With many of us living away from our hometown, family and friends, finding reliable local childcare can be a nightmare. You don't know the area perhaps, or you only moved here as an adult so all your friends are work colleagues with no kids, and you don't have time to hang round the school gates before work to chat. How on earth are you going to get a reliable recommendation for a childminder or babysitter, let alone find a decent nursery for your youngest? How can you find good local childcare?
Step forward Childcare.co.uk This award-winning site is a social networking platform that brings parents, childcare providers and other professionals such as private midwives and private tutors together. With more than 1.5 million users since its launch in 2009, Childcare.co.uk is the UK's largest childcare website and the largest online community for parents in the UK. You won't find a larger choice of babysitters, nannies, registered childminders or private tutors anywhere else!
The site is incredibly easy to use, just register for free by creating your free profile, then advertise your requirements to childcare providers or start searching for local care options. Simply entering your postcode will show how many local services are on offer. Our postcode brought up a huge 294 options within 5 miles, including some highly recommended babysitters and childminders.
Looking for a childminder, I found the reviews by other parents very reassuring as they all mention things that would concern me as a parent, for example, how friendly the childminder is, how caring with the children, how much space they have to play, whether they have time outside, and more. All those questions that go through your mind when trying to evaluate someone who may take care of your child. Finding all this information out beforehand is a very reassuring start, and just like having a personal recommendation from a friend.
As well as parents' reviews, each childcare provider's profile details what qualifications they have and whether they are Ofsted registered, showing exactly what courses the childminder may have been on, what their first aid skills are etc. It is so useful having all this information up front and enables you to make a shortlist of possible childminders very quickly. Other details such as availability, hours worked, flexibility, and fees are also detailed on each childminder's profile.
For us, the review and rating system on Childcare.co.uk is the ideal way to get a feel for what a childminder may be like. Real stories by real parents. Narrowing down the long list of local childminders became easier, then choosing who we might get in contact with was much easier, and we already knew a lot about them to help us formulate the other questions we might ask.
I had a look at the private tutors section of the website too as this is something we may consider using in future to help our home education journey, and found a similar standard of professionals available with the same detail of information, reviews etc.
Contacting the childcare providers is easy with safe and secure messaging through the site, so you can chat to the babysitter, childminder, nanny, au pair, nursery or tutor before progressing any further. Whether you need a maternity nurse to help during those first days and weeks at home with a newborn or a tutor to help with A level revision, the wide availability of childcare professionals all in one place is a fantastic service.
More than 1.5 million people have used the site over the past 9 years, and it is easy to see why it has been so popular. Childcare.co.uk is an easy to use site full of great childcare options and practitioners, the ideal place to start your childcare search.
Step forward Childcare.co.uk This award-winning site is a social networking platform that brings parents, childcare providers and other professionals such as private midwives and private tutors together. With more than 1.5 million users since its launch in 2009, Childcare.co.uk is the UK's largest childcare website and the largest online community for parents in the UK. You won't find a larger choice of babysitters, nannies, registered childminders or private tutors anywhere else!
The site is incredibly easy to use, just register for free by creating your free profile, then advertise your requirements to childcare providers or start searching for local care options. Simply entering your postcode will show how many local services are on offer. Our postcode brought up a huge 294 options within 5 miles, including some highly recommended babysitters and childminders.
Looking for a childminder, I found the reviews by other parents very reassuring as they all mention things that would concern me as a parent, for example, how friendly the childminder is, how caring with the children, how much space they have to play, whether they have time outside, and more. All those questions that go through your mind when trying to evaluate someone who may take care of your child. Finding all this information out beforehand is a very reassuring start, and just like having a personal recommendation from a friend.
As well as parents' reviews, each childcare provider's profile details what qualifications they have and whether they are Ofsted registered, showing exactly what courses the childminder may have been on, what their first aid skills are etc. It is so useful having all this information up front and enables you to make a shortlist of possible childminders very quickly. Other details such as availability, hours worked, flexibility, and fees are also detailed on each childminder's profile.
For us, the review and rating system on Childcare.co.uk is the ideal way to get a feel for what a childminder may be like. Real stories by real parents. Narrowing down the long list of local childminders became easier, then choosing who we might get in contact with was much easier, and we already knew a lot about them to help us formulate the other questions we might ask.
I had a look at the private tutors section of the website too as this is something we may consider using in future to help our home education journey, and found a similar standard of professionals available with the same detail of information, reviews etc.
Contacting the childcare providers is easy with safe and secure messaging through the site, so you can chat to the babysitter, childminder, nanny, au pair, nursery or tutor before progressing any further. Whether you need a maternity nurse to help during those first days and weeks at home with a newborn or a tutor to help with A level revision, the wide availability of childcare professionals all in one place is a fantastic service.
More than 1.5 million people have used the site over the past 9 years, and it is easy to see why it has been so popular. Childcare.co.uk is an easy to use site full of great childcare options and practitioners, the ideal place to start your childcare search.
Commissioned post