About The Barney Bear Club

Information for parents/guardians

The Trafford Centre, Manchester, is one of Europe’s largest out-of-town shopping centres. It is home to over 200 shops, 60 restaurants, bars and cafes, and the busiest cinema in the UK. Barney Bear is the animatronic character who drives around The Trafford Centre in a remotely controlled car, entertaining children and their families.

This web site is part of the Barney Bear Club, a children’s loyalty scheme which provides benefits for members when they visit the Centre. Younger children will need an adult to help them to use the site, but those aged 5 to 7 should be able to use most of it on their own.

The Centre’s management recognises the need to provide educational resources for children. Since the Centre opened in 1998 curriculum resources have been developed in partnership with Local Education Authorities and teachers, including some for Key Stages 1 and 2. For more information on these resources, or The Trafford Centre, click on http://www.traffordcentre.co.uk

Although the Barney Bear website is primarily a fun web site aimed at children 0-7 years (with or without help from an adult), it also aims to provide a means of learning. We will be looking to develop the ‘Learn’ part of the site as the Club grows, but initially we are providing links to selected educational web sites from reputable providers. The games and activities we provide on the Barney Bear web site, such as the ‘Gallery’ and the ‘Things to do’ are specially devised for us, but they also provide links to other carefully selected web sites.

Links to the National Curriculum

English (writing)

This web site encourages children, in the ‘Gallery’ section, to write stories and jokes. If they are then sent to Barney Bear they may be published on the web site at a later date, providing encouragement for children.

ICT

Modern technology is changing the way we live and work, so the more familiar children can become with using and managing it the better they will cope in the future. Using this web site they will learn about the internet and email and will pick up specific skills such as ‘clicking’ and ‘drag and drop’.

Art and Design

Children feed their imagination through art and design. Discovering their favourite colours in a paint box can be an exciting event. ‘Barney’s Things to Do’ has several means of getting children to draw or colour in pictures, both on screen and off. These help to develop hand-eye co-ordination. Pictures can be sent to Barney Bear, and some will be published on the web site.

Publication of material submitted by children

We will publish jokes, stories and pictures submitted by Club members on the web site. Anything published will be credited to the member, using their first name, age and home location only.

Moderation of the web site

Any materials sent for publishing on the site will be checked by The Trafford Centre Ltd. We will also monitor the links provided through the Barney Bear web site to ensure that they remain suitable for an audience of children.