We have been providing nannies, childcare and domestic services to families in Harpenden, Hertfordshire for over 15 years. Our consultants are highly experienced professionals. We source the best au pairs and home based childcare for your family in Gloucestershire. Our au pair agency vetting and screening procedures are the most stringent in the industry. Call our agency with your au pair requirements and you will have au pair candidate profiles emailed to you on the same day. The Harpenden, Hertfordshire au pair and childcare candidates we introduce to you will be experienced and interested in the position you have to offer.
Vetting procedures differ depending on the au pair agency you use. Little Ones au pair agency in Harpenden, Hertfordshire has the most thorough screening in the industry. These include a face to face interview or video interview with each individual au pair which is recorded. Interviews last approximately 40 minutes and include a thorough assessment of work and personal history including when and why the au pair became interested in childcare.
Safeguarding is our priority. Our Harpenden, Hertfordshire families know we take child safety and education very seriously. We aim to place only the most competent and committed au pairs in roles throughout Gloucestershire.
Our Harpenden, Hertfordshire au pair consultants will take verbal reference checks following a stringent reference process.
Identity and work visa checks are undertaken and recorded for all au pair and childcare candidates. Little Ones au pair agency will use photo ID to confirm a candidate’s identity.
Once an au pair has been offered a position in Harpenden, Hertfordshire in line with Ofsted guidelines, will request a DBS or police check from the au pair’s home country should s/he have lived fewer than 6 months in the UK.
Little Ones au pair agency requires all au pair and childcare candidates to undertake Paediatric First Aid certification. We offer Little Ones first aid courses, certified by the First Aid Industry Body. This is in order to ensure all au pairs working in Harpenden, Hertfordshire from Little Ones au pair agency are able to fund a course.
Following an initial phone consultation with your Harpenden, Hertfordshire Au pair agency consultants, your au pair agency representative will prepare a shortlist of suitable au pairs candidates meeting as many of your requirements as possible. They will also provide you a few additional au pair candidate options they feel you may be interested in speaking with although they may not have all your requested credentials. This will be based on your Harpenden, Hertfordshire consultants vast industry experience which and will ensure you have a variety of au pair to select from. This way you will be satisfied you have explored every possible option to find the best childcare solution for your family in Gloucestershire.
For example, if you have requested your Harpenden, Hertfordshire au pair to speak French with the children, drive, have a childcare qualification, and have experience with babies under 12 months, Little Ones au pair agency Harpenden, Hertfordshire consultant may also introduce a candidate with all these requirements excluding French language abilities simply because he or she lives within walking distance of your home.
Au pairs are women and men usually aged under 30 who will go to another country to learn the language and culture, for example an Au Pair will choose England to learn English and learn about the British culture. They will have different backgrounds and bring different levels of childcare experience. Most Au pairs will have zero experience in childcare, which is why their salary is one of the lowest in childcare. Families that usually look to hire an Au pair will have children of school age. They will become part of the family and be a supportive hand to the parents, but they won’t have sole charge of the children, since they are not allowed to work more than 30 hours per week. We don’t recommend hiring Au pairs for babies, since they require special care.
Something that is important to take in consideration is that if you are looking to hire an Au pair, you will need to have enough space in your home to welcome them, and when we say enough space, we mean a private bedroom for theAu pairthat they won’t share with the children, so they can have their privacy when they are not helping the family.
When they are not working, they will spend their spare time studying an English course or some other course of their choosing. Don’t forget that they are coming to the country to learn about it, so they will be willing to explore the area. Most of them will be happy to do babysitting for the family and go on holiday with them to help with the children; we recommend talking about this during the interview and hiring process, so both parties will know what to expect in the future.
The main tasks of the Au Pair will be looking after their children, as the concept is that the individual will become part of the family and will be an extra hand to help with the children; the family cannot expect them to do housekeeping chores more than those related to looking after the children, like tiding the children’s bedroom, playing areas, and taking care of the children’s laundry and ironing. If the family is looking for someone who will help with the house chores and will look after the children, we recommend that they hire a Nanny-Housekeeper. It’s important to talk with the Au pair about this arrangement, so you are both happy with the tasks.
An Au pairis the perfect person to teach your children a second language, as their mother tongue is usual a different language to English, but this doesn’t mean that you won’t find au pair nationals from Australia, New Zealand, United States or other countries where the first language is English, as English-speaking Au pairs also look for the experience of living abroad. You can find Au pairs that will speak the language that you would like to teach your children, like Spanish, French, German, Danish, Mandarin, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian and more. Their English skills may be limited and they will use their time with you (usually up to a year) to develop these further. If you have children of school age, they will help you to get them ready in the morning, pick them up from school and prepare them for bedtime.
Deciding to hire an au pair will bring multiple benefits for your family. Not only will you be hiring someone for childcare, you will be getting someone who will become part of your family and an important figure for your children. One of the benefits is thatAu pairwill happily adjust their time to the parents’ and children’s time; they will be flexible with their schedule when needed. Another important point is that they won’t be late for work, as they will be living with the family, so you don’t need to worry when you need to leave for an important meeting or you arrive home a couple of minutes late one day.
As we have mentioned, Au Pairs are an affordable assistance. We understand how busy it can be for parents juggling work, home chores and their children, so when you most need help and don’t have a high budget, an Au Pair is the best childcare option.
Bringing an Au Pair into your home will enrich your children’s life with a different cultural experience; they will talk to and teach your children about their country’s culture, traditions, arts how people behave in different life situations and more. While they are doing this, they can be talking with your children in their mother tongue, so if your family is from France or Russia for example, and you hire an Au Pair from one of these countries, they will teach them about this that, so your children will feel more connected to their parents’ homeland.
Harpenden, Hertfordshire Au pair agency offers additionally housekeeping and nanny employees that will work as live-in or live-out, full-time or part-time. Little Ones may help you to find a Personal Assistance, House Manager, Domestic couples and any other house staff that you require.