We had two children attending Monkey Tree Daycare. Our experience with Sonja went from initially positive to the worst experience that we have had with any childminder. Based on our experience, we found her consistently unprofessional, disorganised, unreliable and extremely difficult to communicate with, thus we cannot recommend her childcare services.

Our largest concern was that the communication about our children's day was extremely poor. We rarely received any information about activities, meals or outings and despite being offered the expectation of receiving developmental updates, milestones and goals, these were often not provided either. Sonja and the contract both stated that these updates would be provided, but, in our view, this commitment was often not honoured. This left us feeling completely disconnected and intentionally alienated from our children's experiences whilst in her care. Concerns were often met with little to no acknowledgement and correspondence frequently went unanswered and dismissed.

Another large concern was safety and supervision. On our youngest child's first day, shortly after turning one, he ended up in A&E following an attack by an older child. Sonja told us she was not in a position, at the time, to stop the attack, although she could hear him crying out for help. Despite changes being made, we felt our child was not adequately supervised or protected.

Reliability was another repeated issue. Sonja was frequently late, regularly closed the setting with little or no notice and, on several occasions, would send children home at varying times.

Hygiene was another major concern. Our children regularly came home extremely dirty (hands, face and clothes), outside of what would be considered reasonable for young children. On one occasion, their clothing had been soiled with faeces and was placed directly inside their main bag rather than being contained separately. Faeces got onto the inside, outside and on other contents within the bag. We were not informed at pickup and only discovered this at home.

Our children also frequently came home extremely hungry and thirsty, often crying for dinner and drinking very quickly. This is outside of their normal reaction to food and drink and this was deeply concerning to us.

We also experienced repeated financial and invoicing disputes. Sonja would attempt to charge us for days or periods we believed were not payable, including closures, absences and holidays. She was often needlessly argumentative and we repeatedly had to provide evidence showing what was owed, after which she would correct her inaccuracies. This became extremely frustrating and required us to closely monitor invoices and track closures. Our strongest advice to anyone dealing with Sonja is to keep screenshots of every communication. We experienced some messages being deleted and disagreements about what had previously been said, offered or promised. Written records of the original communication became essential, particularly when raising concerns through Tiney.

Parents considering this setting should ask detailed questions about supervision, hygiene, food, communication, funding, invoices, contractual terms and how their child(ren)'s development is monitored. Get everything agreed in writing and do not rely solely on verbal conversations. We also experienced disagreements concerning contractual amendments which we believed had been misrepresented to us, so we strongly recommend checking every document carefully before signing.

These concerns were truly only to name a few, and the tip of the iceberg. We spent a considerable amount of time searching for alternative childcare and as soon as we found it, we left!

The combination of safety concerns, poor communication, lack of developmental updates, hygiene issues, unreliable attendance, financial disputes and disagreements over contractual obligations ultimately made this a childcare arrangement we could no longer continue with. We cannot, in good conscience, recommend her services based on our miserable experience.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication