The Lumière Difference
The Training & Standards Programme
Other agencies screen candidates and stop there. Every nanny placed by Lumière completes a proprietary training and standards programme, created by a founder who still does the job herself — so your family meets a nanny who is prepared, not just approved.
Arrange a Confidential CallQuick answer
Every nanny placed through Lumière completes a proprietary Training & Standards Programme, created and delivered by founder Hanna, a working career nanny. Unlike agencies that only screen candidates, Lumière trains every nanny to one published internal standard — covering child development, safety, communication, nutrition and discretion — before she is ever introduced to a family. It is Lumière's own standard, not an externally accredited qualification, and every placement carries a free re-match within the first three months.
We Train, We Don't Just Screen
Almost every agency will tell you its nannies are vetted. Vetting is essential — but it only confirms what a candidate already is. It cannot make two different nannies work to the same standard, communicate the same way, or hold the same idea of what discretion means in a private household. That gap is exactly what the Lumière Training & Standards Programme was built to close.
Screening Confirms. Training Prepares.
Background checks, in-person references and a qualification review tell us who a nanny is and what she has done. They are the floor, not the finish. Once a candidate has cleared them, she completes Lumière's Training & Standards Programme — an internal standard that aligns every nanny we place around the same expectations for care, safety, communication and conduct.
The result is a promise a family can actually rely on: whichever Lumière nanny you meet, she has been brought to one consistent standard before the introduction, not simply passed along because her paperwork was in order.
What This Changes for a Family
- A single, predictable standard across every nanny we place — in any city or household
- Fewer surprises after placement, because expectations were set and taught in advance
- An approach shaped by a working nanny's real experience, not a recruiter's checklist
- Consistency you can name and point to — a published standard, not a vague promise
- The confidence to place a nanny into a demanding, private household from day one
What the Programme Covers
The Training & Standards Programme is organised around the areas that matter most in a real private household. The emphasis throughout is practical — how a nanny behaves day to day — rather than theory on paper. It is an internal Lumière standard that complements, and never replaces, the formal qualifications and first-aid training a nanny already holds.
Child Development & Age-Appropriate Care
Understanding each stage of a child's growth, and tailoring care, expectations and activities to the age and needs in front of you.
Learning Through Play
Turning ordinary days into development — structured and free play, curiosity, creativity and early learning woven into the routine.
Safety Awareness & Paediatric First-Aid Principles
Anticipating risk, keeping a household safe, and grounding in paediatric first-aid principles — alongside the formal certification a nanny holds.
Communication with Families & Professional Boundaries
Clear, calm communication with parents, sensible handovers, and the professional boundaries that keep a private working relationship healthy.
Nutrition & Healthy Routines
Balanced meals, sensible sleep and daily rhythms — the steady routines that help children thrive and give a household its shape.
Discretion in Private & UHNW Households
How to work invisibly and respectfully in high-profile and ultra-high-net-worth homes, where privacy and confidentiality are paramount.
The Lumière Standard
The thread that ties it together: the tone, judgement and standard of service that make a Lumière nanny recognisable in any household.
The Training & Standards Programme is a proprietary internal standard created by Lumière's founder. It is not an externally accredited course or a qualification awarded by a third-party body, and it complements — rather than replaces — a nanny's own qualifications and first-aid certification.
Created & Delivered by a Working Career Nanny
The programme is not bought in or outsourced. It was created by Hanna, Lumière's founder, and she delivers it herself. Because she still works as a career nanny and takes selected private placements, the standard is grounded in what genuinely matters inside a private household — which is precisely why it looks different from a recruiter's checklist.
From Inside the Household
Hanna founded Lumière after years inside private homes as a career nanny, and she continues to take private placements alongside leading the agency. Every module reflects situations she has lived: the reality of a demanding morning routine, the discretion a principal household expects, the small judgements that separate a competent nanny from an exceptional one.
That is what a family is really buying into — not an agency that has read about the job, but one that still does it.
Why It Matters
- Standards written by someone who has held the role, not observed it from a desk
- A consistent philosophy of care carried into every household we place into
- Practical judgement taught directly, nanny to nanny
- A founder who still works alongside the profession she trains
What It Means for Your Family
The programme is not an abstract credential. It exists to change your experience of hiring and living with a nanny — to make the standard predictable, the placement calmer, and the commitment behind it real.
Consistency You Can Count On
Because every nanny completes the same programme, you are not gambling on how one individual happens to work. You know the foundations — safety, communication, discretion, routine — are shared, whichever nanny you choose and wherever she is placed. That is the whole point of a published standard: it makes the promise concrete.
A Standard, Backed by a Guarantee
- One consistent Lumière standard across every nanny and every placement
- A published standard you can read and refer to, not a vague assurance
- Expectations set and taught before your family is ever introduced to a nanny
- Every placement carries a free re-match within the first three months
- Fully declared employment — proper contracts, never cash-in-hand
How the Programme Fits Our Vetting
Training does not replace vetting — it comes after it. A nanny only reaches the Training & Standards Programme once she has passed every stage of our checks. By the time she is introduced to your family, she has been verified and then prepared, in that order.
| Stage | What happens | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Background checks | Identity, right to work and background checks, with DBS or local equivalents where applicable | Confirms a candidate is who she says she is, before anything else |
| 2. In-person references | Previous private roles verified in person, not by email form-fill | Real conversations reveal what a written reference never does |
| 3. Qualification review | Formal childcare qualifications and first-aid certification checked | Confirms the professional foundation the programme builds on |
| 4. Character interview | An in-depth interview on temperament, values and fit for private households | Judges the human qualities a checklist cannot capture |
| 5. Training & Standards Programme | The founder-led programme every nanny completes before placement | Turns a strong candidate into a nanny prepared to the Lumière standard |
Vetting confirms who a nanny is; the Training & Standards Programme prepares her to work the Lumière way. Only nannies who complete every stage are introduced to a family. For how placement and fees work end to end, see the Fees & How We Work guide.
Explore Further
The Roles We Train For
Training & Standards: Frequently Asked Questions
Arrange a Confidential Call
Tell us about your family and the role. Every nanny we introduce will have completed the Training & Standards Programme — so you meet a nanny who is prepared, not just approved.
Arrange a Confidential CallThe Lumière difference
Founded by a working career nanny, not a recruiter
"I founded Lumière because the families I worked for kept asking the same question: where do we find another nanny like you? I still take private placements. Every nanny I place is one I would work alongside."
Hanna founded Lumière Placements after years inside private households as a career nanny. She continues to take selected private placements alongside leading the agency, a working-nanny perspective that shapes every shortlist Lumière puts forward. Lumière is the only French Riviera-based boutique placement agency, placing across Monaco, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Cannes, Saint-Tropez and Nice, and worldwide, founded and led by an active working career nanny.
Why families choose Lumière
- Based
- French Riviera
- Founder
- Hanna, working career nanny
- Approach
- Families understood from the inside, the right nanny for the right family
- Qualifications
- Norland, CACHE, NNEB, Montessori
- Vetting
- References verified, DBS where applicable
- Employment
- Declared, full contracts
- Reach
- 17 cities · 3 continents
- Specialisms
- Live-in, rota, governess, maternity, yacht, travel