Jemma

We found the pefect childminder for our son!

We feel incredibly lucky to have found Jemma. From the very beginning, she has been warm, attentive, and genuinely invested in my sons wellbeing and happiness.

Before choosing Jemma, we visited other childcare settings, and while the staff were lovely, we didn’t get the same sense of comfort and reassurance that we felt with her. With Jemma, it immediately felt right calm, nurturing, and truly like a home-from-home.

As first time parents, we were understandably nervous about starting childcare, but Jemma made the whole process easy and made us feel so comfortable. She took the time to ensure my son settled in properly, which made such a difference, and it’s clear how much she cares about the children in her care.

My son initially felt a little sad at drop-off, which is completely natural, but Jemma handles this so gently and reassuringly. She comforts him so well, and he comes around very quickly. Knowing he is supported like that makes it so much easier, and I genuinely couldn’t imagine leaving him with anyone else.

The level of attention and care she provides is outstanding. She keeps us updated throughout the day, which gives us real peace of mind, and it’s obvious how much thought goes into everything she does. My son absolutely adores her and often asks for her when he isn't with her which says everything.

We also really value the environment she creates, she provides home cooked meals and snacks throughout the day, plans engaging activities, and she takes the children out everyday, giving them a wide range of experiences.

Most importantly, we trust Jemma completely. Knowing Freddie is safe, happy, and so well cared for means everything to us.

We couldn’t recommend her more highly!

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by Jane on 29/04/2026

Response by Jemma on 29/04/2026:

Thank you for sharing your experience in such detail. Its so important to me that children feel safe and supported in my care and that parents feel a sense of reasurance and deep trust. I'm so pleased that you and your little one are happy. Its an honour to care for him and I'm so glad to be his childminder.

Amazing child centred care provider

I am very selective about who I leave my 18 month old son with as I have levels of anxiety surrounding leaving him.
When I have left him with Jemma, she has given me plenty of reassurance and updates. Jemma provides nurturing child centered care, which is something I appreciate as I know I would always be contacted in the event of him being very distressed. She listens to my preferences in terms of how to proceed with nap time and what creams I like to use use etc and she takes time to really get to know the individual needs of your child. I feel so confident leaving my son with Jemma, knowing he is in such a safe and nurturing space. Additionally, the setting is incredibly clean and the food provided is healthy and fresh.

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by Keisha on 28/04/2026

Response by Jemma on 28/04/2026:

Thank you for your review Keisha. I am so happy you feel reassured by the regular updates and about the quality of nuture and care your little one is receiving. Its an absolute pleasure to care for him.

Unreliable and unprofessional

I would be very wary of using Jemma if you need reliable childcare for work as her policies and approach are not suited to a longterm and reliable service. Her sickness policies are vague and not practical, wanting us to keep our child home if he had a cold and she had an event coming up. She has no direct child care experience, and she struggled to manage normal early years behaviours and wanted my child collected early while I was at work. Gemma prioritises her own family commitments over her childminding commitments. Gemma summarily ended our agreement with no notice via whattsapp my first week back at work, having reassured me all was well hours before.

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by Katie on 25/04/2026

Response by Jemma on 26/04/2026:

Dear Katie, Thank you for your review. I am sorry you felt you had a negative overall experience and that you felt the need to write a negative review months later rather than coming to me direct to reflect on your experience.

I am child led and nuturing in my approach and well advertised as such, unfortunately  this seems not to have been well suited to your needs.

All my policies and procedures are all child focused and written based on the principles and requirements of the EYFS and using guidance from experts at childcare.co.uk. My policies are clear and transparent, provided to parents in advance of contracts commencing and available to anyone on request.

I am an experienced and fully Ofsted registered childcare provider with 20+ years of experience working with children and families including extensive direct childcare experience. I am educated to degree level and have undertaken a wealth of training and qualifications particularly around child development, trauma informed care, theraputic models of care, transitions and attachment.

I am sorry you felt my communication was poor. I pride myself on excellent and thorough communication with parents and give regular updates to childrens wellbeing in my care. I am a professional and communicate as such however I know you felt that my record keeping was too detailed and and 'too professional' and you did not have time to read the daily summaries. In my experience most parents like to have a detailed account of what their child has been doing and how they are adjusting especially during the settling in period.
I am clear and transparent that the settling in period is for everyone and that the settling in plan needs to be adaptable to the child's needs. Unfortunately you were not responsive to this or my request that you or your emergency contacts collect your child early one day when he was very distressed and unwell.

This is a child focused settlng and while the needs of children come first, good working relationships and communication with parents is also of utmost importance as this leads to children feeling safe and nutured.

I recommend settling in periods usually take place over 4 to 5 weeks in order for children to have the time required to process and slowly build a sense of safety and comfort with a new caregiver. This is based on my extensive knowledge and experience of attachment theory and supporting children's transitions. However you requested this take place over 1 week due to your work commitments. This was against my better judgement but I wanted to be flexible and so agreed on the basis it would be adaptable if your little one wasn't managing and that we would keep in regular communication about this. You had alternative care on standby for this reason. You not collecting your child when they were inconsolable and visibly unwell was a clear example of not respecting my professional judgement.

My approach is to listen to a childs communication of distress and preserve the trust and attachment relationship above all else and this is not in anyway a reflection on my skill or ability to offer comfort or manage behaviours, quite the opposite in fact.


My experience in working with you and your family has been a valuable lesson to me not to scarfice my princples which are well founded in research and to trust my intuition and instincts so I thank you for that. I'm sorry that terminating the contract within the settling in period which is well laid out within the contract caused you inconvenience. I did offer to continue providing childcare until you made alternative arrangements but this was declined.

I am compassionate to the challenges of returning to work and entrusting your child's care to another, its a massive step and that is why I want settling in periods to work in everyone's bests interests. I can assure you this decsion was not taken lightly in anyway but ultimately this was not going to be the right arrangement for anyone moving forward and I do need to feel the service I offer is valued, respected and that parents are on the same page and aligned with the values of the care I offer.

Your little one was a pleasure to care for in the short time he was here and I wish you all the best in finding the right setting for him and your family. I imagine you already have done so given his time with me and my setting was now some months ago.

For any parents reading this review I ask you to reach out and discuss further any queries or concerns you may have and take into account my other glowing reviews where you can see that I pride myself on good working relationships.

Amazing experience

We were incredibly lucky to have such an amazing babysitter for our daughter. From day one, she made me feel completely reassured that everything was always okay, which meant the world to me as a parent. She was attentive, caring, and truly invested in my daughter’s well-being.

She always made sure she ate healthy meals, kept her entertained with fun and engaging activities, and actively supported her development. It was clear that she genuinely cared, and my daughter absolutely loved spending time with her. I couldn’t recommend her more highly.

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by Dorina91 on 03/01/2026

Response by Jemma on 03/01/2026:

Thank you so much for your kind words. We absolutely loved caring for your daughter and helping you and your family and we hope she will return to us if you need childcare again.