Jens Little Owls

Fantastic - I can't recommend highly enough

My son has thrived with Jen - he looks forward to going every day, to seeing his friends, to playing in Jen's huge garden, planting flowers, picking vegetables, painting, building, reading, dancing, singing. He loves going on trips to the farm and the park, eating Jen's gorgeous lunches, and doing regular yoga sessions. She sends updates every evening on the activities they've enjoyed, the food they've eaten, the progress they've made. My son takes real pleasure in showing us what he's learned that day - counting, phonics, how to do 'calm breathing', and I feel really confident that Jen has more than prepared him for school. I'm genuinely sad to say goodbye - choosing Jen's Little Owls for my son was one of the best decisions we've made - and I'll admit, I'm a little jealous of the next family who will take our place...

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by Eva on 05/07/2023

Reliable childcare of quality standard

Our oldest son was just a 1/2 years old when we first met Jen - she was the Room Lead for the nursery which we sent him to and it was immediately clear she was a trustworthy & hardworking carer who took her responsibilities of leading the younger rooms seriously. Our child had quite a timid character and required more 1:1 reassurance at that age, and we saw that Jen was one of the few carers who understood well how to support his development at the nursery.

Fast forward a few years, we were fortunate enough to secure her childminding services again in Sept 2018, when our son (now 7 years old) moved to the school where she does after-school pickups and care in her own home. She continued to demonstrate the same professional care & work ethics we first experienced when we first met her, but we were even more impressed by the way she was doing it all on a self-employed basis. There's no doubt it is a huge amount more work for her this way, but the fact our son really enjoys going to her place after school is testament to the credibility she has built up. Even during school breaks, he would often ask if he could go to Jen's for the day compared to other camps/clubs we present to him as options.

She has a sizeable setting for the intimate number of children she has (mixed ages), both indoors and outdoors. She also embodies many values we feel are important in terms of parenting - lots of fresh air outdoors weather permitting (our son loves football in her spacious garden), a variety of activities/crafts if they have to be indoors, plus her meal menus are healthy & home-prepared (a lot less sugary and processed than the type of thing served up in private nurseries despite them having dedicated cooks/chefs). She even gets the children to make progress on some of the school projects assigned, so they can work on it over days/weeks (saves us working parents a bit of time!). When our son goes for the occasional full day at her place during school holidays, she takes them to parks/farms as well which is a great touch.

Her childminding style is very supportive yet sensible, with a calm and easy-going demeanour which works well with most children. We have complete trust & confidence in the standard of care she provides for our son and highly recommend her for anyone who is looking for a quality, intimate setting for their child(ren). In fact, when our youngest one is old enough to start Reception in the school, we will be enrolling him to Jen's assuming she has a space available!

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by Parent on 12/04/2019

Highly recommended

Although Jen was our nanny, the principles of childminding are the same. We therefore highly recommend Jen who worked for us from November 2006 to December 2013 for our two boys, who were 6 and 2 when she started.

For the first five years, Jen worked full time, five days a week. After her maternity leave, she worked part time bringing her child with her, three days a week after school.

Jen was a superb nanny over the whole period. She is very reliable and punctual and has very high standards.

Jen did much more than her basic duties of looking after our children and cooking meals for them. She actively encouraged good behaviour from them. She also helped them with homework and was very creative when it came to activities during the holidays. She is also a good cook, producing a range of healthy meals which the boys really enjoyed.

We still see Jen and her family regularly and wish her every success as a childminder.

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by Parent on 15/08/2018

The best person !!!

I found Jen through this website and after meeting her in her setting I made a decision straight away. She’s the best person, she loves children, is very attentive and caring and is always doing new activities with the kids and recording everything and reporting on the same day! I am amazed at how much effort she puts and how much attention to details she has.
My 3 y.o son flourished and became confident and outgoing , she very kindly catered for his vegan diet ( he loved every meal ) and her garden is better than ALL the nurseries I have seen( I visited four private nurseries in the area including Brig Horizons) and I can tell her place is the best. It’s very clean too.
I used multiple childminders before with my oldest child and I can tell the experience was completely different than I had now with Jen taking care of my son, with Jen you feel like he’s getting a nursery experience(with so much learning and stimulation) but in a more loving and personal setting.It’s “ best of both worlds “ . My husband was also very impressed and happy that I found Jen as he said our son “ couldn’t be in better hands “.
She’s kind and nicely spoken too.

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by Parent on 07/08/2018

Can’t recommend enough!

We’re so happy that we found Jen to look after our son. He absolutely loves going to her home, and we know that he’s amazingly well cared for.
Jen seems to have new things to play with every week, and organises new and fun activities each time he’s there. She also makes sure he goes out every day (either to the park, or playgroups or even trips to the farm).
Her feedback is great, and we get an online daily diary with photos and all the things they’ve done that day.
The menus are also incredible, everything is cooked from scratch, very healthy and exactly the sort of food I want my child to eat and enjoy.
I honestly can’t recommend Jen’s Little Owls enough, I feel like he’s treated as one of the family and it’s given us such peace of mind to have complete confidence in Jen.

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by Parent on 07/03/2018