Helpingh

About Me

I've lived on Kings Hill with my hubby for the past 17 years. We have a 12 year old son.

I am a careful driver & own my own car & hold a clean driving licence. I am fully insured for business use.

Our home is a friendly, happy, welcoming spacious family home. Our garden is fully enclosed & of a good size. It is laid with artificial grass for all year round use with a variety of ride on toys, sandpit, Wendy house & slide. We live opposite to one of the safe secure playground areas on the estate. I rotate the toys on a regular basis to keep interest & learning potential.

I firmly believe parents need to feel confident that their children/child is well looked after & is happy to be with the chosen childminder. They will then flourish & gain confidence whilst happily learning new skills & developing existing ones. Parents themselves, need to feel they have a good working relationship with their chosen childminder to raise concerns with & build a professional, close, effective relationship. I feel that on both counts I can offer a safe professional and reliable service which is also value for money.

I feel I have the knowledge, patience and compassion to deal with the many things that affect children such as separation anxiety, teething, potty training and those who are fussy eaters.

We enjoy regular visits to Kent Life and Rare Breeds which as you may know has lots of farm animals, tractor & donkey rides, a sandpit, soft play area + lots more. I also regularly attend Leeds castle, Toddler groups such as "Messy Play", various music classes & undertake visits to various parks and soft play areas. We love to go out in all weathers I believe children learn best through play experiences & I realise it is important to offer them a wide variety & learning potential.

All perspective customers receive a 'Welcome Pack' containing all of my terms and conditions and working procedures. I feel it is important that the parents have complete visibility of the way I operate and have the ability to ask any questions / raise any concerns they have prior to service commencement.

I also offer a daily diary and photographs including observations for EYFS.
End of term developmental assessments in line with EYFS. 2 year old development check (EYFS requirement) & transitional documents. All of these are intended to be an informal two way flow of information between myself and parents which can be kept to look back on in years to come.

I have been assessed by PACEY (July 2014) and am able to offer funding for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

One thing guaranteed is that we will all have fun in both indoor and outdoor play and I hope that you consider me as your registered childminder to safeguard your child and aid his/hers early years development whilst giving you absolute piece of mind.

REVEIWS

My daughter Emilia attends Debbie’s childcare setting on a Monday and Tuesday. Emilia adores Debbie and always wants to come and be looked after by her. It is such a caring and happy setting, where she feels valued and is encouraged to develop in all aspects. Emilia is quite shy but under Debbie, she has grown in confidence and always keen to share her news, special events and just what she has done at the weekend with her and this is mainly because she views her as such an important person in her life.
In terms of supporting her development and communication with me as a parent, I am very happy with the care Debbie gives. The daily record book provides me with a detailed account on what has happened in the day and this is complimented by a wealth of photos which Emilia loves to share with me and her daddy. Key progress reports are always timely and illustrate such a great understanding of Emilia. I always comment on how we as parents will support Emilia more and Debbie is very considerate to our wishes.
The varied visits to local libraries, farms, toddler groups, parks ensure that Emilia has access to a varied and rich experience. Debbie always sets up the setting with toys that are engaging and have purpose. Emilia loves painting, learning to write her name and completing activities designed to increase her fine motor skills. Her most favourite thing is reading with Debbie and the other children, Debbie’s love of reading and engaging the children with literature is such a wonderful part of her provision.
Under Debbie’s care Emilia is flourishing. This is due to Debbie’s welcoming persona where all the children get along with each other and are happy and thriving. I feel very lucky to have Debbie looking after my daughter.

Annabel Cornall

Oscar has been looked after by Debbie for around 18 months. He’s been very happy in Debbie’s care and Debbie always keeps me informed as to how he’s getting on and any issues that may arise. Oscar’s developed socially whilst at Debbie’s and has become more confident in being around other people without me or my husband being present. Oscar has also developed through the creative activities that Debbie sets, such as painting, drawing, making things and baking.
I have no hesitation in recommending Debbie’s child minding service.

Mrs S Hartnup

Parent Feedback – Debra Hawkins (Helping Hand)

Overall Effectiveness
Debbie has provided childcare for our son for two days a week since January 2018. Since that time we have seen him flourish under her care and leadership. We feel that her setting has provided him with the perfect balance of support and challenge. He is encouraged to stretch his abilities, try new things and gain more independence whilst also having a caring and supportive childcare provider who meets his needs. Nathan loves going to Debbie’s, which we know is testament to the outstanding care she provides. He has also formed strong bonds with his peers and seeing the way those friendships have developed and the social skills he has gained through Debbie’s nurturing approach make us so proud. We would absolutely recommend Debbie as a care provider and are very happy that our second son will be joining her in September.

Effectiveness of Leadership and Management
We feel that Debbie has a very strong ethos and a clear vision for how she runs her setting. She creates an environment that is caring, nurturing and supportive but also has high expectations for the standards of behaviour and how the children should treat and respect one another. I have witnessed her deal with a conflict between Nathan and another child for a toy and she used language both children could understand, diffused the situation very quickly and ensured both children returned to playing contentedly. It is clear how much all the children in the setting respect her. You can tell just from being in her setting just how happy the children are.

Debbie’s communication with us as parents is excellent. We receive WhatsApp messages during the day with updates on activities and I love seeing the pictures of what he has been up to. She also notifies us in advance of planned activities so we can pack the right things in his day bag, and also communicates verbally and in Nathan’s contact book things that we need to be aware of – for example how long he has slept, what he has eaten, new patterns of behavior etc.

Quality of Teaching, Learning and Management
We feel that Debbie has a strong grip on Nathan’s learning and development needs and is proactive in making sure he is stretched in her setting. She is creative in developing activities that enable him to try new things and learn new skills in a way that is fun and engaging. For example, when working on his fine motor skills, she came up with the idea of using pipe cleaners and cheerios to make bird feeders. She regularly bakes with the children and does painting and art activities. There is good variety in this activity and focuses on different skills. Although Nathan is younger than the other children, she encourages him to stretch himself and participate in the same activities, adapting them where needed to make sure he is able to take part fully. This has really encouraged him to come on leaps and bounds with things such as communication (his vocabulary constantly surprises us), knowledge of number and recognition of letters.

We love that she takes the children out regularly to places such as Kent Life, the Royal British Legion, the Rare Breeds Centre and playgroups. Also that she utilises her garden or the park opposite her house daily so that Nathan is able to engage in indoor as well as outdoor play. The free-flow into the outside space was important to us in choosing a setting. Nathan’s physical development has been supported by such activity – for example, Debbie helps him to “balance” on stepping stone/logs in the park and he is very able in climbing up the climbing frames and down the slides, developing upper body strength. She also encourages the children to use chalks on the ground, so that Nathan is learning through play and doing mark making. To me, this wider development of his knowledge and understanding of the world, physical development and social skills are just as important as learning letters and numbers, and Debbie really gets that it is about the whole child.

Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare
We are extremely pleased with the way that Nathan has continued to develop under Debbie’s care. Debbie is always responsive to things we tell her about the way Nathan is developing. When we were potty training recently, she found a book to help Nathan and made it seamless for him by keeping practices as similar to at home as possible. He took to using the toilet with Debbie straight away and has had no accidents, which again is testament to the relationship he has developed with Debbie and how confident he feels in her setting. Debbie also focuses on things that interest Nathan and uses those to help develop his learning. For example, Nathan loves spotting traffic lights in the car, shouting “go, go, go” for green. Debbie has continued to play that game with him and the other children in the car, and also found a traffic light toy for use in the house and has used it to reinforce colours and the notion of stop and go.
Debbie is also very effective at encouraging Nathan to develop his own independence – for example, helping him to learn to take his own shoes off on arrival and to sit himself in his car seat (she then makes sure he is clipped in!). He is now confident in doing these things at home with us too.

Debbie also encourages Nathan to try new foods and provides a healthy and varied lunch. She will often encourage the children to make their own snacks – for example, practicing buttering toast or making an egg sandwich.

Outcomes for Children
Nathan really has thrived in Debbie’s setting. Debbie focuses on making sure the children learn through fun, and Nathan is always happy when telling us what he has done with Debbie that day. Nathan’s speech is developing rapidly, and I feel that a large part of that can be attributed to the way that Debbie has helped him to develop. She constantly chats to the children, engages them in games that encourage them to develop their language and clarity of speech and uses singing and dancing to engage them. Debbie knows that Nathan loves Thomas the Tank Engine and so will often make Thomas themed books available to him to encourage his learning. I love the way all the kids sing and dance to “baby shark” together.

It was a very proud moment for me last week, when we arrived at Debbie’s house and Nathan confidently climbed out of the car, gave me a hug and waved goodbye saying he was going to “Debbie’s house” now. The level of confidence and the social skills he has developed at age 2 years and 4 months have astounded me. I am extremely grateful for everything Debbie does and continues to do for Nathan.

We would be happy to provide further feedback or to be interviewed if required.

Kayleigh and Tom Chapman (Parents of Nathan Chapman)



Thank you Debbie for patience, my little one can be clingy & take a while to get settled. you've done an amazing job looking after here, she looks so happy in all your photos which is so lovely to see. Thank you once again, as you know, it's reassuring knowing your pride & joy is happy & being looked after well. you're a special person Debbie
Miss C Bennett

Please contact me if you require any further information and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks
Debbie Hawkins
Helping Hand