My daughter has been with Vera since she was 1 (she is now 4), every school day, and has always been extremely well cared for and happy with her. Vera provides a caring, nurturing and educational environment - along with outstanding home cooking! She is everything we would have wished for in a childminder and our daughter absolutely adores her. Vera has a close network within St Margarets and provides the children she cares for with a wonderful mix of playgroups, park outings, play sessions at her or close friends' houses and quiet days crafting/cooking at home. Through Vera, my daughter is part of a very close group of little friends and their carers - we all feel part of a big family, which is wonderful. Her home is warm and inviting and children have access to lots of different types of play. Vera is innately interested in children's education and development and this shines through in the activities the children take part in. I will never forget the clever mobile she made with my daughter where she taught her to balance the attached weights of sticks and stones, which they had found together on a park walk, by moving their relative positions. She has a deep understanding of what children need - she builds the day's activities around what the child/children need and encourages good behaviour with positive modelling, with kindness to each other at the heart of her approach. On a practical level, Vera is very flexible and will do her best to help out when needed - in the recent lockdown, she was incredible supportive and dropped off activities and ran zoom meetings for us all (even hosting a birthday party!). All in all, Vera is a fantastic childminder and we feel very lucky that she has been such a big part of our daughter's life.