I live in Bournemouth with my husband and two daughters. I aim to provide a warm, friendly and fun home from home environment where children are encouraged to learn and grow as individuals through creative child led play. Regular assessment of the children guides their next steps and activities are tailored to encourage the children to reach their milestones in preparation for school readiness. The beauty of child led but adult facilitated play is that the children learn without realising that they are working. We aim to foster a feeling of responsibility within the children to help them take care of each other and their environment; encouraging tidying up before moving to the next activity, helping the younger children and being helpers throughout the day. We have recently moved home and are incredibly fortunate to have a large enclosed garden. The children are enjoying helping to inform the way that the garden is laid out; selecting resources during a trip to the toy store and choosing the seeds to plant in our growing area. We visit many of the local playgroups to encourage children to become sociable and confident. We enjoy trips to parks, beaches, libraries, woodland areas, farms, zoos, art galleries and museums. We meet regularly with members of our local childminder network; this can become a lonely job and it's incredibly important that we take care of ourselves as the grown ups in order to be the best carers for the children. We are located a short walk from Kingfisher Barn and the arboretum where we enjoy walks along the Stour, discovering the local wildlife; spotting the cygnets being protected by the swans. Other educational and fun trips are taken; even the supermarket can be a learning opportunity for our budding mathematicians, chefs and scientists!! We love to cook and each child is given the opportunity to contribute in the kitchen even down to the washing up. We have a fantastically energetic three year old Cocker Spaniel who has been a crew member since she was eleven weeks old and fully believes she is one the children. She is incredibly tolerant and can often be the reason a reluctant child breaks confidently from their parents at drop off.