Mary Barlow: Childcare and Education Experience

The Totem Pole was born on 6th October 2009, but it had been a dream for a very long time before that. One day, while driving past the empty building in the grounds of Belton Woods Hotel, Mary stopped and pondered what if.... just imagine, what if...... Well we did do a lot of imagining and a good ten months later the building was transformed into the welcoming, homely environment that we call The Totem Pole.

Life Before The Totem Pole

Here’s a little bit you might not know about Mary Barlow....

“I trained as a Nursery Nurse over 20 years ago and have developed a broad understanding of the management and delivery of early years education and care. 

My career has taken me into the private, public and voluntary sectors of childcare and education – Full Day Care,  Parent and Toddler Groups, Playgroups and Sure Start Programmes and more recently developing my own skills as an  Early Years Trainer  and  Consultant.

The Totem Pole has given me the opportunity to develop my core values through my training programmes reaching a higher standard of delivery for you. The ‘Home of Beginning with Babies’ is proving a valuable resource in bringing to life my vision of what you should experience in an ‘outstanding’ setting. I will inspire you through direct and immediate experiences during your time at The Totem Pole. Your new found learning will support you whilst you support the children you work with to construct knowledge that helps them to make sense of their world. Together you will act on an innate desire to explore and search for answers to questions.

Click here to find out more about us and Our Values.