Karen
Childminder in South Norwood
Usually responds within 12 hours
Female Member since Jul 2016 Last Updated Aug 2024 Last Login 02 Nov 2024
My Summary
Rainbow Eyes
About Me
1 funded or non funded space available from Sept 2024
Dear families,
I am an Ofsted registered early years educator based in SE25 - graded Outstanding in all areas and am a qualified Level 3 Forest School Teacher. My setting is predominantly a forest school setting.
My personality is upbeat, bubbly and energetic, honest and reliable. I am loyal and try hard in my role, self-motivated to get out and do something at every opportunity.
I have my own young children and enjoy helping very young people learn and believe adults can support the nurturing and positive happy memory building in our young peoples' minds. Confidence is not always natural. However, we can build it through positive experiences, life skills and education.
Health and good food is very important to me and my family. We like trying new and interesting healthy food to further develop healthy food favourites. I am registered with the Healthy Early Years London (HEYL) scheme (by the MAYOR OF LONDON).
Traveling and culture is a passion. I have many different cultures in my family and we love learning about new places. My family lives all over the world (Japan, China, Jamaica and Australia). I appreciate this and I believe it helps me to be further understanding, accepting and respectful of different cultures and beliefs.
I came to the UK from the Sapphire Coast of Australia for 3 months in 2000 while traveling Europe. I never left!. I bought a house here in SE25, with my husband since 2005.
My husband and I have two daughters - 11 and 13 years old, both in secondary school from September 2024. Since the birth of my first child I started to delve into child development subsequently a desire to spend more time in education, specifically in the early years. I enjoy the special position, supporting young ones to develop confidence and become independent and happy individuals. I enjoy schemas and making children's learning visible.
In April 2015 I embraced an opportunity to quit work in the city as a legal PA and be at home while my eldest daughter began the transition into reception at our local primary school. A decision I will never regret.
Our week/routines
I have a vegetable garden plot on an allotment (locally) which we spend time learning about planting and harvesting, compost and general garden life in all seasons.
I regularly arrange music and play sessions with other childminders at my setting and in public locations. I run my own outdoor forest frolic group weekly where we enjoy the plenty resources nature provides as well as cooking outside (weather safety permitting). I assist my colleague in our own stay and play weekly sessions where a hall is hired for our early years education (childminding community). This is a valuable opportunity for the children to mingle and get to know other children in a nursery vibe social environment while still being part of a more intimate home based care arrangement. I enjoy this tight private network while still enjoying the public arrangements offered in our community. The Childminding community has been very special during a time when social, emotional and personal development in general has been so negatively affected, in particular, the early years development of children. I am so pleased that these children have excelled in their PSED.
Books!!! We all love books in our home and we have too many to count from all over the world and from many different walks of life and interests. We read books when we are home, out and about, in the park, the woods, at play group, in the garden and out and about.
We have a good sized back yard with a shed literally filled with resources and toys and extra room for sheltered play for outside activities in all weather conditions. Our backyard has a cubby-house, bikes, trikes, scooters and loads of early years fun like portable sand and water play, paints, music and role play activities etc.
My premises is a 2 minute walk to South Norwood Library, the sport ground and playground and about a 15 minute walk to South Norwood Lakes and Selhurst Children's Centre where I have been taking both my children for over 11 years. We also frequent the South Norwood Country Park and utilise what nature offers us in any safe outside environment possible.
It is a five minute walk to Norwood Junction Train Station and about 10 minutes to Selhurst Train Station, bus stops within few minutes walk, including X68 (express bus to Russel Square - first stop Waterloo) and 468, 157, 75, 410, 197 and many others.
School service to and from Cypress Primary
My Experience
Before living in London, I was heavily into Natural Horsemanship, instructing and assisting children and adults, including people with additional or special needs, (vision and hearing impaired), how to handle, ride and enjoy horses and life.
In 2015/2016 I helped children transition from reception to year 1 as a teacher for 5 - 6 y/o - in a local primary academy.
I have experience with children of all ages and have always found ways to support them in my life through various friends and family and professionally.
Both my husband and I have the required enhanced DBS certificates linked to our current address of 19 years.
I have advanced Paediatric First Aid and Forest School and outdoor learning First Aid certificates dated March 20th 2022 (two separate certificates for medical first aid training which covers the more advanced scenarios dealing with remote and outdoor emergencies.
Additional certificates I will mention below.
References available, I welcome you to message me to request these.
My Qualifications
Last Ofsted inspection 21 March 2019. OUTSTANDING overall. Please feel free to request a copy of my report from childcare.co.uk
Level 3 Leadership Forest School Teacher - since May 2020
CACHE Level 3 - EYFS & Home-Based Childcare - July 2015
Level 2 and level 3 Working in Schools and Supporting the Wider Curriculum - March 2016 (Ofqual - OCR)
Designated Safeguarding Lead Course completed October 2022
Paediatric Infant, Child and adult - Level 3 First Aid - 19 March 2022
Forest School and Outdoor First Aid - Level 3 dated 20 March 2022
Level 2 - Food Hygiene and Safety - last updated October 2023
Planning in the moment - October 2020
52 week Hyggie - Early years and outdoor learning
Healthy Early Years London - 2019 to current. HEYL programme by the mayor of London.
Making children's learning visible - reflective practice programme - since March 2019
Many personal development courses taken during 2016 through to 2019, 2020 to 2024.
More CPD training throughout which can be viewed upon request.
Webinars kindly provided by childcare.co.uk every month for additional CPD and refreshers and continued growth.
Relating to childcare and education only, however, should you wish to know more about previous qualifications just ask.
Please feel free to peruse my course work portfolios and view any certificates, should you be interested.
My Availability
I encourage open realistic conversation about the needs of families.
Please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss future childcare requirements.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before School | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
| Morning | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
| Afternoon | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
| After School | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
| Evening | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Overnight | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Last Updated: 30/08/2024 | |||||||
My Fees
- Childminding from £9.51 per hour
My Local Schools
- I provide drop offs and pick ups at Cypress Primary 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
- Exam Certificate (added 04/04/2023)
- First Aid Certificate: Paediatric First Aid (added 01/11/2022)
- First Aid Certificate: Forest School First Aid (added 01/11/2022)
- Ofsted Certificate (added 11/04/2020)
- First Aid Certificate: First Aid Certificate - 15 June 2019 (added 01/07/2019)
- Inspection Report: Ofsted Inspection Report - 21 March 2019 (added 01/07/2019)
Reviews
Below are the latest reviews for Karen. 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 cannot recommend Karen highly enough as a childminder. From the moment our son, Fela, started going to her at just one year old, we knew we had found someone truly special. Over the 14 months he spent in her care, Karen not only became a key part of Fela's life, but also a wonderful support to us as parents.
Karen creates such a warm, nurturing environment where children feel safe, happy, and excited to learn. Her forest school setting is a real highlight, with daily adventures in nature allowing the children to explore the outdoors and develop a love for the world around them. Fela absolutely loved his time with Karen—he looked forward to going every morning, gleefully calling her "TAREN." They spent hours in local parks, and thanks to Karen's strong community of fellow childminders, Fela had the perfect balance of individual attention and opportunities to socialise with other children.
The impact of Karen's care on Fela has been remarkable. Since starting nursery, we've had so many comments on his calm temperament and his ability to play independently—traits we know were nurtured during his time with her. Karen goes above and beyond, always thinking about how to support both the children and their parents. She often helped with pick-ups and drop-offs when we were stuck, which made such a difference during our busiest times.
As a parent herself, Karen truly understands the challenges of juggling work and family, and her empathy shines through in everything she does. I also came to cherish the chats we'd have at drop-off and collection—Karen’s warmth and positive energy were always a bright start to my day (even if I did miss a few trains in the process!).
We are so grateful to Karen for the love, care, and joy she brought to Fela’s early years. We couldn't have asked for a better start for him, and I would recommend her wholeheartedly to any parent.
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Our daughter was with Karen from 14 months til starting pre-school at 3.5. As a Covid baby we wanted her to be in a small, warm, family-like environment and Karen provides just that.
Karens passion for nature rubs off on the kids and it’s great that although we live in London they get to experience being out in the green spaces, allotment and forest school as much as possible.
Karen provides a variety of healthy food and had my daughter eating all sorts of cuisine and veggies that we wouldn’t necessarily make at home.
Karen also focuses on socialising the kids with other childminders and their charges so it felt like the best of both worlds - a small, calm and caring environment but also regular exposure to playing with other groups of children like in a nursery.
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Karen looked after my daughter from 18 months until she was nearly 3 and I couldn’t have wished for a better person to leave her with. She is so caring, open, honest and provides a stimulating environment for all the children in her care. She is full of energy and life and regularly takes the children on outings and does activities with them. She is obviously passionate about helping children learn and grow and I felt so secure leaving my daughter in her hands. I was regularly updated with photos and messages about how she was getting on. She also provides healthy, tasty food and looked after my daughter carefully in regards to the allergies she has. It is clear that Karen genuinely cares about the children and their families and is inspired to help people who need some extra support with their little ones.
I would highly recommend Karen and feel extremely lucky to have found her!
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Karen looked after our daughter from when she was 8 months old until she went to preschool. She formed a really close bond with her and had a lot of fun with the friends she met there. Karen takes the children on great trips to museums, farms and locally to groups as well as having great premises at her home with a garden that the children enjoyed a lot.
I knew I didn't have to worry at all when my daughter was with Karen, she was really well cared for, fed healthy food and I'd often receive photos of what they were up to during the day. Whenever she could Karen was flexible and during school holidays was also able to look after my son, who had lots of fun there playing with Karen's daughters. My daughter even had a sleepover at Karen's once and it was great to know she was in safe hands!
Taking on a childminder is a bit like extending your family and we were relieved and delighted when we found someone we were so happy with to look after our daughter. It's been sad moving on from Rainbow EYES but I think Karen will be part of our lives for a long time!
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by
Parent
about
Karen
on 20/09/2018
Response by
Karen
on 22/09/2018:
Thank you so much for your kind review. I miss my little friend and am so happy she is settled into and enjoying pre-school. Such a privilege exploring, experiencing and learning together. xx
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