Facilities
BarBar is located at The Rosary School, Beeches Green, Stroud, The Old Tennis Pavilion, Stratford Park, Stratford Road (next to the Leisure Centre) Stroud and Unit 83, Kingsway Business Park (next to Body Flex gym and by the Park & Ride), Quedgeley, Gloucester.
The nursery at The Rosary site makes use of the school playgrounds and sports field, for activities such as ballgames, sand and water play, and gardening. There is a specially built covered play area with a protected landing surface immediately adjacent to the building for outdoor play all year around. In addition, there is a secure fenced grassed area for play on the climbing aparatus and space for riding bicycles, cars and push -a-long toys.
The nursery at Stratford Park is on two floors with a safe and enclosed garden for the pre-school children to play in and a specially designed exclusive baby garden with "Billy Bounce" safety surface, growing opportunities and much more.There is an outdoor climbing train, water drain pipes, safety landing surfaces and growing opportunities for the pre-school children too! Both gardens were overhauled and re-designed in June 2010. Indoors the babies have a "messy" -craft area, large playroom, milk kitchen, sleep room and free-flow access to their garden. The pre-school children have two large playrooms, one for messy play and craft and one for general play, including a role play area and a quiet reading area.
BarBar at Kingsway consists of a huge building formerly the Laughterland building on the old RAF site. This building has undergone extensive refurbishment to create three large play rooms, one for babies from birth, one for children from 2 - 3.5yr and the other for pre-school children. There are also 6 children's toilets, nappy changing facilities and a new kitchen. In addition we have a quiet room for relaxing play and baby sleeping. There is a large garden with safety flooring, planting opportunities and climbing aparatus which is accessed directly from the playrooms- with our "free-flow" ethos the children can go inside and out whenever they wish. From September 2011 we are cooking healthy meals on site from locally sourced ingredients.
BarBar take the children on trips to the local Stratford Park and into the town and local stores to fit in with the programmed activities. The children enjoy trips to Gloucester City Farm, The Everyman Theatre and have visitors such as the army, police or fire brigade.
Prospective parents/guardians are encouraged to bring their children along to BarBar for a visit to ascertain whether they feel the setting will suit their child. This gives parents and children the opportunity to play and ask any questions whilst seeing how a typical day runs at the nursery. For security reasons, we ask that you please telephone before arriving; this also ensures that we are available to talk to you. If parents wish to stay for some time during their child’s first session, they are welcome to do this.
At BarBar we work in partnership with parents to ensure the happiness of the children and to discuss progress and how to move children forward. Every child has a key person and a buddy who work in close liaison with the child and parents. Parents are given a termly newsletter and we hold Information and Parent's Evenings.
A typical day at the nursery and pre-school provision for all children encompasses the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum 2008, with children’s progress being recorded in a manner to complement their transition to mainstream schooling. Great emphasis is placed on meeting the individual and diverse needs of the children and as such activities are tailored to suit each and every child.