Karen is more than a wonderful childminder; she has educated and nurtured our daughter and in eight short months has fostered a distinct boost in the things our daughter can do and say independently, from toileting to speaking, from letter recognition to fine motor skills and beyond. Our daughter loved going to Karen's, being excited about it before bed and running into our bedroom in the morning yelling that it was a KAREN DAY!

One of the fantastic things about Karen is her excellent communication. She makes sure that she has your phone numbers from the off, creating a bespoke WhatsApp group, and sharing photos and updates on the activities your child gets up to throughout the day. Karen gives you a diary when you first start and this is updated daily with a written record of what the children did and what the children ate during their time with her. Additionally, she also maintains a daily, private Facebook page by invitation only in which she gives group context to the activities that she has shared over WhatsApp and in the diary. This level of communication and transparency is a real plus. Every day, we knew that our daughter was happy, well cared for, and was eating, drinking and toileting well. She also keeps a running record in the form of a scrapbook of the activities that your child does, and after our final session with Karen, it was lovely to look back and see all of the wonderful things our daughter had done with Karen in the eight months she was under her care.

Karen is extremely flexible in terms of food, promoting choice and independence is always happy to work to suggestions. She helped promote potty training in our daughter, who was soon completely dry over the course of a 7-8 hour day with Karen.

Karen is truly one of a kind. She is not only a great childminder, conscientious of the children's wants and needs, but also as an ex-teacher, she uses this knowledge of how children progress best to plan fun, thought-provoking activities. Never is a day phoned in, every day is different and well thought out, e.g. activities based around World Deafness Day, Road Safety activities from her safety of her garden, approved trips to the park, pumpkin decorating, etc. Never is there the feeling of putting your child in somewhere it is being thrown together. Every day is new and every day is planned and beneficial to the children in her care.

After eight months, our child is ready to start at a pre-school minutes walk away from our home. Whilst we know that she will receive excellent care and attention there, we can't half going to miss our Karen Days.

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• Communication