Orlando

About Me

Hi there o/

I’m Orlando Timothy Fletcher.

That's the name I gave myself.
But more about that later...

I’m a professional Ofsted registered nanny and babysitter with nearly a decade of experience in looking after children of all ages, mainly with babies and toddlers (newborns included) and children with additional needs and disabilities (including severe autism and using a wheelchair).

I recently relocated to area near Stratford for its excellent transport links, but am still happy to travel all around London just like I did before, areas like Richmond included, as well as to nearby areas in Essex.

Now a bit more about my background and my ways:

I meet children and families where they are, providing a thoughtful, adaptable, responsive, and emotionally attuned approach to childcare.

I lived with various families for 7 years in total almost all over the UK (Wales including), taking care of their children, homes, and in some cases including their pets. In some families, this included proxy parenting for weeks at a time, including in a family of a single dad with triplets and their older brother. However, my childcare journey didn't finish with moving out from the last family I lived with.

Since then, I did a mix of part-time childcare as a nanny employee and I also work as a self-employed individual, providing flexible ad hoc and emergency childcare.

I'm available for babysitting as well as for something more regular, like a few days a week, but not for afterschool and wrap-around jobs as I didn't find them sustainable for the long term.

< My Approach & Qualifications >
My approach to childcare is deeply personal, built on a core philosophy that has been validated by both lived experience and professional training. I believe that all behaviour is communication and that my role is to listen to what a child is truly saying, not just by what they say, but especially by what often goes unspoken.

I’m also currently studying for a degree in Child Psychology - not only as part of my longer-term goal of becoming a Play Therapist, but also to deepen the support I can offer to children in my care right now.

I already have a few childcare related qualifications and diplomas and more for your peace of mind:
- Level 3 Diploma in Childcare & Development,
- Level 3 Maternity Nurse Training,
- Paediatric First Aid,
- Moving & Handling People with Special Needs,
- Safer Sleeping for Babies,
- Safeguarding Certificates,
- Managing Behaviour in the Early Years,
- Equality and Diversity,
- Level 2 Safeguarding Children,
- GDPR,
- Registration with the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) as a Data Handler,
and a few others.

My professional goal is to become a Play Therapist. This feels like the natural culmination of my entire life's journey—a way to use my deepest understanding and empathy to help children find their voices, much like I once needed to find mine. I’m OFSTED registered.

< What I Love About This Work >
For me, the heart of this work lies in the small, everyday genuine moments of connection and trust.

It’s in the feeling of a hesitant child at the swimming pool, after we’ve played and built trust, finally taking that exhilarating leap into the water, knowing I’ll be there to catch them. It’s seeing a toddler’s face light up after I do an exaggerated, silly tumble at a soft play centre, breaking through their fear with a moment of shared, playful joy.

It’s in understanding that a little girl repeatedly throwing her teddies out of the cot isn’t being "naughty," but is cleverly communicating her deep need for attachment and presence before sleep. Most of all, it's the feeling of a small hand slipping into mine—not out of habit, but out of trust.

It's in answering the often unspoken question every child is asking, "Are you safe?" with an unwavering "Yes," and to prove it to them every single time they test the boundaries and the foundations of the trust we constructed together.

It's in understanding that a child flicking food onto the floor, throwing sand into my mouth, kicking me, biting me, scratching me, or even kicking me into my face, is not being naughty, is not being mean, and is not doing it out of malice. That is something that my father never learned.
It's in understanding that those actions often labeled as "naughty" come from children raising the stakes for the ultimate test of our trust, asking the silent questions: "Are you safe?", "Is this trust and safety real, or will it collapse into punishment and rage?", "Will I still be loved even if I do something bad?", "Are you safe enough for me to fall apart with?"

It's in these moments I find the most profound reward.

It's also in breaking the cycles. Time after time, child after child.

< My Motivation >
My commitment to childcare is not just a career; it is my life’s purpose, born from my own story.

My childhood was profoundly shaped by the absence of the safety, attuned presence, care, and consistent warmth every child not only so deeply deserves, but also so dearly needs. Instead of these, an abundance of something else entirely was given. That experience, while deeply difficult, taught me how to provide that security, connection, understanding, and warmth for a child, not because I’d seen it modelled, but precisely because I hadn't.

This is the core of my motivation: to use that hard-earned knowledge and understanding to provide every child in my care with the security, safety, and attuned presence they deserve and need. It is the purpose that drives my work today and my long-term goal of becoming a Play Therapist to help children find their voice, just as I needed when I was a child.

< A Note on My Name and Certificates >
And here's where we get to the name change.
I gave myself this new name to reclaim another part of myself and reflect the person I have become,

I changed my name in late 2024.
Because this change was recent, most of my certificates, which I could share with you, are in my old name. However, I still have a way of proving they are mine.


If you'd like me to assist you on your journey of raising your children in the times you might not be able to or needing a break, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Warm regards,

Orlando T. Fletcher