Carmen And Marta

Exceptional Care, Cultural Learning, and Support

We arrived in London in March 2023 with our 1-year-and-3-month-old daughter. From that moment, we began searching for a place where she could feel safe, well cared for, and nurtured—a place that would also give us peace of mind as parents as we embarked on a new stage in our professional and family lives in a different country. We were incredibly lucky to find Carmen and Marta through this portal.

Our daughter stayed with them until December 2024, during which time she quickly picked up English, formed strong bonds with them, and learned to interact with other children in a safe and nurturing environment. She also discovered different cultures through the wonderful celebrations and teachings they introduced. They even took the time to talk about and teach her and her classmates about our home country, Chile, helping her stay connected to her roots while also fostering cultural exchange. She learned to count, sing, engage with others, and—most importantly—feel secure in her new home.

Every day, they provided us with detailed updates about her activities, meals, and overall well-being. They even supported us with potty training, guiding her through this important milestone with patience and care. Most importantly, they were an invaluable source of support for us as a family. Moving from Chile to a completely new country, without an existing support network, was a challenge—but Carmen and Marta were always there for us, offering guidance, reassurance, and kindness whenever we needed it.

We are truly grateful to have met them and for the almost two years our daughter spent in their care. Without a doubt, everything she learned with Carmen and Marta has helped her grow into a confident and happy child, now thriving in primary school.

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by Natalia on 27/02/2025

Home from home

My little one started with Carmen and Marta when he was 6 months and stayed till he was 3.

It was akin to leaving him with an aunt. In fact that is what they became to him over the 2.5 years he was there. They were extremely conscience childminders - mixing in learning and play. He grew and was stimulated and cared for. He made deep friendships with the other children and every element of him from his emotional state to his physical well being was looked after. They did little trips in the city which was always awesome to witness and in the summer time they spend lots of time
playing in the park and garden.

I cannot recommend them highly enough for what they do and I miss seeing having them as part of my daily life too.

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by Esther on 27/02/2025

The perfect start

Our daughter started with Carmen and Marta as she turned 1. From the very first day she ran into their warm setting with a smile on her face and excited to make friends, learn and play.

She was lucky to be in a wonderful group or children who all became very close. The setting was a home from home but also somewhere she leant manners, refined her fine motor skills and found a passion for reading and language which far exceeded our expectations.

Carmen, Marta and their team go out of their way to create a compassionate, safe and disciplined environment that nurtures expression, learning and fun. Our daughter was set up brilliantly for pre-school and we can't recommend highly enough.

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by Susie on 14/10/2023

Wonderful childminders

We couldn't have been happier to send our 1 year old boy to Carmen and Marta. It is such a loving, nurturing and stimulating environment. We were so nervous on the first day at drop off, and being a lockdown baby, we weren't sure how well our son would settle. Within the first few hours, after endless loving cuddles from his new aunties, he settled right in. He truly thrived there. The setting is the perfect size to enable little ones to form close bonds with playmates. The weekly range of activities are brilliant e.g. messy play, story time, singing, watching caterpillars grow into butterflies, playing in the lovely garden picking fruit, trips to the park, local fire station, garden centre, science museum and even Santa's grotto! The loving support from Carmen and Marta is truly incredible, and they supported my boy through some very big milestones e.g. potty training, a house move and the arrival of a new baby brother. My little boy moved onto preschool at aged 3, but we immediately signed our second child up for a place at Carmen and Marta's. I can't wait for his adventures there to begin in March 2024!

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by Sophie on 13/10/2023

Fantastic childminders

We chose Carmen and Marta for our daughter because of the warmth that we immediately felt as soon as we met them. Not only are they incredibly professional, with regular reports and assessments via the Kinderly app, but they are incredibly loving women who nurture and educate our daughter.
We love the size of the setting, two childminders and 6 children, to us, is the perfect combination. Big enough for our daughter to socialise and have friends of all ages, but small enough that she is known incredibly well.
Carmen and Marta organise fantastic activities each day. Activities in the setting include painting, sticking, cutting, play doh, water play, muddy kitchen, loads of toys, themed activities eg for world book day, Halloween, Christmas, they even helped make pancakes on shrove Tuesday. They celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, divali, Australia Day, Earth day etc etc. Recently, they were lucky enough to ‘grow’ caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies.
Important to us, is the children are out most days, they go to the park, the greengrocers etc and are so well-trained to walk safely. We didn’t have to teach our daughter safety, she knows she has to hold the pram or our hands when crossing the road as they have instilled this in her.
They are fantastic at mixed age groups. Our daughter started at 10 months and adored watching the older kids with their activities whilst she did age appropriate tasks. Now she is one of the older ones and helps the little ones or is taught to gently play or share with them.
We thoroughly recommend Carmen and Marta. In fact, we think they are so great we have signed our (as yet unborn) son up to start with them in a year’s time!

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by Hester on 22/07/2022

Carmen & Marta are truly amazing!

Our daughter could not be in better hands.

Our two-year-old daughter has been going there since she was 10 months old. She loves loves loves them! And we do too! Carmen and Marta give our daughter affection and love, and teach her so many things, like recently putting on her coat by herself!

Carmen and Marta have perfectly accompanied our daughter in all areas of her development, emotional, motor, sensory, language, cognitive, social, and physical.

The kids do lots of great creative and educational activities (drawing, painting, textures, stories, crafts, shapes, colours, every day there’s something new); and they do outdoor activities every day (weather permitting). Our daughter learns, plays, laughs, has fun with friends, discovers nature, all this in a safe, secure, joyful and loving environment.

We chat with Carmen and Marta every morning when we drop our daughter off, every evening when we pick her up. During the day, we receive great photos. If we have any questions, they are always very available, and they always keep us informed if our daughter has fever for instance.

We will remember for the rest of our lives the first day we left our daughter. We felt a sadness that we had never felt before. After a few days, we felt light as a feather knowing she was in such a loving and caring environment.

We recommend them highly and without reservation.

Johanna & Catlyne

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by Johanna on 18/03/2022

Excellent

Our son has been going to Marta and Carmens for over 2 years and loves going. They keep the kids entertained with lovely creative and educational activities. It’s more than just a childminders as they make it feel like an extended family!
They have been really helpful and have been able accommodate any extra requests like one off drop offs to our home while I was heavily pregnant.
Would highly recommend!

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by Gill on 26/06/2020

Excellent childminders

My child has been attending the setting run by Marta and Carmen for a year now and he absolutely loves it. He looks forward to his day with them. Both Marta and Carmen are accommodating and look after him and other children with love and care.

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by patrycja on 28/01/2020

Our son (nearly 2) loves Tia Carmen & Tia Marta!

Our son has been with Carmen and Marta now for 9 months and we could not be happier. From when he started, the day before he turned one, Carmen and Marta completely put me at ease and made the transition back to work so much easier.
The care and love they give the children is clear to see and the creative work they do with them is fantastic and far beyond anything I could even think about doing. They plan the activities and outings around the calender year for example Chinese New year, valentine's day, easter etc.
We get regular updates throughout the day and are kept up to date of his development via kinderly (a specialist childcare app). They really have a special environment whereby the children get individual attention but in a setting with a number of others so that they learn social interaction from a young age.
Our son is always saying the names of his buddies at Carmen and Marta's house and wants to play with them even on weekends which highlights to us how happy he is in their care.

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by Nicki on 02/06/2019

I couldn't be happier with Carmen and Marta!

I was very anxious about leaving my son in childcare, he had literally never been left with anyone for his first year of life, we had been joined at the hip! The thought of him being with a stranger was so daunting for me.

I visited a number of childcare providers and when I went to see Carmen and Marta and saw how warm and loving they were with my then 7 month old I felt like this would be a place where he would be loved in the same way he's loved at home.

Our son loves Carmen and Marta, even though he still cries when we drop him off the important thing I clearly observe each day is how happy he is when I pick him up - he's babbling away, running around, smiling and laughing which is an obvious indication that he is well looked after and having fun.

We get regular updates which give us peace of mind and I love seeing all the fun activities the children get up to. Carmen and Marta provide lots of different resources for the children to engage with including outdoor excursions. My son especially enjoys the craft days including painting.

If we have any concerns about our son we discuss them with Carmen and Marta and they have been so helpful and patient with my worries about my son's fussy eating. I absolutely love them!

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by Camila on 13/03/2019