C King

first class child care

I am so pleased we found Claire when looking for child care for our one year old daughter almost two years ago. I had chosen a nursery for her but became concerned over the institutional environment and lack of opportunity for our daughter to build a strong attachment with one person. Our daughter has thrived in Claire's care. I've noticed the speech and language of children in Claire's care develops particularly well. Not only is Claire kind, compassionate and fun she sets firm boundaries with empathy creating a perfect environment for children to learn and be happy.

Claire gives the children lots of different opportunities to interact with others such as toddler groups, day trips, the park and lots of outdoor time as well as quiet activities at home such as crafts and cooking. I think she has a really good balance.

Our daughter loves going to Claire's and feels happy and secure there which I think are the best foundations for children to thrive and develop.

I should also add that we live in Hertford and its quicker for us to drive to where Claire lives in WGC than to where some of the child minders live in Hertford so don't rule Claire out if you live in Hertford!

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by Parent about C King on 24/02/2015

Outstanding childminder

Claire became highly recommended to us during a chance encounter we had with her when she was childminding 2 children belonging to some dear friends of ours when we were house hunting in the area. My return to work was imminent but I hadn't yet started investigating childcare options. We were left without doubt that we should approach Claire for our childminding needs upon seeing our friends' children so happy, relaxed and secure in themselves whilst in her care combined with our knowledge of our friends high standards and expectatons of anyone caring for their children!! IE if she was the right childminder for them she was definitely the right childminder for us!! During our initial meeting it was further confirmed to us that we had found our answer to our childcare needs by witnessing how our son responded to her so positively at only 8 months old. Our son, now 2yrs old, remains extremely happy to be with Claire on his days with her and greets her with great affection upon arrival to her house. He then runs into the lounge to find his friends first and his favourite toys.

Our sons happiness and contentedness in Claire's care is invaluable to us. However, above these basic essential elements, we continue to be blown away by Claire's committment in her partnership with us in our son's development. Since being in Claire's care we have seen remarkable improvements - his independance in his ability to eat, the variety of foods he now loves, his social interactions with others, his understanding of others needs, his advancement in his willingness to 'share', his quality of speech and his desire to understand and be understood.

Aside from our sons' developmental progress Claire has also partnered with us with in caring for any health needs that have arisen. After being prescribed glasses last summer, we have recently needed to undertake patching one of his eyes for 2 hours every day. We apply the patch at breakfast time, therefore, we have needed to ask Claire to be in charge of the patch coming off after the alloted time. This additional request from us has not caused issue at all for Claire even though we had to ask her to remove the patch on the first day of the patch being worn. Claire's calming influence on our son on this first day has set the precedent for every day since. Now nearly 2 months in, our son continues to take the whole patch thing in his stride, seemingly unphased by it all :-)

We are eternally grateful to Claire for the security she provides us and our son in the way she childminds him plus her professionalism, ability and dedication to her job. We are convinced that for Claire her job is not just a vocation but an undenialable calling.

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by Parent about C King on 24/02/2013

Amazing childminder

Claire King has been my childminder for 6 years. She began with my eldest when he was 10 months old; 18 months later my second son followed at the age of 4 months.

In the time they have been with Claire, both boys have grown in independence whilst she has supported their learning in a number of ways - we now think of her more as an extension of our family. Both boys are always delighted to go to her house; My youngest will eat carrots and strawberries there, neither of which he’ll do anywhere else! On occasions they have done their school reading with Claire, plus she has shared a number of stories with them that have since become family favourites.

Claire is extremely reliable and always gives more than adequate notice for her infrequent holidays and where possible, will try to arrange holiday cover through the network of child minders she knows; I don’t remember the last day that she took off for illness.

Whilst with Claire the boys have enjoyed numerous holiday day trips including Willows Farm, Standalone Farm, Jungle Mania, Clacton, and Van Hague Garden Centre and Steam Railway.

In the six years that the boys have been looked after by Claire I have had a number of employment changes. Claire has always accommodated whatever impact these have caused to our childcare arrangements and so has maintained stability in the boys’ routine. Claire has also been immensely supportive of me and the children through my recent relationship breakdown with the boys’ father.

One of the most important factors for me is that Claire has always provided continuity in the parenting tools I use with my children (for example sticker charts and timeouts), and so the messages and boundaries the boys hear remain consistent between home and Claire’s, which is invaluable for me, particularly now that she and I now share the bulk of my sons’ out of school care.

I’m delighted to have this opportunity to highlight Claire’s excellent work and so thank her in some small way for her continued professionalism, loyalty and care.

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by Parent about C King on 10/02/2013

Brilliant Childminder

Claire has looked after my daughter since she was 8 months old. She is a wonderful, kind and caring childminder who has become part of our family over the past 4 years.

A has thrived in a happy, busy environment and her scrap book is beautiful.
We have been so lucky to find such a brilliant childminder.

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by Parent about C King on 05/08/2011