Wendy

Wonderful Wendy!

Wendy has looked after our son for the last two years. It's been a wonderful experience for him and for us!
She has wonderfully warm and caring personality and incredible patience. He settled in almost immediately.
Wendy writes a little daily synopsis (with photos) of the activities they get up to, and it is always something engrossing!
She's created a really lovely environment for children, to feel nurtured and engaged and she knows all the best local spots for play and learning. Sebby went to Wendy's for two or three days a week for two years, and in that time he was always excited to go, and sometimes didn't want to come back!
We cannot recommend Wendy highly enough. She is one in a million.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by QP Dad about Wendy on 08/04/2024

Response by Wendy on 09/04/2024:

Hi guys, it was a pleasure working with you and I will miss Sebby very much, he is such a happy, joyful, stimulating little chap. I will particularly miss our conversations about all things construction related!! 😂 Good luck with the next part of your life journey.

Simply the best!

Wendy is, quite simply, the best childminder you could ever hope to find. She is warm, caring, compassionate, thoughtful, encouraging, dedicated and, above all, kind. She inspires so much confidence in both parents and children alike. Our daughter was with her for two years and we were heartbroken to leave her when we moved away from the area.

Wendy puts a huge amount of effort into coming up with interesting, challenging and exciting things for the children to do each day. She has so many incredible and well-organised resources and our daughter had lots of favourite activities from finding treasure in the colourful rice, to playing with her animal figurines in elaborate gardens, to making biscuits or play-doh or painting garden ornaments and bird boxes. Wendy is incredibly thoughtful in searching for and buying toys and resources that she knows will be of interest to the particular child. For example, our daughter loves the lion king and Wendy would find and print off pictures of the characters for her to colour in.

Wendy is brilliant at meeting up with other childminders and using local resources - she took our daughter to lots of different parks, drop-ins, music classes and activities, like the zoo and library. She writes the most wonderful daily reports of what our daughter has done with her that day - there is so much colourful detail and it is lovely to know what they have been up to. We always enjoyed reading the reports and will hugely miss them.

Wendy is also exceptionally knowledgeable about all things child-related and is very generous with her time in chatting through any issues and offering thoughtful and constructive tips. We have felt very privileged and supported to have her on our side. Our daughter has grown in confidence so much since she started with her.

Our daughter has loved every minute (often asking if she can go to Wendy’s at the weekends) and has made so many wonderful memories. We have never had a moment’s worry about leaving her in Wendy’s exceptional care. We cannot recommend Wendy highly enough and we hope that she will always be in our daughter’s life.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Emma about Wendy on 15/02/2024

Response by Wendy on 20/02/2024:

It was my absolute pleasure working with your family. I will miss you all very much but we will catch up and keep in contact. Good luck with the next phase in your journey. 💜

Words cannot do Wendy justice!

What an incredible lady.

My husband and I were always going to be apprehensive and cautious in finding a childminder as Beauden is our first born and we are very new to all of this. That anxiety and trepidation was completely washed away the moment we met Wendy. She offered to come to our house, rather than go to hers as she wanted to meet our son in his environment, rather than hers. Upon her first interaction with Beau she dropped to her knees and addressed him on his level, which immediately warmed Beau to her. From that moment on it was rather “I hope she picks us”, rather than “do we pick her?”.

Wendy cannot be recommended enough. Her every interaction with Beau, and the other kids she cares for, was absolutely professional (and caring). Beauden instantly warmed to her, and, it pains me to say, but he didn’t shed a single tear at handover. Wendy was incredible in sending through daily reports, as well as pictures on a WhatsApp group which she thought we’d want to see. She ventured out on daily activities, to local libraries, and other childminder haunts, and kept Beau stimulated but not overly so.

All that we can say is that our time with Wendy was too short, and we wish we could have her look after Beauden everywhere we go!

This lady is a saint. 10/10!

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Jacqueli about Wendy on 12/05/2020

Response by Wendy on 13/05/2020:

Thank you so much, it was a pleasure working with you both and caring for your gorgeous Beau.

Wendy is a five star childminder

Wendy cared for our son Victor full time from 1 years old until he was 3.5 years old.

With family living in Sweden, it was very comforting to have Wendy around, not only to look after Victor during the days but also as an expert in kids and a great sounding board for when questions and doubts arose for how to deal with a toddler.

Victor loved Wendy and her setting, and while our friends sometimes complained that their children did not want to go to the nursery, Victor was always looking forward to go to Wendy’s place.

We chose Wendy because she had that perfect balance between being warm, caring, and playful but also firm in the right supportive way. She was very good at seeing Victor for what he was, and give him the support he needed but also the challenges and the right push to continue develop and grow as a person. The first time I met her, she cared for two other children and I was impressed with her interaction with them (mutually respected) and how she involved them in our conversation.

Wendy was always good at finding fun things to do during the days, going to the zoo, the park, the farm or just staying home painting, reading books, singing or playing with cars. In the evenings we could read about their day in Tapestry which was very nice.

In summary we couldn't recommend Wendy more. She's given our son the best possible start in life for which we are very thankful

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Camilla about Wendy on 16/08/2019

Outstanding Ofsted rating very well deserved!

Wendy looked after our son, S, for 20 months from September 2017 until May 2019. He was 11 months old when he first went into her care. She looked after him for 2 days each week and her Outstanding Ofsted rating could not be more fitting.

There are not enough superlatives to describe how happy we have been with her amazing care of our son. Wendy's home was always welcoming, clean and well organised and S had great fun playing with all the toys available. We loved that Wendy only had one other child in her care and so the attention she was able to give them both was so special but she would spend most mornings in the company of another childminder (or at a group) so he was also able to play with a wider group of children both younger and older than himself. Beyond all this though, it is Wendy’s overall warm, friendly and child centred approach which is what we were so grateful for.

Wendy always provided a wide, fun range of activities including plenty of outdoor exercise. She was able to tailor activities to ones which she knew our son enjoyed (typically trains and Thomas the Tank Engine!) but also to offer new toys/activities to broaden his interests. Wendy is an excellent communicator and really pays attention to the experience and emotions that a child might be feeling. Therefore this encourages good behaviour and kindness and compassion to others, both skills which are important to us at home. When S stepped outside his boundaries, we knew she was able to remain calm and firm (and would take them out of the house if they were being really loud and boisterous!) She would also use a timer for example to support him and the other child in their sharing and turn taking which worked really well and we use at home too.

When he was hurt or feeling under the weather we knew that he feels happy to be comforted by her and we were confident that she could administer either first aid or medication following all the correct procedures and completing the necessary records to ensure his health and safety.

We always looked forward to reading her reports on Tapestry (an electronic recording system you can access through an App). From this we had a complete picture of his whole day including what he has eaten, how long he has slept and all his activities. This helped us to feel involved with his care and we could use it to speak to him about his day. Now that he has left her care we have a downloaded record of his entire time with her, including photos and Wendy also made up a book of photos for S with highlights of his time in her care.

Everyone comments positively on our son's language skills and we have no doubt that as well as our chatty genes, Wendy's attention to detail and commentary on their daily activities (from pointing out the phases of the moon to the insects or vehicles they would see on their walks) has supported this.

Wendy provided healthy snacks and extras as needed and our only wish would have been that she could have provided all food but we understand that this requires additional certification. Wendy would always update us when any form of illness was reported in the drop-ins she attended and would then stay home as appropriate which meant our son stayed very well except for the occasional mild cold and never caught hand, foot and mouth or any sickness bugs.

We were very sad when it was time for S to leave Wendy's care and we realised how lucky we had been to be able to go off to work each day not only not having to worry about him but knowing he was in the very best of hands. If Wendy has availability, then book a place immediately as there is no one better!

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Communication

by Emma KC about Wendy on 07/08/2019