We are a husband and wife team - James and Katie.
We live in a spacious 4 bedroom home in a quiet cul-de-sac in Walton on Thames and have three children Arthur 20 at Chichester University reading History. Flo 18 at UAL Costume Design for film and screen and Evie 15 in year 10 at Three Rivers Academy.
We have a wide range of experience working with children from age 0 - 9 both as parents and babysitters and also from volunteering at local groups such as Cubs, Brownies and Badgers (St. John's Group). Also, we are both currently studying for our level 3 Childcare Diploma.
Katie has been registered as a childminder since 2011 and James since 2012. We both love being surrounded by children and feel the positives of having both a male and female childminder enhances children's experiences and reflects the real gender mix in the world. Children can benefit from the different experiences and styles of caring that men can provide which can result in more positive behaviour through a male role model.
Within our large setting we have a large garden where we provide a slide and climbing frame plus sand and water table. We grow vegetables and encourage children to plant seeds and pick vegetables which they appear to really enjoy. We have a large mud kitchen and outside woody area which is perfect for den building and forest school type activities.
We have a beautiful friendly dog Violet who has been with us since July 2012 and has proved an asset to the children's learning and understanding of animals. She is a 'pom-a-poo', which is a cross with a Pomeranian and a poodle - just small, cute and fluffy. We find that our current parents are keen that their children gain all the advantages ad confidence/experience of being with a puppy but without them having to have the commitment at home. We also have a tortoise called Dolly. She is extremely friendly and loves being bathed and fed by the children.
Our home is bright and airy and our aim is to provide a stimulating environment for babies and children of all ages to feel safe and secure and to enjoy playing and being themselves. We provide access to toys for all ages to encourage their imagination and build their development and confidence through lots of hands on games. We are a childcare setting who is consciously working towards ways in which we can become more eco friendly. We are teaching the children to recycle ♻️ and reduce waste. We are collecting rain water in a water butt for our water play. We make our own homemade child friendly eco antibacterial cleaning spray and we are trialing homemade eco friendly baby wipes. We get all our milk freshly delivered in glass bottles from the milk person to reduce our plastic waste.
We are a naturally inclusive childcare setting. We proactively celebrate differences between children, and the wider world, to ensure that all children grow up as unique as they started out.
We promote Gender Neutrality and our aim is to provide a secure and supportive setting where ‘every child can be themselves’
Katie is currently in the process of completing the Hygge Accreditation in Early Years.
Hygge is the Danish approach to life that focuses on having a happier and more simple life. Using elements of warmth, cosiness and nature to make the most of every day of the year. As we move through the training we will learn about changes we can make to our learning environments, outdoor provision and daily rhythm to bring in more calmness.
We have many hobbies and interests ourselves - Katie loves baking, oil painting, sewing and running. She ran the London Marathon in 2012 to raise awareness and funds for children with cancer. James hobbies are playing golf and singing.
We have both been inspected by Ofsted and if you would like to read our Ofsted reports, please download them here:
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