Customer Feedback

Staff teams working with a clearer understanding and enthusiasm for their jobs
"Once we established our core values with Mary, as a staff team everything else seemed to fall into place" (Early Years Setting Manger)

Children having more meaningful play opportunities
"A meaningful understanding of Active Learning been a crucial step forwards on our journey through the Beginning with Babies workshops. We now recognise the value of babies and older children using all their senses to explore their spaces, people and materials.
We have noticed a difference in the children’s play. They seem to explore for longer at an activity. I have found myself talking more to the children. We loved smelling oranges together in the water play" (Early Years Practitioner)

Better understanding of attachment leads to more positive spaces where parents and children feel happier
"Our thoughts moved forwards, we built a ‘home’ for children rather than a traditional nursery environment. New children are settling in quicker now, engaging in play with lots more confidence. Parents have remarked how much happier they feel to be leaving their children with us now. One parent asked if she could stay for tea, as the room felt just like her dining room at home." (Early Years Practitioner / Room Leader)

Children becoming more confident in their everyday lives
"Can I go and play in Barbara’s’ house today" (A two year old talking to his Mum about going to nursery where Barbara is the Manager/Owner)

Participants having the time to reflect on their own journeys and rediscover the magic of working with children
"The last two days has allowed me to take ‘off’’ adult blinkers and I have started to look through the Childrens eyes and follow their clues. I have rediscovered the trust I had in my own instincts to go with the children rather than my own prospective." (Nursery Manager/Owner)

"Training delivered by Mary has had a real impact on the setting itself. Following a five day course “Beginning with Babies” the owners and staff at Mon Ami returned and evaluated the settings which, although were providing homely environments for children with many positive opportunities, have been enhanced even further. The settings now offer care rooms for children that are a home from home, with feature walls, homely furniture and lighting and a focus on exciting treasure baskets containing natural resources for babies and children to explore and develop their learning. The changes to the environments have been taken to extremely positively by parents and carers also, a great number of whom have commented that their babies and children have settled into the nurseries much quicker and feel that their learning and development have been enhanced even further.
Staff knowledge and practices have also been enhanced positively. Staff members come back from Mary’s courses buzzing with ideas and inspiration for possible activities for the babies and young children that they care for, as well as enhancing their environment. Capturing awe and wonder and inspiring children’s imagination has been evident throughout the settings and staff demonstrate this on a daily basis through their planning. For example, staff have used a theme of fairies and dragons, planning activities both indoors and outdoors that promoted imaginative thinking, story telling, working together, problem solving and general excitement of what would happen next! Parents have also commented on how much their children have talked about their day at Nursery when at home, genuinely showing the impact that these activities have had. As a consequence of training delivered by Mary, staff are enthused and excited about what to plan next with the children and now truly develop ideas taken from the children. 
Even though Mon Ami offers a high quality of childcare and has outstanding Ofsted reports, we are always keen to move forward and embrace positive changes and training offered by Mary Barlow enables this to happen by further enhancing staff knowledge, understanding and practices and consequently the best possible outcomes for children."

Samantha Lunnemann, Mon Ami Children's Day Nurseries