We are writing in regard to Clare Welham and her daughter, Kayleigh, whom we believe are the best choice to be your child’s new childminders. Our 14 month old son, Younes, has been under their care since February 2020 for 3 days a week. We instantly felt comfortable and in peace when we met Clare and Kayleigh for the first time. They are warm and kind people, who are well-versed in child development, both due to their educational qualifications as well as their natural affinity towards children.

They have a beautiful large home and garden with many facilities and areas to play, with a wide-variety of toys for children of all ages. They provide daily structure and routine, with different daily activities, such as rhyme time with musical instruments, book reading, sensory play, and feeding ducks.

They do much more than merely supervise Younes. They devote their full attention to each child and give them what he or she individually needs. Younes initially struggled with eating solids, and Clare was kind enough to make suggestions and give us ideas of how we could improve this. She also supports and encourages him in terms of his development, such as practicing walking, and teaching him animal noises to his amusement. He is learning something new every day!

Our favourite part of the day is receiving pictures of our son. We absolutely love the detailed daily Whatsapp texts about how Younes’ day is, the activities he enjoys, when and how long he slept and whether he ate his lunch/dinner well.

The qualities that we like about Clare, is that she is very thoughtful and caring. Two weeks ago she saw Younes standing and it looked like he was about to take a step. She rushed for her phone to record it as she didn’t want us to miss his first steps. She also bought Younes a gift and a card on his birthday!

Clare is also very honest and clear, and we appreciate that she kept us up to date during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the new childcare regulations and government guidelines, as it helped us to know what we could expect. Clare knows how to structure time well, but she is also flexible. I was very pleased that she was flexible around my work commitments, as a key worker, to remain open for Younes during these very unusual and uncertain times.

All in all, Clare’s approach to caring for our child complements our parenting well, but she also respects our personal views. We have seen great developmental progress in Younes and it would be our sincere pleasure to recommend her.

Mohamed & Nassira

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