Marie has cared for our two boys, Harvey and Alex, since they were 1 year old. They are now 5 and 3 and so we have been with Marie for over 4 years so far. Marie has worked with us full time; whilst in nursery and as wrap-around care for Harvey now that he has started at school.

She is everything you could ask for in a childminder and there are many things she does for our kids and for us as parents, but to name a few:
- Marie is always doing something enriching with the children. They come home with things they've baked, things they've made or painted and things they've found whilst in the park. My children have learnt to count, talk, sing, spell words, and so much more while in her care.
- Marie is fun and engaging to be around and the kids love it. They enjoy their time with Marie.
- She treats us all, not just the kids, with so much care and respect. She's dependable and trustworthy and goes out of her way to help other people which is fantastic for the kids to see. Things like she looked after our eldest Harvey whilst we were in hospital for the birth of Alex - she entirely selflessly offered to do that to help. The same for a separate family emergency we had - she's just a fantastic, genuine and well-intentioned person who treats other people with care.
- Marie has always been reliable - when we turn up early in the morning she is ready. It's so rare she has a day off poorly (I don't think I can remember her taking any days off poorly in 4 years!). She always lets us know plenty in advance of any holidays and she is also flexible around our needs.
- Marie has her own lovely family too. Her children are a testament to an upbringing in a loving home; they are friendly; well mannered and polite - that has to be a good sign when choosing a childminder!
- Marie lives very close to Middleton Nursery/Primary School and the doctors so the location is about as convenient as possible.
- She goes the extra mile, she really does. At the end of last year Marie presented us with two photo albums she had made for Harvey and Alex and they are just absolutely full of photos of them having a great time exploring and learning new things. We shared those albums with our family and everyone enjoyed seeing all the things they have been up to. Marie will often send photos during the day too, and it's always nice receiving those throughout the day. The albums she made will stay in the family for a long time as lovely memories for the kids.

I can't recommend Marie enough - she's brilliant and we are very lucky to have met her.

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