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Innovation at Barracudas: How We're Continuing to Evolve School Holiday Camps in 2026
For more than 30 years, Barracudas has been at the forefront of children's school holiday camps, creating memorable experiences for thousands of children every year. Since opening our first camp in 1992, we've never stood still. We continually listen to parents, learn from our teams, and adapt our programmes to ensure we're delivering the very best experience for children and families.
As family life evolves, so do we.
Throughout 2026, we've introduced a number of exciting developments designed to enhance children's experiences, support working parents, and ensure our camps continue to offer the highest standards of care, fun, and innovation.
Here's a look at some of the latest improvements we've made across our camps.
Welcoming Younger Children: Lowering Our Starting Age to 4 Years Old
One of the biggest developments this year has been lowering our minimum age from 4½ years old to 4 years old.
This wasn't a decision we took lightly. Over the years, we've received increasing feedback from parents looking for trusted childcare options that can support children from the moment they start school. After extensive planning, consultation, and testing, we introduced the change this year.
Our priority was simple: ensure younger children receive the care, reassurance, and support they need while enjoying all the fun Barracudas has to offer.
To support our youngest campers, we've introduced several enhancements specifically designed around their developmental needs.
Early Years Group Leaders
Every Early Years group now has a dedicated Group Leader who remains with the children throughout the day.
This consistency helps children build trust, confidence, and security, particularly during their first experiences away from home or school. Having a familiar face throughout the day provides reassurance and helps children settle more quickly into camp life.
Dynamic Timetables
We've also adapted our approach to daily scheduling.
Rather than following a rigid timetable, our Early Years groups operate with dynamic timetables that provide additional flexibility. This allows our teams to respond to the group's energy levels, interests, and needs throughout the day.
The result is a more personalised experience that helps children feel comfortable, engaged, and happy.
New Sessions for Younger Children
We've introduced daily Active Play sessions with fun session plans for balancing, bouncing, catching, hitting, jumping, rolling, running and throwing to engage younger children on camp and improve motor skills. We also continue to run Explore and Play sessions designed for quieter, calming tasks needed for Early Years.
These activities encourage creativity, physical development, social interaction, and independent exploration while providing the structure younger children need to thrive.
Extra Support for Parents
We know that sending a 4 year old to camp can feel like a big milestone.
That's why we've developed additional guidance and resources specifically for families with younger children. These include practical preparation tips, additional advice on what to bring, and enhanced information around packed lunches to help ensure children have a successful first camp experience.
A Brand New Website Designed Around Parents
Booking childcare should be simple, stress-free and transparent, which is why we've completely redesigned the Barracudas website for 2026.
Informed by how families search, compare and book holiday camps, our new website delivers a smoother, more intuitive experience from the moment you arrive.
A Fresh New Look
Our refreshed design makes it easier than ever to explore everything Barracudas has to offer. With a modern look and feel, improved accessibility and clearer layouts, parents can quickly find the information that's most important to them.
Whether you're booking for the first time or returning for another school holiday, navigating the website is now faster and more straightforward.
Clearer Camp Information
We've also reimagined our camp pages to help parents make informed decisions with confidence.
Each camp page now presents key information in a clearer, more accessible way, including facilities, activities, opening dates, extended hours and everything families need to know before booking.
Combined with improved navigation across the website, it's never been easier to compare locations, explore what's available and find the right camp for your child.
A Booking Journey That Puts Parents First
One of the biggest improvements is our brand-new anonymous Build Your Basket booking journey.
Unlike many booking systems that require parents to create an account before they can even see availability or costs, our new experience lets families explore their options first.
Parents can browse camps, select dates, add sessions to their basket and see exactly what works best for their family before creating an account at the final stage of the booking process.
It offers greater flexibility, more transparency and a much smoother experience, allowing parents to plan with confidence and complete their booking only when they're ready.
Enhancing the Parent App Experience
Technology continues to play an important role in helping parents feel informed and connected.
Barracudas has always led they way on tech advances, being the first holiday camp to introduce contactless registration and collection with secure QR codes. This year we've introduced a popular enhancement to the Barracudas Parent App.
A Sneak Peek at Tomorrow's Fun
Children who are booked for consecutive camp days can now view their timetable for both their current day and the following day.
This means families can see what's planned ahead, helping children build excitement for their next day at camp and giving parents greater visibility into their child's experience.
It's a significant update that has already received positive feedback from families who enjoy discussing the upcoming activities together at home.
New Activities Being Trialed Across Our Camps
One of the reasons children love Barracudas is the incredible variety of activities available.
With over 80 activities on offer, we're constantly reviewing, refining, and developing new experiences to keep camp fresh, exciting, and engaging.
Throughout 2026 we're trialing a number of new activity sessions, including:
Dragon Boat Caterpillars
A fun, energetic team activity that combines movement, coordination, and plenty of laughter.
Laser Tag
An exciting challenge that encourages teamwork, communication, strategy, and problem-solving in a safe and supervised environment.
Battle Archery
Combining elements of archery and team games, Battle Archery offers children a unique opportunity to develop focus, teamwork, and confidence while having fun.
Axe Throwing
Using specially designed, child-friendly equipment and delivered under strict supervision, this exciting new activity introduces children to a new skill in a safe and controlled setting.
As with all new activities, our specialist teams carefully review participation, engagement levels, and feedback before deciding whether sessions become a permanent part of the programme.
Helping Children Stay Cool with More Water-Based Fun
Summer camps and warm weather go hand in hand.
We're continually exploring ways to keep children active, engaged, and comfortable during hotter periods, which is why we're introducing additional outdoor water-based activities and session ideas across participating camps this summer.
From super soakers and water relay races to sponge games, these activities provide children with exciting opportunities to cool off, stay active, and enjoy even more outdoor fun with their friends.
This helps to make the most of the warmer weather and keep children sun safe at camp.
Why Continuous Improvement Matters
At Barracudas, innovation isn't about change for the sake of change.
Every development we make is guided by three questions:
How does this improve children's experiences?
How does this support parents?
How does this help us deliver the highest standards of care and safety?
Our goal remains the same as it was over 30 years ago: delivering outstanding school holiday experiences that children love and parents trust.
Continually Investing in Families' Experience
Whether it's launching a brand-new website, enhancing our Parent App, introducing exciting new activities or evolving our Early Years programme, every improvement we make has one goal: creating an even better experience for children and the parents who trust us.
Innovation has always been part of Barracudas' DNA and is one of our core values. After more than 30 years of delivering exceptional school holiday camps, we're proud to keep raising the bar, investing in our people, our programmes and our technology to ensure every family enjoys the very best experience from the moment they start planning their holiday childcare through to their final day at camp.
Looking Ahead
As we continue through 2026 and beyond, we'll keep listening, learning, and evolving.
The needs of families change, children's interests develop, and new opportunities emerge. By continuously investing in our camps, people, programmes, and technology, we're committed to ensuring Barracudas remains one of the UK's most trusted and innovative school holiday camp providers.
After all, creating amazing experiences for children isn't just what we do, it's what we've been doing for more than three decades.
