Wendy & Louis Bernardelle

Our family consists of Francesca who is 18, Nicola who is 15, myself, my husband Louis, and our cats Casper and Angel. We normally have breakfast at around 8-8.30am. Francesca and Nicola travel by bus to JFS. When required we drop off and collect from FRS Kindergarten across the road from our house.

We spend most days playing at home and get the children out for a walk from time to time. Occasionally we get out to one of the local parks or other children's activities. Sometimes we do a small amount of shopping and occasionally we do need to go to the Doctor. Sometimes we have friends or family to visit and occasionally we visit friends. These would be mums with their own children or childminders with minded children.

We normally prepare lunch between 12 noon and 12.30pm. If, for some reason, your child sleeps through a mealtime, he or she will be fed on waking.

We do try to offer a varied and well-balanced diet for lunch and endeavour to accommodate individual tastes. Only Kosher meat is served. A selection of fromage frais/non-dairy yogurt and fresh fruit is usually offered in addition to the main course. We will let you know each day what your child has had to eat and drink. Depending on the requirements of each child and the length of their day, tea/supper will be provided.

We have a large selection of new and well-maintained toys, activity centres, small world play, construction, dressing-up clothes/hats, jigsaws, board games and art materials. We sing nursery rhymes with actions and musical instruments and listen to a variety of music.
We also read with the children - we have a huge supply of lovely books including many with multicultural themes. These materials help to develop fine manipulative skills, hand-eye coordination, speech and language, number skills, knowledge of the world and interaction with lots of opportunities for praise and encouragement. We aim to have a theme each week and use books, songs and other activities to reinforce the theme, e.g. counting, shapes, animals, celebrating festivals.

We make formal and informal observations of all the children in our care to enable us to plan activities and be sure their development is on track. We also photograph the children so we can show you what they have been doing and for them to enjoy.

We sometimes watch some children’s television or a DVD.

As it is quite difficult to get out and about with the quantity and mixed age range of children we care for, we have had our garden specially designed and have a swing, trampoline, rocker, climbing frame/slide, sand and water play, paddling pool, tunnels, pop up tents, gym mats, Wendy House, balls, jumbo chalks, roll-arounds,
sit ‘n’ rides, cars, etc. for outside play. The children love to have a change of environment and this equipment gives them opportunities to develop gross motor skills and promote interaction and hand-eye coordination.

We do try to promote a safe, warm, caring, happy and stimulating environment and encourage the children to learn about sharing, taking turns and treating each other kindly. We are willing to help with toilet training and preparing children for nursery and school. We have a policy for behaviour management and are happy to discuss this or any concerns that may arise with you concerning your child. The children are not subjected to passive smoking.

We have First Aid Certificates, refreshing our training every three years, and have attended many childcare related training courses over the years, (more than eighty hours in 2009). I have an NVQ Level 3 in Early Years Care and Education and Louis holds a Food Hygiene and
Fire Safety Certificate.

We are registered by Ofsted to care for six children under five years and no more than three should be under one year at any one time. We are insured through the NCMA. Our car insurance covers us for transporting minded children and we use age appropriate car seats.

I have been registered since 1994 and Louis since 2000.

Our Registration Certificate and Public Liability Insurance Document are displayed in the hall and all other documentation including our latest Ofsted Inspection Report, policies and training details are available for parents to read. Copies of policies are given to parents with a copy of their signed contract.

We usually, (but not always), take holiday out of (JFS) term time; a couple of weeks during the summer holidays, some days over Christmas and Passover/Easter and perhaps over half term. We will aim to give you as much notice as possible when we need to take time off.

Time and children permitting, we do like to share with you on a regular basis details about your child's day and will ensure that you are kept informed about his or her mood, health, appetite and activities, details of which are written in our Daily Diary.

Days and hours of childminding: Monday to Thursday 8am to 6pm.

Wendy & Louis Bernardelle