Our daughter has been attending Helen’s childminding services for a year and we are so pleased with the service that our elder daughter is going to Helen’s Little Angels for out of school care from May this year.

Communication

Helen has excellent communication skills and is keen to ensure that the information provided is not only relevant and sufficient but also in a format that is suitable. In addition Helen promotes two way communication and ensures that there is suitable time to raise any concerns or questions. She takes an individual approach to our child’s care encourages us to share both significant and insignificant things that have occurred in our daughter’s life since they last met.

Quality of Care

I am always delighted to hear about the activities that Helen’s Little Angels get up to, especially their time at the various toddler groups, and how my child engages and develops during these times. Perhaps more importantly, there is an excellent level of individual care provided throughout our child’s time with Helen and we really appreciate her flexibility to accommodate all the little ‘fads’ that our daughter develops, especially her strange eating habits!

Working with parents

Helen is keen to maintain continuity of care for our daughter. I feel that I know exactly what is going on and Helen is brilliant and asking how I am approaching things such as discipline for her (eg time out), reducing her use of a comforter (my objective) or introducing new routines/food etc. Helen strives to gain the information needed to do this, always informing me of the outcome and checking I am happy with the way things are being handled. This also informs my decisions about how to progress things during the time our child is not in her care which is hugely valuable.


On a personal level Helen is very professional and yet always approachable. We feel very fortunate to have found her and for her to be involved with our children at such a formative age when we are not able to be there do to work commitments.

Jodie Holtham - February 2009

Despite having only used Helen’s Little Angels childminding services for a short while to date I would thoroughly recommend both Helen and her service. Having used a nursery for our elder daughter I was unsure about the process of choosing and booking a childminder and had many questions. Helen took great time in answering them all and allowing us to make an informed decision about the best care for our daughter without making us feel obligated. She has been patient, flexible and accommodating while our situation and needs have been changing. Helen’s home environment is great fun and there are many structured activities for those in her care, both in the home and out at groups. This provides a good level of stimulation and interaction without being overwhelming, which is what we were looking for. Helen has always been professional and polite whilst managing to maintain friendly and open communication. She has an obvious love of children and a great ability to foster a relationship with them. Helen also has a thorough knowledge of all issues relating to childcare, including health and safety. I know I can unreservedly trust her in the care of my child.

Jodie Holtham - February 2008

I approached Helen when my daughter was only a few weeks old as I was desperate to get back to work after a fairly traumatic birth experience. I met her and her son Aaron at their house and she instantly made me feel both welcome and comfortable: not just by what she said about her approach to childminding (including all the legal stuff), but how she was with her own son. Furthermore, she was even magnanimous enough to suggest questions and check points to ask other Childminders I interviewed. Needless to say, I DIDN’T bother interviewing any others and my daughter started with her for 2 days a week a couple of weeks later. Since this time, Helen has been instrumental in my daughter’s development, and has been invaluable in helping me too in terms of advice and assistance during my scary first few months as a new mother.

Now, my daughter is with Helen full time, and has stayed overnight on several occasions. When we found out Helen was pregnant we were really pleased for her as a family, however we were also instantly concerned how we would ever be able to find equivalent care for our daughter during her maternity leave! I have since interviewed other Childminders and looked at Nurseries, but none to date have left me with the feeling that I got from Helen when we first met, in terms of true focus on mindees individual needs and development.

I would recommend Helen to anyone looking for temporary or permanent childcare, and hope that in some way: whether it’s full time or just before and after nursery/school care, our daughter is cared for by Helen for many years to come.

Susie Brown - February 2008