APPLE TREE CHILDCARE's Reviews

Excellent, reliable and caring

We would like to wholeheartedly recommend Clare.

Our 34 months old daughter has been in Clare's care since June 2019 for two days a week. Having an
unfortunate experience with childcare prior to finding Clare we were extremely impressed with her knowledge, understanding of our daughter's needs, organisational skills and felt instantly comfortable with the settings.

Our daughter has settled easily and has a very strong attachment to her.

It is evident that the environment that Clare has developed has significantly contributed to our daughter's
development. There is daily structure that she can rely on, rhyme time, one-to-one book reading time, singing and dancing, garden play, practising alphabet and numbers and going to feed ducks.

Clare has also helped us with potty training.

Clare is exceptionally reliable, not to mention flexible whenever we need. We also believe that she has the right balance of well organised and incredibly caring. She sends us daily detailed updates, photos and videos and always makes sure that if our daughter does something new that we know it straight away.

During the Covid-19 pandemic Clare was exceptionally forthcoming and supportive and being key workers we really
needed that support. She adjusted the environment accordingly to fit the highest possible health and safety criteria while in such a situation and continued to care for our daughter during this time.

Our daughter is now ready to take her next step in her development and will be therefore leaving Clare soon. However I cannot stress enough how important Clare’s influence on her has been and how quickly our daughter has developed as a result of that.

We will be forever grateful to Clare for the time our daughter has spent with her and recommend her wholeheartedly.

I know that we will all miss her very much.

Lenka & David

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by LenkaV about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 04/08/2020

Lovely, thoughtful and sincere :)

We are writing in regard to Clare Welham and her daughter, Kayleigh, whom we believe are the best choice to be your child’s new childminders. Our 14 month old son, Younes, has been under their care since February 2020 for 3 days a week. We instantly felt comfortable and in peace when we met Clare and Kayleigh for the first time. They are warm and kind people, who are well-versed in child development, both due to their educational qualifications as well as their natural affinity towards children.

They have a beautiful large home and garden with many facilities and areas to play, with a wide-variety of toys for children of all ages. They provide daily structure and routine, with different daily activities, such as rhyme time with musical instruments, book reading, sensory play, and feeding ducks.

They do much more than merely supervise Younes. They devote their full attention to each child and give them what he or she individually needs. Younes initially struggled with eating solids, and Clare was kind enough to make suggestions and give us ideas of how we could improve this. She also supports and encourages him in terms of his development, such as practicing walking, and teaching him animal noises to his amusement. He is learning something new every day!

Our favourite part of the day is receiving pictures of our son. We absolutely love the detailed daily Whatsapp texts about how Younes’ day is, the activities he enjoys, when and how long he slept and whether he ate his lunch/dinner well.

The qualities that we like about Clare, is that she is very thoughtful and caring. Two weeks ago she saw Younes standing and it looked like he was about to take a step. She rushed for her phone to record it as she didn’t want us to miss his first steps. She also bought Younes a gift and a card on his birthday!

Clare is also very honest and clear, and we appreciate that she kept us up to date during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the new childcare regulations and government guidelines, as it helped us to know what we could expect. Clare knows how to structure time well, but she is also flexible. I was very pleased that she was flexible around my work commitments, as a key worker, to remain open for Younes during these very unusual and uncertain times.

All in all, Clare’s approach to caring for our child complements our parenting well, but she also respects our personal views. We have seen great developmental progress in Younes and it would be our sincere pleasure to recommend her.

Mohamed & Nassira

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Communication

by Nassira about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 28/07/2020

Lovely Caring Childminder

My Son George has been with Clare since I returned to work in January 2014. For the first 3 months he was doing 2 days a week with Clare and then my parents were able to have him for a day so she has been having him one day a week. George is clearly very fond of Clare often referring to her when he hasn’t been with her for the day or over a week due to holiday. He has come on leaps and bounds under her care. He is quite a sensitive child and she has been very mindful of this giving him lots of time and attention especially so in the early days when he was settling in. He has always slept and settled well for sleep with her which is a sign that he is a very happy little boy when he is with her.

I have, since the moment I met Clare, felt she was the right child minder for our son and have always felt confident leaving him in her care. She has prepared him well for nursery which I think he is now ready for. It is only due to a job and house move that George is having to leave her lovely care.

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 29/10/2014

Outstanding child-minder

When we were looking for a child-minder for our daughter (she was a year old then), we really wanted to find someone who would make her feel at home.
As first-time parents, leaving a child in someone else's care all day was a hard decision but we’ve been reassured by Clare's thorough approach to communication.
Clare and her home is so welcoming and informative, and really did make the transition so easy for us! Our daughter always seems so happy there and loves playing along all the different activities! She settled there very quickly, it truly does feel like it's her home away from home for a few hours a day :). We meet her full of excitement every evening. Clare always makes time to have a chat at the end of the day about all her meals, her milk feeds, nappies changes and naps, which is highly beneficial and reassurance for us that she had a good day. Also she discuss our daughter’s progress and development time to time.
We are delight that our daughter is having quality reading time on daily basis. Clare takes the children to other child minder’s home, parks, to feed ducks, etc on regular basis and help them to socialise.

It feels like we've found an outstanding child-minder and confident that our daughter is benefiting from every day spent in Clare’s care.

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 14/10/2014

Childminder Review

My 16 month old son has been in Clare’s warm, friendly, efficient and reliable child care for the past few months and I would recommend her as a child-minder.

The facilities are extremely impressive – I couldn’t believe my eyes when I initially went to meet her and see her home! The playroom is covered head to toe in exciting toys, books and activities for children of all ages. The beautifully maintained garden offers a huge assortment of activities providing a real haven for outdoor playing which is also extremely safe. Both the house and garden are absolutely immaculate and provide a lovely environment for the children to be in. Clare regularly takes the children out for walks to the lake to feed the ducks so the children get plenty of fresh air.

A lovely, safe, happy and friendly home for your child to be in. Thank you Clare!

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 09/07/2014

Highly Recommend

My daughter, who has just turned 2, has been with Clare for 3 days a week for the past 6 months. My husband & I are delighted with the progress Evie has made in this time and the the caring, secure environment Clare provides.

Clare is a warm, caring and structured childminder who follows the EYFS framework. She provides us with regular updates on how Evie is doing, and captures Evie's progress with her learning journey brilliantly. As a result of Clare's dedication, Evie has a great vocabulary and is already putting sentences together.

I would describe the facilities Clare has at her house for children almost as close to a day nursery. There is a large playroom full of toys, a large garden with an dedicated play area as well a sheltered outside area, great for messy play when the weather isn't great. There is also a nursery where the children have their nap - something I was a bit concerned about at first but need not have worried, Evie loves the routine. Clare regularly takes the children out to the park and to feed the ducks, something which Evie really enjoys.

Clare's family really do love the children as much as she does.

In summary, if you are looking for a loving, caring but structured childminder with the facilities of a small day nursery, look no further!

• Overall

by Eviesmam about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 30/10/2013

Outstanding childcare

My son has been going to Clare for the last 2 years. I could not recommend the child minding service which Clare provides in a higher regard. James’ development with Clare has been outstanding, his vocabulary, his confidence and his speech has been excellent, we couldn’t be happier.

He always looks forward to visiting Clare and is always full of talk and excitement at the end of his day. The facilities and setting are amazing and gives you as a parent the confidence and security that James' is happy - especially as even at weekend's he asks if he's going to Auntie Clare's.

Clare provides an excellent child minding service and always keeps us up to date with what James has been up to and the games and learning that he is doing on a daily basis.

As well as keeping us up to date Clare is always very happy to discuss anything around James’s care and any other questions we have had.

We are very sad James is leaving and is only doing so as I am about to have another baby, but hope that one day when I decide to return to work that James and his new brother or sister can return to Clare for more of her outstanding child care.

In the meantime, we will all miss her and wish her the very best for the future.

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 14/08/2013

Peace of mind

Clare has been James' (aged 2) childminder now since September last year. She has been a ray of sunshine and James exclaims 'excited' every time we arrive at her door. James loves going to Auntie Clare's and always has a jam packed day with plenty of activities and toys. I always drop James off and leave with peace of mind that James' is with a lovely childminder in a brilliant environment.

We couldn't be happier and would recommend Clare to anyone she truly has a gift with children.

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 11/04/2012

Hardworking and caring

Clare has been looking after my 3 year old daughter Millie, full time, 5 days a week since September 2010.

Myself and my partner are very pleased with the way the Millie has progressed since going to Clare. She is always happy and talking about the things she has done whilst in Clare's care. The environment and setting in which Clare works and offers to the children is excellent. It is very much a home from home and Millie always feels very happy and safe to go. Clare's facilities are really impressive from the fully kitted playroom to the excellent and extensive children-friendly garden.

Clare is very passionate about her work and is a very loving, hard working, caring person and this shows by the way that she is with the children. I would reccomend Clare to anyone looking for a fabulous childminder.

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 10/04/2012

Excellent Childcare

Clare has been looking after my two year old son Oliver on a full time daily basis since January 2010. I feel Clare offers a very caring and warm environment with a beautiful playroom and a fabulous outside play area. Since Oliver has been looked after by Clare I have both been pleased with his personal development. Oliver soon started eating finger foods and managing a spoon very well, his confidence rose when walking with walkers then progressed to walking independently and is now very happy socialising with other children.

Clare clearly loves and has great enthusiasm for her job, which is evident by the activities she sets for the children each day, such as music, dancing drawing, dressing up, storytelling to name a few. Also it’s been great for Oliver to have trips to the local park and further afield along with him interacting with the other children Clare looks after and those he meets within a Child minding group. Clare takes safety and the children’s well being very seriously and has clear health and safety policies.

For personal reasons I have made the decision to stop work and look after Oliver on a full time basis. If circumstances change in the future and I am in the position where I need to find child care for Oliver or for other children I may have I would not hesitate to use her again.

I am very appreciative to Clare for the care she has provided for Oliver and I highly recommend her as a very capable and professional childminder.

• Overall

by Parent about APPLE TREE CHILDCARE on 05/01/2011