When it comes to performing a nanny reference check there are a number of things that you will want to do when speak with the reference. This is to give you peace of mind that the person that you will be employing will be good for your children and for you. Confirm the address and the ages of the children that the nanny looked after before. Ask the reference what sort of presence the nanny was in the home, was she larger than life, worked quietly in the background, those sorts of things. Ask what their children thought of the nanny, and would they be excited if she turned up on the doorstep one afternoon again. You want to find out what duties the nanny did, did they go on holiday with the family, did they collect the kids from school.
You will also want to know why the employment ended, and did you and the nanny part ways on good terms, and are you still in touch. It may have been that things just came to a natural end, but you need to make sure when you are talking with the references. What you need to bear in mind is that people are a lot more candid when talking in person than when committing to paper, and you will find you might get a much better idea about your nanny when you talk to the former families and this can give you great piece of mind. You will want to know if there were any particular issues around punctuality and things like that, and whether they were able to provide engaging activities for the children. Also ask them if they knew the neighbourhood beforehand, or how long it took them to get to know the lay of the land, as this can greatly help in embedding a new nanny with the family.