Carmen and Marta

Warm, caring childcare

My daughter started with Carmen and Marta's at 12 months until 3 years old. Her little brother recently started there, aged 11 months. Carmen and Marta have been consistently excellent - providing warm, loving care built around the changing needs of our children and family.

We felt my daughter gained so much being there: new experiences and socialisation, but also strong relationships with the childminders. As a baby she was always cautious with strangers, so it was wonderful to see her quickly develop trust and affection for Carmen and Marta, and to see her needs met with such warmth and genuine concern for her wellbeing. Carmen and Marta have been consistently kind, patient and above all warm - helping us ride out tricky toddler patches with good humour and kindness, and supporting my daughter become the confident child she is today.

We really appreciate the small-but-not-too-small setting, which is a real strength. In particular:
- The presence of more than one childminder gives us confidence on reliability, but the small number of adults allows for consistency of care, and for the children to build really strong bonds and be known as an individual.
- It wasn't overwhelming for her as a baby, but there were several children to form a core social circle as she got older and started having friends rather than just companions - it's wonderful seeing my daughter head into her 'big school' nursery class holding the hands of her friends from C+M.
- There's really good, individual support on developmental milestones, for example around potty training. But also there were often other children at similar stages or just a little further ahead on the journey which means my daughter could also learn from her peers.
- The mix of ages (babies to 3 year olds) worked brilliantly. When she was a baby, my daughter loved having the big kids to play with, and when she graduated to being a 'big kid' herself, she learned to be kind and look out for the little ones in turn.

We also really valued the individualised support that responded so well to where we were as a family. This included things like support preparing my daughter for the arrival of her baby brother and for her eventual transition out of the setting, but also things like flexibility on our days as we managed the changing demands of pregnancy and a newborn, and kindness and understanding for us as parents as we navigated the milestone of leaving our baby for the first time.

We are so pleased our second child is now just starting his time there, so we will be part of the Carmen and Marta family for some time to come.

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by Thea on 06/10/2026

Exceptional care and wonderful adventures

Our son joined Carmen and Marta’s setting at 13 months and only recently left at just over 3 years old. When we joined, they told me their setting was like a home from home, and it truly has been. Our son has felt confident to grow and learn under their caring and kind guidance. As a naturally curious little boy, he was provided with countless opportunities and activities by Carmen and Marta to nurture his interests.
As the setting is smaller, our son was able to have one-to-one support with milestones such as potty training, and extra focus when he was being a little fussy with food.
Carmen and Marta have lots of toys and fun activities, and they take great care in planning what the children will learn. Our son enjoyed activities around different cultures, and special attention was placed on St Patrick’s Day, which is his family background. Santa came to visit the setting, and they took the children on days out to the zoo and a clipper boat (we were in awe that they herded children across London!). A big highlight for our son was when the caterpillars arrived for them to watch turn into butterflies to be released.
As first-time parents learning all the time, Carmen and Marta have been supportive and kind, offering us so much invaluable advice and guidance. We miss them as much as our son does!
We always say we struck gold finding Carmen and Marta, and we can’t thank them enough for everything they have done for our little family. They will always have a huge place in our hearts

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by Rebecca on 05/10/2026

A home from home, and the best start in life

My daughter started with Carmen and Marta just after her first birthday, and stayed with them until she left for "big school" at three and a half.

Carmen and Marta gave her such incredible loving care and really helped her to grow and develop. She has left Carmen and Marta's a confident, curious child who skips into school every morning and is independent and capable in a school setting.

The small scale of the setting allows the children to develop close bonds, like an extended family, which was important to us as our daughter was our first child and didn't have siblings at home. It also allowed her to receive lots of one-to-one care and attention, with Carmen and Marta helping her to learn to eat, play and clean up after herself independently- toilet training, in particular, was easy with Carmen and Marta helping so much during the daytimes and she learned quickly and painlessly under their care and attention.

They also build in so much fun and joy to the day, with stories, dancing and play, as well as opportunities for learning in and out of the setting; trips were planned and undertaken successfully to the zoo, to post letters to Santa, and even on the cable car at Greenwich! I don't know how they did it with a string of little ones, but they were all safe and happy throughout, and our daughter came home bubbling over with stories and excitement.

Thank you so much, Carmen and Marta, for everything you've done for our daughter. We can't wait for newborn son to start with you next year when he is one!

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by Maud on 04/10/2026

Love, care, and lots of cuddles

If you are looking for reliable people to take care of your children, this is the place. I sent my son to Carmen and Marta when he was 15 months old and he stayed there until he was 3 years and 3 months, and I couldn't have asked for better. C&M will keep me posted constantly on how he is doing, until he was fully settled.
The range of activities they do along with early years learning encouragement was splendid. It made my child more confident. He felt safe and loved. Moreover, C&M pay extra attention to the development of the child and their school readyness.
In short, they are amazing and I can't thank them enough.

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by Fatima on 11/03/2025

Exceptional Care, Cultural Learning, and Support

We arrived in London in March 2023 with our 1-year-and-3-month-old daughter. From that moment, we began searching for a place where she could feel safe, well cared for, and nurtured—a place that would also give us peace of mind as parents as we embarked on a new stage in our professional and family lives in a different country. We were incredibly lucky to find Carmen and Marta through this portal.

Our daughter stayed with them until December 2024, during which time she quickly picked up English, formed strong bonds with them, and learned to interact with other children in a safe and nurturing environment. She also discovered different cultures through the wonderful celebrations and teachings they introduced. They even took the time to talk about and teach her and her classmates about our home country, Chile, helping her stay connected to her roots while also fostering cultural exchange. She learned to count, sing, engage with others, and—most importantly—feel secure in her new home.

Every day, they provided us with detailed updates about her activities, meals, and overall well-being. They even supported us with potty training, guiding her through this important milestone with patience and care. Most importantly, they were an invaluable source of support for us as a family. Moving from Chile to a completely new country, without an existing support network, was a challenge—but Carmen and Marta were always there for us, offering guidance, reassurance, and kindness whenever we needed it.

We are truly grateful to have met them and for the almost two years our daughter spent in their care. Without a doubt, everything she learned with Carmen and Marta has helped her grow into a confident and happy child, now thriving in primary school.

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by Natalia on 27/02/2025

Home from home

My little one started with Carmen and Marta when he was 6 months and stayed till he was 3.

It was akin to leaving him with an aunt. In fact that is what they became to him over the 2.5 years he was there. They were extremely conscience childminders - mixing in learning and play. He grew and was stimulated and cared for. He made deep friendships with the other children and every element of him from his emotional state to his physical well being was looked after. They did little trips in the city which was always awesome to witness and in the summer time they spend lots of time
playing in the park and garden.

I cannot recommend them highly enough for what they do and I miss seeing having them as part of my daily life too.

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by Esther on 27/02/2025

The perfect start

Our daughter started with Carmen and Marta as she turned 1. From the very first day she ran into their warm setting with a smile on her face and excited to make friends, learn and play.

She was lucky to be in a wonderful group or children who all became very close. The setting was a home from home but also somewhere she leant manners, refined her fine motor skills and found a passion for reading and language which far exceeded our expectations.

Carmen, Marta and their team go out of their way to create a compassionate, safe and disciplined environment that nurtures expression, learning and fun. Our daughter was set up brilliantly for pre-school and we can't recommend highly enough.

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by Susie on 14/10/2023

Wonderful childminders

We couldn't have been happier to send our 1 year old boy to Carmen and Marta. It is such a loving, nurturing and stimulating environment. We were so nervous on the first day at drop off, and being a lockdown baby, we weren't sure how well our son would settle. Within the first few hours, after endless loving cuddles from his new aunties, he settled right in. He truly thrived there. The setting is the perfect size to enable little ones to form close bonds with playmates. The weekly range of activities are brilliant e.g. messy play, story time, singing, watching caterpillars grow into butterflies, playing in the lovely garden picking fruit, trips to the park, local fire station, garden centre, science museum and even Santa's grotto! The loving support from Carmen and Marta is truly incredible, and they supported my boy through some very big milestones e.g. potty training, a house move and the arrival of a new baby brother. My little boy moved onto preschool at aged 3, but we immediately signed our second child up for a place at Carmen and Marta's. I can't wait for his adventures there to begin in March 2024!

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by Sophie on 13/10/2023

Fantastic childminders

We chose Carmen and Marta for our daughter because of the warmth that we immediately felt as soon as we met them. Not only are they incredibly professional, with regular reports and assessments via the Kinderly app, but they are incredibly loving women who nurture and educate our daughter.
We love the size of the setting, two childminders and 6 children, to us, is the perfect combination. Big enough for our daughter to socialise and have friends of all ages, but small enough that she is known incredibly well.
Carmen and Marta organise fantastic activities each day. Activities in the setting include painting, sticking, cutting, play doh, water play, muddy kitchen, loads of toys, themed activities eg for world book day, Halloween, Christmas, they even helped make pancakes on shrove Tuesday. They celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, divali, Australia Day, Earth day etc etc. Recently, they were lucky enough to ‘grow’ caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies.
Important to us, is the children are out most days, they go to the park, the greengrocers etc and are so well-trained to walk safely. We didn’t have to teach our daughter safety, she knows she has to hold the pram or our hands when crossing the road as they have instilled this in her.
They are fantastic at mixed age groups. Our daughter started at 10 months and adored watching the older kids with their activities whilst she did age appropriate tasks. Now she is one of the older ones and helps the little ones or is taught to gently play or share with them.
We thoroughly recommend Carmen and Marta. In fact, we think they are so great we have signed our (as yet unborn) son up to start with them in a year’s time!

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by Hester on 22/07/2022

Carmen & Marta are truly amazing!

Our daughter could not be in better hands.

Our two-year-old daughter has been going there since she was 10 months old. She loves loves loves them! And we do too! Carmen and Marta give our daughter affection and love, and teach her so many things, like recently putting on her coat by herself!

Carmen and Marta have perfectly accompanied our daughter in all areas of her development, emotional, motor, sensory, language, cognitive, social, and physical.

The kids do lots of great creative and educational activities (drawing, painting, textures, stories, crafts, shapes, colours, every day there’s something new); and they do outdoor activities every day (weather permitting). Our daughter learns, plays, laughs, has fun with friends, discovers nature, all this in a safe, secure, joyful and loving environment.

We chat with Carmen and Marta every morning when we drop our daughter off, every evening when we pick her up. During the day, we receive great photos. If we have any questions, they are always very available, and they always keep us informed if our daughter has fever for instance.

We will remember for the rest of our lives the first day we left our daughter. We felt a sadness that we had never felt before. After a few days, we felt light as a feather knowing she was in such a loving and caring environment.

We recommend them highly and without reservation.

Johanna & Catlyne

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by Johanna on 18/03/2022