Shelby Donnellan - Childminder

I run Little Dinosaurs childminding. I live with my partner, Paul and little boy, Lucas born in April 2018.

Learning and child development is something very close to my heart, I achieved a 2:1 BA Honours in Developmental Psychology and have 5 years’ experience in social care / education sector. I started my school centred teacher training, working as a full-time unqualified teacher in a year 3 class whilst completing the course before falling pregnant with my little boy.

Since having Lucas, I have fallen in love with teaching the early years in a home setting. The freedom and control it allows, with a small group in a warm and friendly atmosphere, means I can give each child the individual care, attention and teaching they need.

I completed the level 3 award in preparing to work in home-based childcare to add to my teaching experience and further develop my knowledge of the EYFS, giving me a great understanding of how to help them grow into happy, confident children in a safe and caring environment.

The setting is a bright, airy, open-plan family home with resources for various age groups to stimulate a fun, friendly learning environment. My aim is to provide a home-from-home atmosphere, ensuring the children feel safe, comfortable and welcome in my setting.

Since having Lucas, I have adopted a more heuristic approach to learning; offering more natural and household objects to enable lots of child-led, open-ended play with exploration, investigation and experimentation (at the moment his favourite ‘toy’ is a cardboard box!) with a keen focus on caring for nature and the environment. 

With a local park right outside the front door and plenty of opportunities for further adventures at the local library, lakes, woods, soft play and activity areas, we spend lots of time learning through play in the fresh air.