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.

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