Little D's Reviews

An important part of our child's early years

Our child joined the Little Diamonds family soon after turning one. Transitions were always very hard for our little one, a very sensitive soul - and Mandy recognised this and did all she could to help our child feel safe and loved when apart from us. Over the years, our now 4 year old has developed strong bonds with the other children in Mandys care, as well as Mandys own family :) Our child has always enjoyed seeing Mandys Mum and chatting to the extended family when they pop round. Also, because Mandy has cared for children in the area for so long, she has her own strong links with other childminders and they often meet at local playgroups, forest school and activity groups together - further extending the social circle for the children while maintaining a recognisable pattern of events that our daughter always looks forward too.

Activities at home include crafts, stories, singing, baking, lots of free play and on warmer days, fun in the garden... waterplay on hot days. Mandy also has themes that inform activities sometimes, for example a book they've read together.
There's also Ziggy, Mandys grown sons pet tortoise! We all love ziggy. Sometimes the children get to pop to the pet shop and buy his favourite food to feed him!

We can't recommend Mandy enough and will be very happy to answer and Q's you may have while considering Little Diamonds.

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by Aymie on 21/01/2025

Everything we needed and more.

Mandy has been looking after my children since they were 3 and 6 months old. As soon as we met Mandy, we knew she was going to be the best choice for us. She has provided a home from home environment for the children to feel safe and develop in. Mandy goes above and beyond to make sure the children that she looks after, have a great experience with her. From taking the children to forest school, the library, and many toddler group sessions, to providing them with a wonderful sized garden to play in, art and craft activities, books, role play resources, and music, we could not ask for more. My children are now in school but attend the school local to Mandy, rather than any that were in our original catchment area as they are so happy with her. I would recommend Mandy to anyone looking for childcare.

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by Jessica on 15/01/2025

A real gem of a childminder

I am writing to provide a reference for Mandy, our current childminder for our two children under her care. Our first born has been with Mandy since he was 8 months old, and he is now 2 and a half. Our 2nd has been with her since she was 6 months old, and she will be turning 1 fairly soon. They both will very likely remain with Mandy until they start school as we are very happy with this arrangement and her standard of care of them.

I chose Mandy as our childminder because I felt it was an excellent home from home setting, and the children engage with her so well. So well in fact, that my first born will happily close the front door when I drop him off in the morning, without a goodbye! My 2nd has settled in so well since going to hers also.
She will take them out to playgroups, parks or play sessions locally, which I really appreciate because this is what I do when I have them, so they have a continued routine with them especially at their pre-school age. The home from home setting is very lively and interesting, and Mandy will organise activities for them to do, so little works of art often come home on special occasions like Halloween, Christmas, Mother’s / Father’s day etc. She also keeps an educational record of her development which I think is incredibly impressive and gives a great comprehensive overview of what stage they are at. She also has a home-home book for us to write in if there is anything we need to let her know about or vice versa as sometimes the pick up / drop offs are hurried due to the number of other children she cares for. Many times she is able to allow time for me to come and just have a chat and a catch up, and meet the other parents of the other children she minds.

She has become a part of the family, and has been able to pick up a little bit of sign language which has been really useful as both myself and my husband use sign language with our children because of our deafness.

I hope you find her as pleasant and as caring for your children as I do.

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by MarMonk on 10/10/2016

Little Diamonds provides my child excellent care

I have been with Little Diamonds for about 9 mouth and my daughter just loves it. I have to wait until she is ready when I come to collect her as she's always so engaged with the vast variety of activities and resources. She has made friendships with the other children that are a range of ages. But most of all, she receives warm and loving care, education and interactive acivities.

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by Parent on 27/09/2016