Phoebe, Esi, Akos and Bernice cared for our son from when he was a baby until he started nursery at three. With a small baby, no nursery felt right. But Elelyon is perfect for little ones: a group big enough for real friendships, small enough to feel like family. They love the children like their own, and because there are four of them, the care is consistent, with no emergency closures. Our son is lucky to have a big loving family and this became another branch of it.

We didn’t realise how much the setting mattered until we saw how it was shaping him. The mixed-age group was the first surprise. Phoebe encourages the babies to learn from the older children, and whenever we marvelled at a new skill like eating, sleeping or walking, she’d tell us he’d picked it up from the others.

As he grew, they taught him to look after the little ones. When his sister was on the way, Phoebe purposefully prepared him for months. He was gentle with her from day one, careful with her head, eager and excited to care for "his baby". Potty training was the same: when we’d stalled, Phoebe’s lead had him trained in two weeks.

He’s a very energetic boy, and we worried about him being in a house. We needn’t have. They go to a huge park nearly every day and the children really run. He came home tired!

They balanced independence and support for a curious little adventurer, and respected him as his own person. Now he’s excited to meet new children, kind when others cry, and extremely respectful. When I first saw him patiently wait his turn for his piece of cake at a birthday, which he got last, we knew it was Elelyon magic.

Months into nursery, his best friends are still the ones from El Elyon. They made the move to nursery so smooth, and they absolutely adore each other. Now our daughter is about to start with them, and we can’t imagine her being cared for by anyone else.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication