Stacey

A wonderful setting where my son is thriving

I feel so lucky that we found Stacey as our childminder!
As a first time mum, I was very apprehensive about handing my son over to someone else, but as soon as we met Stacey and her lovely family I knew that we had found somewhere that he would be really happy.

We started him at 10 months old and initially he took a while to settle in (unsurprising as it was the first time we’d spent any significant time apart). Stacey was so supportive, trialling different methods to make him feel more at ease and after a couple of weeks it clicked - he hasn’t looked back since. Safe to say he now doesn’t want to come home at the end of the day!

It’s a really lovely setting with so many toys to play with and things to do – all the children seem to have so much fun together, and that’s really done wonders for my son’s confidence.
There’s a monthly activity plan and food planner so we always know what he’ll be getting up to – and the menu is amazing, all home-cooked and delicious.

We are kept regularly updated with photos throughout the day, and notes and comments on how he’s getting on, and if there are any challenges then Stacey is always ready to talk them through with us, even outside of ‘working hours’, which we really appreciate. She listens to any concerns and helps develop a plan that works for all of us. In these moments her near-20 years experience in childcare has really been invaluable.

In summary, Stacey has a wonderful knack making us feel at ease and fully confident leaving our son with her, but most importantly, he loves her and is so happy in this setting.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Stacey – our little boy is really thriving with her.

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by Laura about Stacey on 02/10/2022

A warm and lovely environment for any child

As first-time parents we struggled figuring out what would be the best childcare for our 11 month old. But when we met Stacey and her family for the first time, we knew it would be the best match for our son. Her partner and two young children are lovely and her dog Jessie and cat Duke make great playmates. She childminds in her own home and has made it the perfect environment for young ones.

Stacey has dedicated a large part of her house to her childminding which features complete freeflow. There is a great play area of which she switches up the configuration once in a while to keep things new and efficient. She also switches up toys every so often so the children don't get bored. Her garden is big and easy to access with fun things like mudkitchen and playhouses. For outings she has a big buggy that fits 4 children and they would visit playgrounds, parks and soft play.

Just like a monthly activity plan, she also shares a monthly mealplan. She takes any dietary requirements you might have into consideration which we appreciated. Her food is well balanced and very tasty. Once in a while she also does baking as an activity with the children of which the very tasty results sometimes made it home for us!

The most important thing is that our boy loved being with Stacey. He felt very much at home and was very excited each morning going up to see her. When he first started going he needed a bit of help settling in but Stacey worked together with us until he felt more at ease.

Not ever did we worry when he was with her. We got many lovely updates throughout the day and lots of artwork was brought home. As caring as she is with the children, she is just as professional with her admin and keeping us updated on changes to policies, holidays and how our son was doing.

We feel lucky to have found Stacey when we did. She instantly took all our first-time parent worries away and so would highly recommend Stacey to anyone looking for a warm, caring and joyous childminder!

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by Lisanne about Stacey on 19/09/2022

Let down after just 9 days

I’m sure that children are able to have a great time in Stacey’s care and her setting is very child orientated. Our initial meeting with Stacey was lovely as she comes across as a nice, informed, and caring childminder. However, our experience has not been as we’d hoped for a variety of reasons.

The introduction of our son to the setting felt a bit awkward and a little impersonal. We got given an ‘all about form’ to fill in but would have much preferred an opportunity to discuss our son’s needs/routines in person prior to him starting, however this was not offered. Instead, we received a lot of WhatsApp messages in the first few days with questions, that could’ve been discussed during an initial ‘getting to know each other’ session. Furthermore, there was no guidance on how the settling in should be structured (as first-time parents, we would’ve appreciated this).

The settling in that Stacey instructed were a 1x3 hour and a 1x5 hour session, with our son attending on his own. At first our son seemed to get on well, with him being a bit upset for just a few moments during his time there. Stacey did keep us updated on this. The following week, Stacey rang us to pick up our son because he was so upset, and because she was having a settling in session with another new child and didn’t want our son around during this.

Stacey proposed an option for the week after for our son to attend for four days straight (his usual days were Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday) in an attempt that consecutive days would aid his settling. Unfortunately, this approach didn’t seem to help and at the end of the week, we received an email (with no pre-warning/discussion) from Stacey in which she gave us her 1 month notice to terminate the contract. She had stated that our son was distraught whilst in her care and that she felt her setting wasn’t for him. We were shocked as we’d been researching and talking to other parents about settling in 1 year old babies for the first time and this can often take several weeks, and a variety of approaches should be used. We would have appreciated not only more direct communication during the week if our son was genuinely this upset but additionally an opportunity to review how we settle our son instead of simply giving up after less than 9 days. Stacey simply stated that her setting wasn’t the right fit for our son and that he’s affecting the other children (including her own) without trying other ways to settle our son. She’s also recently doubled her childcare business and with other children currently settling in/due to settle in, placing a lot of change in her environment. When we proposed options around attempting to settle our son in a gentler fashion (with parents present and shorter periods to help build the bonds with the carers and other children) this was rejected. Despite saying in the notice email she’d be happy to talk on the phone, she refused to have any conversation about options and merely messaged about contract termination.

We thought very highly of Stacey in the beginning, respecting, and trusting her with our son, however our experience has shown that she isn’t interested in working together with the parents. Considering there are childcare settings that run settling in sessions for 4 weeks + and seeing Stacey not even giving our son 3 weeks to settle in, we are frankly appalled. Appalled not only at her lack of willingness to try to settle our son but also in the impersonal manner of just sending an email with no opportunity to discuss.

Stacey wrote that our son is distraught while in her setting however it was clear by this point, she wasn’t willing to work through different options to help settle him. She still explained she’d welcome our son for the next 4 weeks (we felt that only because she’s contractually obliged to) but as parents we obviously didn’t feel comfortable sending our son back. Not only because he has been so upset, but also because Stacey said that he disrupts the other children. For this reason, we asked for a partial refund, which was ignored leaving us with no childcare moving forwards and a month paid in advance which £700 of that has now been wasted.

Furthermore, Stacey has since blocked our account on childcare.co.uk, which seems as though she’s trying to hide from our review. There’s no doubt that children feel loved and cared for with Stacey, but we’d warn parents to be mindful of our experience.

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by Schmidty about Stacey on 11/09/2022

Response by Stacey on 14/09/2022:

I do not believe that it is appropriate for me to discuss your child and the situation in detail on such a public forum.

This review is an unfairly portrayed and in parts completely untrue version of events. I have only ever had the best interests of all the children in my care at heart, including yours.

Your request for a refund of fees was not ignored. I actually deducted one week’s worth of fees from the notice period, did not charge you for the extra day that your child attended in his final week, and have already transferred your deposit back to you in full.

I believe that I was clear in my communication with you during the three weeks that your child attended my setting. This included phone calls, messages and talking in person. I invited you in to help to settle your child, but you left within ten minutes whilst your child was still crying and very upset. I have never refused to talk on the phone, and this was not requested from either of you after my email was sent.

I did not intend to upset you, and am sorry that this did not work out. I really do wish you the best of luck in finding childcare in a setting that your child enjoys being in.