Mama Bear's Day Nursery opens in Long Road, Paignton, Torbay

Mama Bear's is continuing its partnership with local colleges by taking over the running of Tom Thumb Day Nursery at South Devon College in Long Road, Paignton, Torbay.

On 1st September 2011 the day care centre became a Mama Bear's Day Nursery with the responsibility for the management of the child care passing to Mama Bear's.

This is a big responsibility as the nursery is already rated by OFSTED as 'Outstanding' but it is also testament to the high regard that Mama Bear's has within the care and educational establishment for delivering Outstanding child care and education.

To help us build on the already excellent child care, the Outstanding staff team transferred over to Mama Bear's from Tom Thumb Day Nursery.

The nursery is open 51 weeks of the year from 7.30am to 7.00pm and welcomes familes from the wider community as well as children from families with links to the college.

For more information please call Bev or Sally
on 01803 540 578 or email us at lrmanager@mamabear.co.uk.

Taunton celebrates "Outstanding" OFSTED inspection

Staff, parents and children at our Taunton site are celebrating the results of our latest OFSTED childcare inspection.

During our official visit in January 2011, OFSTED inspectors spent time reviewing our practices, policies and procedures in detail. They spent time with staff, children and parents.

They found us to be OUTSTANDING in all 18 areas inspected.

Outstanding results are extremely hard to achieve and reflect the best possible standards in care and education. We are particularly proud of Kerry and the whole of the team at Wellington Road. In particular we are proud that we are able to give the best possible outcomes to children in our care.

For more information on our Taunton nursery please call Kerry Sturmey on 01823 276 261 or email wellingtonroad@mamabear.co.uk.

Boogie Bear Singing and Dance Group - based at Shirehampton

For children under five years. Join us for half an hour of song and dance designed to develop gross and fine motor skills, balance, co-ordination, confidence-building and much more. Works on mums too!

Meets at Shirehampton every Thursday at 9.30am for babies and 10.30am for over twos.

A small fee of £2 per session applies.

Free Nursery Entitlement for 3 and 4 Year Olds

From 1st September 2010 every child is entitled to up to 15 hours free nursery provision per week during term time from the term after their third birthday until they start school. These sessions are funded by the Local Authority and may also be subsidised by the care provider.

Parents / carers apply for the entitlement on a termly basis via the nursery. This is a simple process which we will help you with.

In line with the DCSF and Local Authority’s Codes of Practice Mama Bear’s are offering the free entitlement flexibly as detailed below. Please note though that some places may be limited with availability on a first-come-first served basis.

1. As part of an all year round, fee-paying nursery place. In this case the first 15 hours per week (with a maximum of 6 hours in any single day) during term time are free of charge.

2. Three free 5 hour sessions per week, term time only for 38 weeks of the year. These will usually be afternoon sessions from 1.00pm to 6.00pm but morning sessions may also be available. These sessions include meals and snacks, which are not funded by the FEEE and therefore a charge per session of £2.50 for morning snack and lunch and £1.50 for afternoon tea will be made to cover the nursery’s costs.

3. Five free 3 hour sessions per week, term time only for 38 weeks of the year. Morning sessions run from 8.30am to 11.30am and afternoon sessions from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. These sessions include drinks but no meals.

Fishponds

Our Fishponds nursery is a wonderful purpose-built setting located in secure gardens just off Thicket Avenue. The timber-built building is set in landscaped gardens designed to be full of areas of discovery and learning.

The nursery is divided into three groups – a baby unit for under two’s, a ‘Bouncy’ room for toddlers and a pre-school for three and four year olds.

This setting was formerly run by FLAG and became part of Mama Bear’s on 1st September 2010. The nursery is open all year round (except bank holidays and Christmas Week) and welcomes all families with children from three months to 5 years old.

Availability is on a fee-paying basis. However, the Pre-school is registered to deliver the Free Early Education Entitement. This means that Pre-school children are entitled to up to 15 hours free nursery provision per week during term time from the term after their third birthday until they start school. These childcare sessions replace the free nursery classes historically run by the school. They are funded by the Local Authority with a subsidy from Mama Bear's. Terms and conditions apply.

Please contact Emma Cumming on 0117 965 5096 or by email on thicketave@mamabear.co.uk for more details.

ADVERSE WEATHER PLANNING

As in previous years we will do everything we can to keep our nurseries open during periods of snow & ice, where it is safe to do so.

If bad weather is planned please keep an eye on this page for updates on local access to your nursery.

Mama Bear's acquires Little Haven Day Nursery in Crews Hole, St. George

It gives us great pleasure to announce that on Friday 27th May 2011 Mama Bear's Day Nursery acquired its eleventh childcare setting.

Formerly trading as Little Haven Day Nursery the nursery is based at 261 Crews Hole Road in St George.

Little Haven has been providing childcare as a day nursery for over 20 years. It's a splendid, homely building with large open rooms leading to a safe outdoors play area for the Pre-school downstairs and cozy smaller rooms for babies and toddlers upstairs.

All food is freshly prepared on site to a rolling four week menu by our own cook.

Set back into the wooded slopes of Troopers Hill it really is a 'little haven'.

The nursery is conveniently located on this busy commuter route and will suit parents travelling in to the City Centre from St George, Hanham and Kingswood. It benefits from easy on-site parking.

Opening hours have been extended to 7.30am - 7.00pm to suit the needs of busy and working families.

For more information please call Lucy on
0117 941 4484, alternatively you can email her at chmanager@mamabear.co.uk.

More reasons to celebrate

In addition to our Outstanding result at Taunton Mama Bear's were also inspected at three other of our childcare settings in January 2011.

Cadbury Heath, Fishponds and Hengrove all received Good overall inspection outcomes with elements of Outstanding in all.

We are extremely proud of this achievement, especially as Cadbury Heath has only been open since September 2010 and we only acquired the Fishponds nursery in November 2010.

Even more reasons to celebrate!

As if that was not enough to celebrate, the fantastic OFSTED results at Cadbury Heath, Fishponds and Hengrove come on the back of inspections at our Clifton and Shirehampton day nurseries in September and October 2010.

Both settings achieved a well-deserved Good / Outstanding rating.

It really has been a busy 12 months for Mama Bear's, which started with our Soundwell setting achieving a Good / Outstanding rating in January 2010.

We are extremely proud of our care teams at all of our settings and believe that the OFSTED inspection results reflect the high standard of care and education that is being delivered at all Mama Bear's Day Nurseries. Most of all we take most pride in the outcomes for the children in our care and the service that we provide to the local communities and families that we serve.

OUR NEW SETTINGS AT A GLANCE...

Cadbury Heath

Based in the grounds of Parkwall Primary School in Earlstone Crescent, the nursery replaces the maintained Pre-school class run by the LEA.

The setting operates in close liaison with the school but is run independently as a Mama Bear's Day Nursery.

This means that the provision is open all year round (except Christmas week and bank holidays) and the opening hours have been extended to 7.30am to 7.00pm to support working families.

We are also running a Baby and Toddler unit on site, so the setting provides childcare and education for children from three months to rising fives.

Places are available for children from the wider community as well as from those families with children who plan to start their education at Parkwall Primary.

Availability is on a fee-paying basis. However, the Pre-school is registered to deliver the Free Early Education Entitement. This means that Pre-school children are entitled to up to 15 hours free nursery provision per week during term time from the term after their third birthday until they start school. These sessions replace the free nursery classes historically run by the school. They are funded by the Local Authority with a subsidy from Mama Bear's. Terms and conditions apply.

Please contact Jacqui Sewell-Jones on
0117 960 1892 or by email on earlstonecres@mamabear.co.uk for more details.

Somerset College of Arts & Technology,

Wellington Road, Taunton

Based in the grounds of SCAT, the nursery replaces the college-run childcare provision on Wellington Road, Taunton.

This is our first venture out of Bristol and we are proud to be extending the Mama Bear's family to this lovely, vibrant Somerset town.

We are particularly excited to be working in close liaison with the College, which has an excellent reputation for academic excellence and pastoral care of its students. We are doubly excited (!) to have retained the senior staff, who will help ensure a smooth transition for children and parents.

As with all Mama Bear's Day Nurseries, the setting is run independently as a Mama Bear's Day Nursery.

This means that the provision is open all year round (except Christmas week and bank holidays) and the opening hours have been extended to 7.30am to 7.00pm to support working families.

We are providing care and education for children from three months to rising fives.

Places are available for children from the wider community as well as from those families with a connection to the college (e.g. staff and students).

The nursery is open on a fee-paying basis, however, the Pre-school is registered to deliver the Free Early Education Entitement. This means that Pre-school children are entitled to up to 15 hours free nursery provision per week during term time from the term after their third birthday until they start school. Grants to help with the cost of the care may also be available to students. Please ask your Student Liaison Officer for more details. Terms and conditions apply.

Please contact Kerry Sturmey on
01823 276 261 or by email on wellingtonroad@mamabear.co.uk for more details.