Our Latest News- updated February 2010-

February 2010-Sharon and Dee have now sucessfully completed their Level 3 qualifications in Early Years.

In December 2009 Sandra publised a piece of writing in the  "Every Child Journal" highlighting how BarBar meets the Govenment agenda of "Extended Schools". The article  explains the importance of joined up working with other professionals to meet the needs of the children within Stroud town and demonstrates how well BarBar is achieving their goals to serve the community.

In November 2009, The Rosary Nursery were sucessful in thier annual update of their Quality Assurance Accreditation- The Bristol Standard, demonstrating that they continue to work well with all of their children and their families.

Since acquiring the premises at Stratford Park, BarBar have undertaken a major refurbishment process. All the walls have been insulted and repainted, the central heating system has been replaced and updated to the highest specification including fitting wall heaters/coolers. The pre-school children are now situated in the ground floor rooms of the building with a separate art room, a large play room and access to the garden. The babies have their own exclusive outdoor patio garden space- overlooking the outdoor pool and two large play rooms, a craft area, sleep room and a milk kitchen.

The nursery provides home cooked meals on the premises  from fresh locally sourced ingredients.

In September 2008 BarBar at The Rosary School received a "Quality Assurance Award of The Bristol Standard". This accreditation is awarded to settings that show a committment to developing and improving their practice for the benefit of the children. It demonstrates a good team working ethic, excellent partnership with parents and that the team have a sound  knowledge on how to meet the individual and diverse needs of all its children.  

In October 2008 the children at The Rosary nursery dressed up for charity to raise funds for Children in Need. They raised over £150.00 and had great fun playing games and decorating biscuits.

At both the BarBar nurseries we now have graduate leaders working with the children. Both have sucessfully completed the "EarlyYears Professional Status " award.

Our first Holiday Play Scheme during the October Half Term 2008 was a great sucess with over 12 children joining in the fun and games. The children enjoyed a trip to the cinema, swimming, rolller skating, a treasure hunt, games on the Wii computer, cooking and a fabulous "Spooky Halloween Party and Games" plus much more. The nursery babies and children also joined in with the Halloween Party.

Less recent news items-

For the first charity work undertaken by the children at BarBar ASC, they joined in with the Stroud town's first ever Christmas tree festival in December 2005.  The children walked, in pouring rain, to St Laurence Church, where they joined many other people decorating a tree for this beautiful event. Their tree was on display throughout the "Goodwill Event" held in the town.

The children collected toys, games and cleaning articles to send to children overseas who would otherwise receive nothing for Christmas. They made up a total of six boxes for the "Operation Christmas Child" appeal organised by the Samaritans Purse.

In November 2006, the children looked at their teeth for a topic on "Healthy Lifestyles." On a daily basis, the children used disclosing tablets to explore the dirt on their teeth and then with the use of mirrors, brushes, paste and water they cleaned their teeth thoroughly. By the end of the week they were all very proficient and getting a gleaming white smile!

In March 2007, the nursery and pre-school children raised over £250 for "Children with Leukaemia" by singing 26 songs every morning and afternoon .

The nursery and pre-school children collected frogspawn from the school pond and carefully observed its progress into nine frogs, which they now monitor in their own pond at the rear of their premises. They look forward to collecting thier own culture of frogspawn next year!

For the National Child care week in June 2007, one of the children from the After School club, gave an interview on a local radio station telling other children what fun, games, activities and snacks are available at the BarBar ASC.

In July 2008 the nursery group travelled by bus to Cheltenham's Everyman Theatre to watch "Boogie Pete". The children and staff all enjoyed their day out.

Over the Summer recess 2008 the whole setting at The Rosary School site has been re-painted for the children and we have purchased new staff uniforms, a dark den, a three seater bicycle and much more!!

BarBar are pleased to offer a link to it's customers to the Rosary School's website. the address is www.rosaryschool.ik.org