I have had the pleasure to work with this childminder on a personal and professional level.

Firstly, my daughter has been in Tina's home and care on many occasions and has thoroughly enjoyed the time that she spent there. I might add that my daughter was as young as 9 months old when she spent time in Tina's home and she was given the best of attention. The room is bursting with toys, all clean and easily accessible to the children at all times. Her home is a delightful place to be and has a welcoming feel, all down to her!

Secondly, I have worked on a professional level with Tina. I am a fully qualified secondary teacher of Modern Languages and run my own French classes for children. Tina approached me and asked me if I would be willing to come and teach the children in her care French on a weekly basis. It is worth mentioning that Tina is way ahead of the game here in terms of implementing the early years curriculum as Scotland is just trying to get to grips with introducing modern languages in the primary school from P1. To see a childminder willing 'to go the extra mile' for those in her care at such a young age is testament to how much she values their learning. It might also be worth pointing out that she was willing to pay for this service given the small numbers of children involved. Each week when I arrived the children would greet me with 'Bonjour' and they were clearly encouraged to practise their French without me.

With regards to the wellbeing of children, if we look at the Scottish Government's indicators SHINARI (safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, included) Tina's child minding services certainly excels in all of these aspects. I particularly liked how she encouraged the children to be independent, a very important quality as we send our children off to primary schools where the ethos of Curriculum for Excellence is all about fostering successful and independent learners.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication