Little Sunbeams Childminding Service, Guisborough

Little Sunbeams Childminding Service, Guisborough Providing Early Years education and childcare from birth to 15 years. Rated Outstanding by Ofsted.

This is my husband Doug. Who's loved and tormented in equal measure by our kids and everyone else's. He's also living wi...
03/09/2026

This is my husband Doug. Who's loved and tormented in equal measure by our kids and everyone else's. He's also living with stage 4 prostate cancer so we're sending him off to Glasgow this weekend for a 'rest'.

Only joking... He'll actually be taking part in the 56 mile Tour de 4 cycle ride with Sir Chris Hoy to raise money and awareness for those also living with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

Doug joined us working at Sunbeams last September after a 30 year career in teaching and school leadership and he is loving helping to raise our Sunbeams children (in between naps obviously 🤣, cancer treatment can be rough).

If you'd like to support him in his challenge (which is going to be pretty tough as he's not managed to do the full 56 miles in training yet) I'll pop the link in the comments ⬇️

❤️Thank you to all of our customers who have stuck with us through two incredibly difficult years. Being self employed has meant we haven't taken a single day off but we've felt your compassion every step of the way ❤️

Tour De 4

We're currently having the kerb dropped outside our house to make getting on and off the drive a bit easier when we're w...
28/08/2026

We're currently having the kerb dropped outside our house to make getting on and off the drive a bit easier when we're working. Without realising I was in my garage yesterday someone passing by said:

"No wonder they can afford work done, the amount it costs for childcare these days" 😳

Now, if I'd been braver, I'd have challenged it there and then, explaining that actually around 90% of our customers currently pay ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for our services due to funding and the fact we don't charge for any extras at all. But I couldn't find the words in that moment. For those who do pay, we do our utmost to keep prices affordable. Our school wrap around prices haven't ever increased since opening in 2015. Our full daycare is significantly cheaper than some of our competitors. We bend over backwards to ensure that our service to parents and our early years education for children are exceptional.

But I'm not a martyr. This is a business. It makes a profit. It supports four full time jobs. It is successful and I am hugely proud of it.

And I will not apologise for it.

📢 Don't get caught out by the funded childcare lottery!!Although the 30 hours of funded childcare is advertised as 'from...
12/08/2026

📢 Don't get caught out by the funded childcare lottery!!

Although the 30 hours of funded childcare is advertised as 'from 9 months' that isn't actually the case for most families. We can only claim funding for children the term AFTER they turn 9 months, which in the case of babies born in April can mean that they are nearer 14 months when their funded hours kick in 😱.

Please factor this into your maternity leave and financial planning. We've had a few families caught out and rightly disappointed by this as they weren't expecting to have to pay for childcare for up to a term after the financial strain of maternity leave. I've put a breakdown on the photos below. Also, don't forget to apply for your funding code in plenty of time, if you miss the deadline you'll lose a full term of funding!!

We don't make the rules, but we do have to stick to them 😞.

This is Doug. The love of my life, absolute warrior and utterly one of the best humans I have ever met. He's also rubbis...
09/08/2026

This is Doug. The love of my life, absolute warrior and utterly one of the best humans I have ever met. He's also rubbish at social media. Hence my appointment as his Head of Fundraising.

In 2024 Doug was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer at just 53, when our youngest child was just two years old. His symptoms were fairly minor and could have easily been brushed off if it wasn't for the 'feeling' we both had that we should push for investigations. His biopsy results were thought to show low grade cancer but he decided on radical surgery based on his PSA levels and the advice of his surgeon.

🙏🏻Thank goodness he did.

The tumour was actually much larger and faster growing than first thought, invading not just the prostate but the surrounding organs and tissues. He went on to have radiotherapy and is still undergoing hormone treatment. His cancer levels are currently low as a result ❤️.

Despite the worry, the affects on his physical health and the uncertainty, Doug remains the kind of person who wants to put good into the world. He will be taking part in Tour de 4, a gruelling 56 mile bike ride, on 6 September 2026 to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK so that their vital research can continue to help other men to be diagnosed sooner and treated more effectively.

If you can spare a few quid please click on the link below to support his fundraising efforts. If not then a share or comment of encouragement will help him power through a tough challenge whilst still on treatment.

Much love,
Kim and Doug xx

Link in comments

🌻 Guys!! Your sunflowers have finally flowered and they are absolutely splendid! What amazing little gardeners you all a...
08/08/2026

🌻 Guys!! Your sunflowers have finally flowered and they are absolutely splendid!

What amazing little gardeners you all are ❤️

😱 Oh the horror of this situation 😱
05/08/2026

😱 Oh the horror of this situation 😱

🌞 Shine bright Little Sunbeams, go smash your next adventures!It has been our pleasure to love you and our honour to be ...
21/07/2026

🌞 Shine bright Little Sunbeams, go smash your next adventures!

It has been our pleasure to love you and our honour to be a part of your story. I hope we've helped you to build the foundations of a beautiful life.

Thank you The Workroom Aka Tinkerella for the amazing leavers bunnies.

❤️🌞❤️

Thank you so much to 'Grandma' Audrey who has just finished 11 years of volunteering at Sunbeams! We knew we'd have to l...
17/07/2026

Thank you so much to 'Grandma' Audrey who has just finished 11 years of volunteering at Sunbeams! We knew we'd have to let her 'retire' one day but we are still gutted! She's helped me to nurture almost 100 children since Sunbeams was born, supported me when I had my fourth baby and went back to work after just 7 weeks (absolute lunacy in hindsight) and has given my own children lots of one to one time to take the pressure off them sharing their home and their mummy with lots of other children.

She's showed up with humour, a forthright way with words and no small amount of chocolate button related rule breaking 🙈.

Thank you Aud, you're an absolute legend and I couldn't have done it without you. ❤️

I worked with Helaina when we were mentoring childminders for the DfE. She is a wonderful practitioner full of knowledge...
14/07/2026

I worked with Helaina when we were mentoring childminders for the DfE. She is a wonderful practitioner full of knowledge, empathy and ideas. If you are a childminder eligible for this support I would highly recommend applying. It makes such a difference to have someone in your corner and this support can be highly personalised to suit your setting ❤️

🌻 With the usual Sunbeams comic timing, the 50 odd sunflowers we've been nurturing for months look set to flower in the ...
13/07/2026

🌻 With the usual Sunbeams comic timing, the 50 odd sunflowers we've been nurturing for months look set to flower in the summer holidays when we're closed 🤣.

Not to worry though, with our usual pragmatic approach we adapted our plans and used reference books to see how beautiful they are going to be so that we could recreate them in some Van Gough inspired art.

Auntie Kim has promised to freeze the petals once they bloom so our explorations can continue in the autumn term.

Address

Falcon Way
Guisborough
TS148HT

Opening Hours

Monday 7:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 7:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 7:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 7:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 7:30am - 5:30pm

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