Our little girl is almost two, and she joined Roxanne and her little explorers for full days from a few months ago; she has absolutely loved it right from the start. This especially surprised me as she was at home with me for the first year and a half, so it was a huge change for her, but she has so much to get stuck in to, the environment is very positive and engaging and she loved Roxanne immediately so had no trouble settling in.

Roxanne is a brilliant childminder, so bubbly, happy and full of energy and incredibly creative ideas which focus around the children’s individual interests and learning focus points. Our little one loves crafts and is constantly creating amazing little projects involving things from the kitchen store cupboard and pieces they’ve collected whilst on nature hunts - amongst other things I have a beautiful pasta bracelet and a conker caterpillar :)

One of the main reasons I chose Roxanne’s little explorers was that having visited a lot of other settings I wasn’t keen on the idea of our little one being indoors for a large part of the day, we’re an active and outdoorsy family and I am keen for her to learn about, and love the great outdoors.

I’d also like her to learn about where food comes from and get involved in growing and eating fruit and vegetables from an early age. So I was pretty bowled over by Roxanne’s set up, as she has chickens and home grown fruit and veggies in her garden, which the children all help with. She regularly incorporates the home grown fruit and veg into the day’s meals and baking with the children which I think is brilliant, and helps to give them a real interest in good food. Ours was becoming a little fussy with her eating and Roxanne has improved this 100% getting her to eat and enjoy new foods and I’m so grateful for this.

An important point to mention is her organisation and the varied but structured routine, all her little tribe know what’s what and are happy and secure. Each day consists of a good and bad weather option, and rain doesn’t necessarily mean they’re indoors hooray!

Summer especially has been incredible - splash parks, paddling in streams, meeting farm animals, running around woodlands and enjoying the outdoors in the morning. Then healthy snacks, naps, home made lunch and an afternoon of activities back at her house usually in the garden, paddling pool or using the tuff tray setup that’s different every day.

Our little one had the added benefit of being with Roxanne’s lovely children Skyla and Logan for most of the summer too, they’re brilliant with her and I’m sure she sees them all as an extension to the family!

Winter activities are shaping up to be just as exciting with a range of different activity days and playgroups in the morning, and tuff tray based creative activities in the afternoon.

Our little girls talking, numeracy, knowledge and happy, confident character have developed incredibly well over the past few months, and in no small way due to Roxanne’s hard work.

Roxanne has a lovely daily diary which goes back and forth which tells me everything they’ve done, eaten and what activities have worked particularly well for capturing little ones imaginations for example. She does periodic reviews with parents to report back on where little ones are on the EYFS curriculum and works with us as parents on areas to build on.

Also I get photos and videos every day throughout the day, which I absolutely love to see!

I trust her completely with our little ones safety and well-being and appreciate that she lets them be kids and explore whilst having a keen eye on this.

In summary...I can’t recommend Roxanne highly enough she’s just fantastic and we’ll definitely be with her until school and beyond.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication