Our story

Our journey so far

Kids Planet was created to offer exceptional early years education and care that supports all children to thrive.

  • 2008

    Kids Planet was founded

  • 9,000+

    Team members

  • 40,000+

    Children in our care

  • 350+

    Nurseries internationally

Family founded

Kids Planet was set up in 2008 by working mum Clare Roberts and her father John Hoban.

At the time, Clare was expecting her first child and travelling regularly for work. Like many working parents, she was looking for exceptional childcare that would give her confidence as a parent while working around the realities of family life.

John had spent many years building and leading a successful nursery group, while Clare had worked as an early years practitioner herself.

Built with families in mind

Kids Planet began with two nurseries in the North West.

In those early days, Clare managed one of the settings herself while raising a young family. That experience shaped the business from the beginning, reinforcing the importance of creating nurseries where children feel safe, valued and inspired to explore, while parents know they’re leaving their child in trusted hands.

Although Kids Planet has grown significantly since then, those principles remain at the heart of everything we do.

Growing with purpose

As Kids Planet grew, Clare’s sister, Lucy, joined the business, strengthening the family’s shared commitment to children, colleagues and communities.

Today, Kids Planet has more than 350 nurseries across the UK and Ireland, caring for over 40,000 children and supporting families through some of the most important years of their children’s lives.

As we’ve grown, our focus has remained the same. We continue to invest in our people, develop our practice and raise standards across early years education, always keeping children and families at the centre of every decision we make.

Looking ahead

Our ambition has never been to be the biggest. It’s to do things properly, do them well and continue setting the standard for excellence in the early years.

As we continue to grow, we’ll keep investing in our people, our nurseries and our approach, so that more children and families can benefit from exceptional early years education and care.

Our journey so far

  1. 2008

    Kids Planet is founded by Clare Roberts OBE and her father, John Hoban, with two nurseries in Warrington and Widnes.

  2. 2014

    The Kids Planet Training Academy is launched, reinforcing our commitment to learning, development and raising standards across our nurseries.

  1. 2020

    Kids Allowed joins the Kids Planet family. Completed during the global pandemic, the acquisition became a defining moment that demonstrated the resilience, teamwork and dedication of our colleagues.

  2. 2021

    We take our first steps further south with the acquisition of five nurseries connected to the University of Oxford.

  1. 2022

    Kids Planet surpasses 100 nurseries, and Clare Roberts is awarded an OBE for services to education and early years.

  2. 2023

    We expand into Wales and are recognised as a Best Place to Work, celebrating our people-first culture and commitment to supporting colleagues.

  1. 2025

    Kids Planet reaches more than 300 nurseries and takes its first international step through the acquisition of Irish nursery group, Tigers Childcare.

  2. Today

    Kids Planet continues to grow with the same ambition it had from the very beginning: to provide exceptional early years education and care that works for modern families, while helping raise standards across the sector.