect of my care provision. My interests include cooking, socialising with friends and venturing into the great outdoors.
My child care philosophy:
At the core of my practice lies the belief that every child is truly unique; I am child led in supporting development. I want every child in my care to feel valued and celebrated. I aim to create a family atmosphere with every child being given a role in all the activities I provide. I believe it is essential to work in partnership with parents/carers and I take a large amount of time during the settling in period to get to know each child and their families to ensure I support the same type of care that the child is receiving in their home environment. I believe in experiential learning, and where possible I take the children out of the home environment each morning. This could be to the park, fruit picking, the garden centre or the play centre, weather depending. I then use the afternoon session at home to work on either numeracy, literacy, ICT, expressive art or movement skills.
My home environment:
I live at home with my husband and Archie Cat. Archie Cat likes to join the group from time to time to be petted or have a general nose! I have a separate play room for the children to create a 'nursery feel'. The children are able to use the toilet to learn about personal hygeine as well as developing independence skills. I have a wide variety of toys which are stored at floor level, meaning the children are able to make choices over what they would lke to play with. I also have a lovely large garden which is full of toys and a range of lovely flowers to enhance the sensory experience of children. The children all receive freshly prepared food which is nutritionally balanced.
Meeting the needs of your child:
I conduct consistent, regular observations of your child which are stored in their learning journey booklet. Some of these are informal, where I will observe your child for a certain amount of time and take notes on what they are achieving. Every six weeks I carry out a formal assessment against the EYFS age related criteria to help support the Next Steps element of my planning. This progress will be shared with you daily through verbal feedback and also at formal reporting points. At any time should you wish to know more about your childs' progress, or you have any concerns you only need to ask me for a longer discussion.
A typical day in my care:
After completing the school run, the younger children in my care and I will choose our out of house activity. This could be either a trip to the park, toddler group, a play centre, fruit picking, the library, the garden centre.... this list is by no means exhaustive! Each child, where possible, has a chance to choose the activity across the week. In the case of very young children who may not yet talk, I will closely observe which activity they seemed to enjoy the most and I will let that guide which activity we select when it is their turn to choose. We then return home for lunch and/or a nap. In the afternoon I then will carry out one to one work with each child based on my Next Steps Planning for them following their formal assessment. We also play group games which are aimed at developing their skill set across the EYFS specification. Cuddles and encouragement are offered throughout the day; I want your child to feel as though they are at 'a home away from home' as I believe that when a child feels happy and secure in their environment, they truly flourish.
My Experience
- 30 years child-minding experience.
- Also qualified as a Community child-minder.
- Tutored for NCMA.
- Ofsed inspection February 2020 Rated outstanding for the second time.
My Qualifications
I have a level 3 Diploma in Childrens and Young People Workforce.
My Availability
I have spaces available in July 2024
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before School | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Morning | yes | no | no | yes | yes | no | no |
| Afternoon | yes | no | no | yes | yes | no | no |
| After School | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Evening | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Overnight | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Last Updated: 10/06/2024 | |||||||
My Fees
- Childminding from £6.25 per hour
Part-time day:£6.50
Full-time day £6.25p.h
After school children £6.50
Food for school age children is chargeable as are some activities
My Local Schools
- I provide pick ups at St Michael's Catholic School
My Ofsted Inspections
The inspection grades below have been obtained from the Ofsted website based upon the registration number the childminder has provided to us. You should verify this information yourself prior to using the childminder.
My Documents
- UK Driving Licence (added 17/02/2023)
- Inspection Report: ofsted inspection (added 26/02/2020)
- Inspection Report (added 07/05/2019)
Reviews
Below are the latest reviews for Sarah. Please note that reviews represent the subjective opinions of other Childcare.co.uk users and not of Childcare.co.uk. Parents must carry out their own checks and references on childcare providers to ensure that they are completely happy before enaging in the use of their services.
I stumbled across Sarah and Graham’s childminding after I decided to pull my little one out of nursery. My little one did not like nursery and we felt a smaller setting might be more to her liking. Thank goodness we did and found them!
Nursery had really distressed my little one and she was struggling to settle with anyone but me. I was dreading leaving her as well after the nursery fiasco but Sarah and Graham were beyond brilliant. I was warmly welcomed into their home to meet them and instantly felt like they were the team for us. After explaining our previous experience they were more than accommodating. Straight away they said about following our little ones needs which I couldn’t be more thrilled about. To help her settle in, we have gone slow but steady and this has helped massively. After 6 weeks, we are all agreed our little one has settled and I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have found them! My little one has now started going in with full smiles and it makes me feel so happy that she’s happy.
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Sarah has looked after my son since he was 5 months old. I honestly can’t praise her enough, she is kind, loving, caring and has become part of my family. My son absolutely adores her.
She keeps the children busy during the day with a range of activities and trips, there is no chance of them being bored. The children are always happy and settled in her setting and get on beautifully.
Sarah has helped shape my son into the wonderful, polite and helpful little boy he is today. She is keen on teaching good manners and most importantly great kindness and empathy for others.
She has helped prepare him for School and although we are back in the holidays it’s great loss to both myself and my son not seeing her on a daily basis.
You couldn’t ask for a better Childminder!
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She is amazing! I would not wish for anyone else to care for my children!
Back in 2008 I was so nervous about leaving my daughter, but Sarah made the whole process easy and supportive for my partner and I. Then Elena grew up and had to go to big school. She had the most amazing time with Sarah. 2 years later and we was back at Sarah's with our 9 month old son PRAYING she had a place for him! ( I mean she is that good I would of cried if she said 'no room').
Sarah cared for him until this Christmas when we emigrated to Australia. Now I know I have a challenge trying to find anywhere half as good for him.
Sarah is kind, supportive, understanding and above all very professional.
I have never seen anyone have such a calming effect on kids.
Would I recommend her? YES!!!!!
And if you are looking around for someone then you must give her a call to see if she has any places left!
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Sarah has looked after my son for the last year and is absolutely fantastic. d I am sad that her time looking after him has come to an end which is only down to him being offered a free place at the nursery where my son attends school and my husband losing his job.
I have used the services of 4 other childminders for both my children and she is head and shoulders above the rest. She treats it as her full time job (which it is!) and not just as an easy way to earn money by dumping the children in front of the TV or dragging them around the shops every day which many others do. She takes all the children out for activities virtually every day which include soft play, toddler groups, parties, walks, the park, woods, visit to Santa and many more. She always ensured he was well looked after, entertained and fed whilst in her care. She has helped him with his speech and spends time drawing, reading and doing arts and crafts with him.
My son adores her and Diesel the dog (who is a softy so no worries about dogs and children!) He made friends with all the other children and was always happy to be dropped off and happy when collected which is of paramount importance.
I would not hesitate to recommend Sarah to anyone and will keep in touch with her as we are both sad that due to financial reasons we no longer need a childminder.
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I am sad to say that my daughters time with Sarah has come to an end. We began to use Sarah back in 2008 since our daughter was 18 months for 5 days a week. However she is bigger now and must go to school.
In the past 3 years our daughter has really blossomed into a well rounded individual who is confident, imaginative and polite. She has made a beautiful connection with Sarah and the other children.
I have never had any cause for concern with the care provided, I would even go as far to say that Sarah IS outstanding!
I would recommend Sarah to anyone and also in the words of my 4 year old, 'Sarah's Bear hunts are the best!'
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