GRK Childminding

Huge support to our family

We have been with our childminder for almost two years, and I can confidently say she has been a wonderful support for both our son and our family.

She is highly experienced, organised, and structured in her approach. Every day the children attend different stay-and-play groups where they have opportunities to play, sing, do crafts, and socialise with other children. At home, she also provides a variety of educational activities, including reading, flashcards, puzzles, and other age-appropriate learning experiences.

One of the biggest benefits for us has been our son’s language development. We speak a different language at home, and he has learned much of his English through spending time with her. We have seen significant progress in his communication skills over the past two years.

She strikes an excellent balance between being kind and nurturing while also maintaining clear boundaries and expectations. This has had a very positive impact on our son. He has learned important social skills such as taking turns, sharing, and following routines, and we often notice that his behaviour is particularly good when he is with her.

As first-time parents, we have also appreciated her advice on developmental matters such as weaning, potty training, sleep routines, and other milestones. Her experience gives us confidence, and we feel certain that if she ever had concerns about our son’s development, she would raise them promptly and professionally.

Our son genuinely enjoys spending time with her. She has a dedicated playroom with a wide range of toys and activities, and over the years we have seen her regularly update and expand her resources to keep the children engaged and interested.

We particularly value the detailed daily records she keeps, including activities, meals, sleep times, and nappy changes. This level of organisation gives parents a clear picture of their child’s day and demonstrates her professionalism and attention to detail.

We highly recommend her to any family looking for a caring, knowledgeable, and reliable childminder. We have been extremely happy with the care she has provided and feel very fortunate to have found her.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Bulgun on 02/10/2026

So much more than just childcare

Our son started with Deborah when he was just four months old. At the time, we urgently needed childcare as I was returning to work, but we weren't quite comfortable sending such a young baby to a nursery. Our original plan was to find a good local childminder and start researching nurseries once he was a little older.

Our son is now nearly two, and we have no intention of moving him from Deborah! And here is why:

1. Our son absolutely adores her. He genuinely looks forward to going to her place and gets on wonderfully with the other children.

2. She provides an incredible variety of activities and outings. The children are regularly out and about visiting different stay-and-play groups, parks, zoos, museums, splash pads in the summer, and so much more.

3. When they aren't out exploring, she keeps them busy with hands-on activities at home, such as painting, arts and crafts, and other creative play.

4. She puts a lot of effort into their development through reading, singing, teaching new words and sign language.

5. She is also excellent at setting boundaries and teaching the children good behaviour in a positive and consistent way.

6. She keeps us updated with photos and videos daily.

What we particularly love is the balance she provides. Our son benefits from being cared for in a small, familiar group where he receives plenty of individual attention, while also having regular opportunities to socialise with a much wider circle of children through stay-and-play sessions and other outings. To us, this really is the best of both worlds.

Above all, Deborah is such a lively, warm and caring person. You can genuinely see the affection is mutual between her and the children.

We feel fortunate to have found her and would wholeheartedly recommend her to any parent looking for a loving, stimulating and nurturing environment for their little one.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Toko on 29/09/2026

Deborah is one-in-a-million

I cannot praise Deborah's childminding services enough. I am leaving a renewed review because, after looking after our eldest son for ~7 years, she has now also taken on our youngest son, who is approaching two.

Her standards are as high as they have always been. As well as handling a combination of full days (for the youngest) and doing school/afterschool club pickups (for the eldest), she maintains a high-energy approach to every day - full of activities, trips out, creative indoor play and everything in between - whilst also finding time to share that experience with us, throughout the day, via messages, pictures and videos.

Her all-round service is excellent and we couldn't imagine life without her; and nor could our boys. Over a period of 7 or so years, one thing I must also point out is how reliable she has been in that time. We can count on Deborah to provide a stable, available childcare setting and we very much do and will continue to!

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by maconn on 23/01/2025

Everything we could have hoped for!

Deborah has been our sole childminder since our son was about 16 months old. He is now approaching 5 years old and in the entire time there has never been an issue. He's never once had a bad day, he has never complained and - simply put - Deborah has been an instrumental part of our son's journey growing up.

From a formal perspective, Deborah is extremely organised, keeps all of the necessary paperwork and led us - as first-time parents - through everything when required. She's always up-front about what is needed and when and consults us on every decision.

Beyond that, she's a practical thinker and advice-giver - she has been part of the family and has been involved in the upbringing of our son so far. We couldn't be happier!

Admin-aside, Deborah is extremely kind-hearted and our son always has a bundle of fun in her care. Her energy is limitless and she consistently (every day, without fail) ensures there is a mixture of creative time, outdoor time, learning, socialising (in the ways allowed) and much, much more.

Possibly the most useful - and unexpected - element of her childcare is the regular photo/video feed that she has provided from day one. This kept us connected with our son's journey through life and those pictures and videos are worth thousands of words. This helped us feel like we were not missing anything and still - to this day - gives us a fantastic insight into how he is getting on throughout the day.

I highly recommend Deborah - she has been the perfect childminder.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by maconn on 19/02/2021

Very good experience

In the end we decided that Deborah's house was just a bit too far away from our own. But we were very impressed by our visit. Deborah very kindly allowed us to visit in safe conditions and took lots of time to answer all our questions. She seemed to be extremely well organised and have an excellent range of activities planned for the children she was looking after. The girls there seemed to be very clam and happy.

• Overall
• Communication

by Peter B on 18/02/2021

Review for Deborah

Deborah has looked after our daughter, Niamh Roche, full time from November 2014 until May 2016.

Niamh was 9 months old when she started with Deborah. From the beginning, Niamh has always been very happy to be left in her care. As a result, my return to work from maternity leave was a much easier transition than I had anticipated.

Deborah had planned activities for Niamh every week. They included visiting stay and play toddler groups each morning, outings to the park, the farm and even London transport museum and games/ structured play in her home.

Niamh has developed beyond her peers with her numbers, colours and general vocabulary. I believe this is because Deborah has made it a priority to ensure Niamh was given one to one structured learning and games to encourage her educational development.

Deborah provided a daily diary and sent photos of Niamh to me during the day. This was great because, as working parents, we felt a lot more involved in Niamh’s day to day care. It is something we wouldn’t have received if Niamh had been at a nursery.

We will definitely stay in touch with Deborah as she has become such an important person for Niamh. I know Niamh we will miss her very much.

Deborah’s care of Niamh has only come to an end as we are relocating from London to Cambridgeshire

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Deborah as a child minder full or part time.

• Overall

by Parent on 01/06/2016

Deborah

Until recently, Deborah looked after our son Dominic full-time, having had him from the age of 4 months when I had to return to work. I cannot thank her enough for the care and attention she gave him, treating him almost as a member of the family. Our reasons for no longer requiring Deborah’s services are solely down to our relocating out of London (in August 2014) and we regret the necessity of having to take Dominic away - he is extremely fond of Deborah, as we know she is of him! We believe that Dominic is the happy, well-developed and socially confident child he is through Deborah’s care and encouragement. She was been particularly supportive of his educational development from early on, and he is now quite advanced for his age in recognising numbers, letters, colours etc. I personally have been especially grateful for the level of daily communication Deborah was happy to have with me, sending regular photos and updates about Dominic’s activities during the day. I found this invaluable in allowing me to feel connected to my son while I was at work. Additionally, as first-time parents with no immediate family in the vicinity, we appreciated the advice and support Deborah gave us, always happy to answer our questions and advise on anything baby- and toddler-related.

I would not hesitate to recommend Deborah to anyone looking for childminding or babysitting services.

• Overall

by Parent on 02/09/2014