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2008
Our Kids Planet journey begins! Our owner and founder Clare, a new mum to Isabelle (her first of three girls), launched Kids Planet in response to her struggle to find flexible, suitable childcare for her busy life. This proud year saw the opening of our first two nurseries – Warrington and Widnes.
Year 2 saw lots of changes as our Nursery Group established and grew. With the launch of Kids Planet Head Office and the opening of Beamont and Lymm nurseries, we doubled the number of children we cared for – such a proud achievement for us as a team.
2009
2010
The start of the new decade was an exciting time for our growing team. The opening of Kids Planet Hale was a highlight, alongside the pride of winning, ‘Start-up Business of the Year’ in Warrington. We were also finalists for three ‘Nursery World’ awards.
With Kids Planet going from strength to strength nurturing and caring for children across five nurseries, Clare’s sister Lucy joined the team as Childcare Director. We were pleased to acquire Bridge Farm Crewe Nursery and equally proud to be finalists for many awards. One of the best moments was seeing Lauren Helmsley (Warrington) win ‘Early Years Practitioner of the Year’ at the Nursery World awards.
2011
2012
This year was an amazing year for awards. After 4 years and with 6 nurseries in our group taking care of hundreds of children and employing dozens of brilliant people, Amanda Brown won Nursery Manager of the Year and Jemma Morris won Newcomer of the Year at the Nursery World Awards.
A bumper year for new nurseries as we opened Kids Planet Prestwich and Sale, whilst acquiring Jeffrey’s Corner Nurseries in Springhead and Dukinfield/. Taking us to a group of 10 nurseries, every opening and acquisition enabled us to grow and develop as a fantastic childcare business focused on children and their families. We were thrilled to win three prestigious awards – Nursery World’s Pre-School of the Year, plus two awards from Nursery Management Today – Best Nursery Indoor Learning Environment and Green Nursery of the Year (Lymm).
2013
2014
We headed towards Manchester this year with new nurseries opening in Salford and Higher Broughton. We were delighted for practitioner, Jenny James from Beamont nursery as she won ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the Nursery Awards.
Making our way west, we were excited to acquire Liverpool Nurseries Ltd. and welcome Crosby, Fazakerley and Greenbank to the Kids Planet family. We also headed to the seaside by acquiring Yarrow House Nursery in sunny Southport. Two of our great team, Hannah Birchall and Julie Craddock, were shortlisted for prestigious awards too.
2015
2016
This year saw our Manchester locations grow with Lymehurst Nursery joining our group, launching as Kids Planet Urmston, and the opening of Kids Planet Salford Quays in the busy, urban commercial centre of Manchester’s Exchange Quay. We were thrilled to be listed in Manchester’s ’50 fastest-growing companies’ and were shortlisted for many awards including Warrington’s ‘Business of the Year;’. Key highlights were also Laura Cox (Crosby) winning Nursery World’s ‘Newcomer of the Year’ and winning Nursery Management’s ‘Nursery Group of the Year’.
By acquiring Happy Day Nursery in Davenport and Hilltop Day Nursery in Congleton as well as opening Kids Planet Billinge/ and Kids Planet Swinton, we reached over 20 nurseries! Our team were very proud to be shortlisted for and win several awards including ‘No. 1 Nursery Group in the country for Quality’ from Nursery World, ‘Best Children’s Day Centre’ (Warrington) from SME and Nursery Business Development’ from Nursery Management Today. We were very excited for our owner and founder Clare to win both ‘Female Icon Entrepreneur’ and ‘North West Woman of the Year SME’ from Barclays.
2017
2018
This was the year we launched our In-house Training Academy, helping hundreds of people achieve their dreams of working in childcare and attaining professional qualifications. A bumper year for new nurseries we acquired Newlands Nursery School in Preston, Happy Bunnies in Frodsham, Child’s Play in Liverpool and Stretton Private Day Nursery in Warrington. Later in the year, we acquired Bunnies Day Nursery Chester and Harrison Day Nursery in Wallasey. We also opened Kids Planet Adswood in Stockport, Kids Planet Great Sankey and Kids Planet Hoylake near Chester. It was also the year we took on our 1000th employee! We celebrated the year and our 10th anniversary with our first Kids Planet awards evening.
As we continued to offer excellent and flexible childcare, we acquired and opened 13 new nurseries. The first was Jelly Babies Day Nursery in Little Lever, closely followed by the acquisition of Chesterfield-based ‘Excellence in Childcare’ which added five excellent nurseries to our group in Brampton, Chesterfield, Newbold, North Wingfield and Sheepbridge. Wendy House Day Nursery was acquired in Litherland alongside Rainbow Day Nursery’s three nurseries in Middlewich, Haslington and Mablins Lane (Crewe). Two more acquisitions of Noah’s Ark Day Nursery in Great Broughton and Nutkins Day Nursery in Eccles happened alongside the opening of our new purpose-built nursery in Worsley.Winning a host of prestigious awards concluded this bumper year including ‘Nursery Group of the Year’ (Nursery Management Today), NMT’s ‘Nursery Indoor Learning Environment Award’ for Wallasey, Gill Mason won Nursery World’s ‘Trainer of the Year’, Kids Planet Adswood won the Quality Mark Award and Gemma Medd won ‘Early Years Teacher of the Year’.
2019
2020
In early 2020, we were delighted to acquire the Kids Allowed nursery group. This took us to a further 8 great locations across South Manchester and Cheshire including Cheadle Royal, Christie Fields, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Stockport, MFT South, Altrincham and Trafford City/. We now have over 50 nurseries and close to 2000 staff in our group committed to caring for and nurturing over 7500 children. Where will we be landing next?!
In a year dominated by a global pandemic, we were delighted to see our brand new Chester nursery open as well as a successful launch in Shropshire as Kids Planet Shrewsbury opened its doors in June. Excitingly, we moved into the south of the UK for the first time, having acquired 5, University of Oxford nurseries previously managed by Bright Horizons.
With a brand new purpose-built nursery being built in Winnington as well as the acquisition of the Learning Curve Nursery group involving a further 5 nurseries in Blackpool and Lytham St Annes, we are on a roll!
In July, we acquired Poppy and Jacks group of ten nurseries across the North West and Nottinghamshire, closely followed by two acquisitions in August – Burbage in Hinckley, Lancashire, and Peepo Day Nurseries three nurseries – Hatchford, Solihull, and Moseley.
We are showing no signs of stopping, having acquired Inside Out in Coventry and Poppins in Cheadle in September, and walking away from the Nursery World Awards on Saturday 25th September as WINNERS of TWO awards: Nursery Group of the Year, and Online and Social Media.
October saw us acquire Tic Toc Day Nursery in Coventry, and as the year is drawing to a close, we are still expanding our Kids Planet family – in November we announced that we will operate the University of Cambridge Chris Abell Nursery from January next year, and we made the move into Yorkshire, acquiring Rainbow Day Nursery in Tadcaster.
In November we were proud finalists in the ‘Nursery Group (Over 10 settings)’ category in this year’s National NMT Nursery Awards.
Continuing our expansion into Yorkshire, in December we acquired Kinder Haven Nurseries, a group of nine nurseries across Bradford and Leeds.
Not long after this, we acquired George Perkins Day Nursery in Birmingham, and Hanford Day Nursery in Stoke-on-Trent, taking our total number of nursery settings to 96 as the year draws to a close.
2021
2022
Continuing where we left off on our rapid success and growth over 2021, on 1st February, we announced the completion of our exciting acquisition of Lancashire family-run nursery group, Bonney Babies three nurseries – Nutkins, Squirrel Nutkins, and Little Nutkins.
In what is an exciting milestone, we surpassed our 100 nursery mark in February once we acquired Twinkles Nurseries family-run group of six nurseries in North and West Yorkshire – a proud moment for the group!
In March, not only was it was announced that Kids Planet Day Nurseries is a finalist for the People’s Choice category of the North West Family Business Awards 2022, we also were proud to acquire four new settings over two nurseries: Horn End Group of three in Stafford, and The Owls in Bolton.
Kids Planet Chorley officially opened its doors on 21st March 2022, following a successful Open Day on Saturday 19th March.
April began with the acquisition of two new Birmingham based nurseries: Stepping Stones in Sutton Coldfield, and The Green Nursery in Halesowen, taking our total number of settings within the group to 110.
We ended May with several exciting new additions to the Kids Planet family – Little Acorns, a group of three nurseries in Huddersfield, Church House nursery in Kidderminster, and finally Kinderbear nursery in Paddiham.
In June, we were thrilled to have five Flyde nurseries join our Kids Planet group – previously Happy Days Nurseries, largely aligned with primary schools and hospitals and sitting alongside existing Kids Planet settings in the region.
Taking the leap and expanding into the North East region, in July Kids Planet acquired the five Choice Childcare nurseries, in Westerhope, Gosforth, Cramlington, Wallsend and Sunderland.
We were delighted in August to reveal the acquisition of family-owned Carrington Day Nursery in Nottingham, bringing us to 126 nurseries. Not long after, Kids Planet acquired Clockwork Group of three nurseries in East Manchester – Ashton, Audenshaw, and Stalybridge, and before the week was over, two more Nottingham Daisies Day Nurseries in Gedling and Lowdham.
In September, we welcomed Angels Nursery in Kettering into the Kids Planet family. Angels has a strong reputation, serving the local community and businesses of Kettering.
Not only that, in September we were delighted to reveal that we were chosen as FINALISTS in FIVE categories in the NMT’s National Nursery Awards 2022.
This is a fantastic achievement and recognition for the following:
October saw us acquiring Waverton Day Nurseries, an independent family-owned group of four settings in Liverpool; Wavertree, Whiston, Kirkby and Knowsley. Only the following week, we welcomed The Ducklings Day Nursery in Halewood into the Kids Planet family. October ended with welcoming Edgbaston Kindergarten in Birmingham into the group, a lovely Victorian property with Montessori approach, taking our total number of nurseries to 138.
In more news, we are thrilled to reveal that the Kids Planet SEND Team has come away from the sparkling nasen Awards, held at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham in October, with a coveted top prize for Early Years Provision.
In November, we acquired Heywood Early Years, a trio of nurseries in Heywood, Greater Manchester called Buttercups, Daisy Chain, and Woodlands.
We were delighted to walk away from the NMT Awards in November with a surprise award – our CEO Clare Roberts received the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award – having been revealed as a truly inspirational leader and champion for the early years sector. In the week following, we added to the good news by acquiring Tender Years Day Nursery Leigh.
As the year draws to a close in December, we have acquired Kings Park Day Nursery, a wonderful, privately run day nursery in Knowsley. The most recent addition to the Kids Planet family means we end the year as a group of 143 nurseries.
We are delighted to kick off the new year with the news that Kids Planet has acquired Sunbeams nursery group. Sunbeams are a high-quality group of four nurseries in Leeds and Harrogate that will strengthen and support our existing presence in Yorkshire.
In February, we revealed the addition of Willow Brooke nursery group into the Kids Planet family, a small but mighty group of two quality nurseries in Nuneaton. February also saw us introduce Nook Barn nursery to the family – a Blackburn nursery set in a beautifully converted barn and surrounding gardens.
Building on our exciting start to the year, at the end of February we were delighted to announce our acquisition of two settings in Whitley Bay – Children’s Choice.
March started with the acquisition of Lawley Village Day Nursery and Apley Village Day Nursery, in Telford. Taking us to a group of 154 nurseries, the two warm and family-focussed nurseries sit close to our Shrewsbury setting and expand our offering in Shropshire.
Showing no signs of slowing down, the third week of March saw us acquire two separate nursery settings – Do Re Mi nursery in Durham, and Teddy Bears Day Nursery in Denton.
In May, we were thrilled to announce we had acquired Giggles & Wiggles – a fantastic group of 3 nurseries in Newcastle Under Lyme, Stoke and Stone.
June saw the arrival of Hillside Childcare to the Kids Planet group – three nurseries plus separate out of school club in the Wakefield area, and in July, we announced the acquisition of Marigold Day Nursery, a family-feel setting in the heart of Heswall on the Wirral.
We were shortlisted in SEVEN categories in the NMT Awards 2023, for: Academy – Apprentice scheme of the year, Billinge – Deputy Manager of the Year (Steph Mills), Billinge – Personality of the Year (Steph Mills), Southfield – Beach School of the Year, Group (large) of the Year, Gemma Hughes – Area Manager of the Year, and Udeskole – Training and Development of the Year.
At the end of September, Kids Planet Wallasey received ‘Highly Commended’ for Working with Babies and Toddlers, and the SEND Team were finalists in Inclusive Practice.
In October, we acquired High Bank Nursery in Darlington, and Little Explorers Barrow in Clitheroe! We then acquired The Learning Journey Nursery Ltd, a trio of settings in Dudley that strengthen our presence in the West Midlands.
November begun with the acquisition of the Little Treasures Academy day nursery and out of school club in Witney, Oxfordshire, and at the end of November we were thrilled to announce the acquisition of Early Days Nursery in Litherland.
We ended the year with the acquisition of Zebedees Nursery in Bristol in December, taking us to 173 nurseries.
2023
2024
Kids Planet Day Nurseries starts the year with the announcement of its first step into Wales, with the acquisition of Springfield Day Nurseries and Dragon Camps holiday club. Closely followed by this was the introduction of Fledglings Limited, a group of four nursery settings in Bredbury, Streford, Irlam, and Worsley. Starting the month of February, Kids Planet announced we acquired Kingfisher Day Nurseries – a group of three settings in Derbyshire.
We then acquired Little Learners nursery, a single setting in Sunderland, and Squirrels Childcare group of two settings in Northamptonshire, all on the same day. Followed closely was the acquisition of Puddleducks Day Nursery in Warrington, expanding our large cluster of settings in the North West.
In March, we were delighted to acquire Nurture Me Day Nursery, a single setting in Lutterworth. In May, we announced the acquisition of Turnbridge Day Nursery in East Cowick, expanding the national group’s presence and offering in the East Riding of Yorkshire. We ended June with the acquisition of Butterflies Day Nursery in Bristol, a family feel nursery that we are excited to have in the family. Things sped up further in July, with the acquisition of Mereside Farm Nursery in Solihull, and Snuggles Day Nursery and The Wendy House, two settings in North Wales – taking us to 195 settings. We then acquired Leigh’s Nurseries, a group of three settings based in Longbenton, Heddon-on-the-Wall and Gateshead, expanding our presence and offering in the North-East. In August, we were excited to announce the acquisition of Hollies Day Nurseries group of five in Nottingham, taking our Kids Planet family past the 200-nurseries mark! In September, we were delighted to acquire Fieldside Day Nursery in Great Heck, followed closely in early October by Holly Grange Montessori Nursery in Sandbach, and Rope Green Farm Day Nursery in Shavington. October continues to be a busy month for new nurseries as we announce the recent acquisition of Tiptoes Day Nursery, a group of seven nurseries across Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire. We didn’t stop there, with the acquisition of recent acquisition of Rompers Nursery Limited in Liverpool, and Angels By Day (Children’s Day Nursery) Limited, operating two settings in Nottingham.
We ended October with the acquisition of Linden House Day Nursery, Canal House Day Nursery, Mere House Day Nursery and Patterdale Lodge Day Nursery, operating four settings across Newton-Le-Willows, Ashton-In-Makerfield and Wigan.
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