Paul Dowsett

Principal

I started at Barnes Summer Play School in 2014 and worked with Yvonne and her fantastic team. The summer school and activity camp has gone from strength to strength and flourished over the years and I am proud to be the principal. My own son and other family members all contributed to the success of this family run business which we all absolutely cherish and enjoy. The team who work at BSPS have pretty much grown up with the school, extraordinary! Now that’s what I call organic!

The team members are reliable and hardworking and return most years with a gap year or two in between with most of them going on to become teachers and/or working in education and social care. I now have a team of fully qualified nursery teachers, primary School teachers and fantastic young people looking after the children whilst at the Barnes Summer Play School and our fantastic Barnes Adventure Camp.

Heather Busby-Steers

Senior Manager

I was first introduced to TP camps in 2017 by Paul. Paul and I worked together previously for about 4 years, working together at various youth camps, and early years settings. We knew we worked very well together and naturally came back together with regards Barnes Summer Play School and Barnes Adventure Camp (as it was then known). Paul often told me about this fantastic Children’s Summer Play School, set up by Yvonne and asked me to come and meet her and the team. I was instantly mesmerised by the enrichment the children were getting and how organic the summer school was. Needless to say I put my name down for the following year to help out and become part of the team. The summer school and activity camp has grown each year. It’s become an amazing, unique school. I was appointed as the manager of the TP Adventure Camp team after a couple of years and am now so proud to be the Senior Manager of this incredible out of school camp. I currently work part time at a primary school in Richmond and part time managing the summer school.

I’m extremely excited to see us grow even more whilst retaining our organic and unique status and we can’t wait to welcome you to our family.

Yvonne Wake

Founder

Founded the summer camp in 1989. Although no longer involved in running the camp, Yvonne’s family have all worked at Barnes Summer Play School (BSPS) over the years.
Yvonne says: “I am happy to be supporting Paul and his team as it moves forward with regards to outstanding child care during the summer months.”

Our Aims & Objectives

Our Summer Playschool has been running since 1989, and the Adventure Camp for older children was added in 2003.

At TP Camps children have enormous fun and enjoy being children! Our aim is to bring out a child’s individuality, and we support this with creative and artistic play.

Structure: There is a firm structure to each day, and we encourage good discipline as well as plenty of fun. We aim to give the children a full day with interesting creative projects as well as the possibility to just sit and have calm reading moments whenever they feel the need.

Communication: Communication and interaction between staff and children are very important – we encourage sharing and helping each other. We listen to the children, and we support them in their need to express themselves. We expect good manners and kindness towards each other and will help children to achieve this.

Inclusivity: We welcome children from all backgrounds, and are always looking for ways to improve and learn more about the children we see each year. All activities on site are based around giving the children an opportunity to learn the importance of other cultures and the world around them, as well as stretch their imaginations and creative skills. A lot of our returning children come from various countries around the world.

Outdoor play: We take full advantage of the surrounding parks and try to do as many outdoor activities as possible on all good weather days. We concentrate on the children and their individual needs. We respect them and actively encourage them to have fun!

Our reputation: TP Camps has worked very hard over the years to achieve the good reputation that it now holds in the London Borough of Richmond. We work on the premise that children are our future, and as teachers/carers/parents it is important to us to make them feel special, loved, and cared for during the time that they spend with us.

We believe in fun, laughter, listening to the children, talking to them, creating with them, allowing them their space, giving them calm and relaxing times as well as energetic fun and exercise time.