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!

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication