OPEN DAY - MARCH 2025! - FIND OUT MORE!
Our family-led group has had an exciting and rewarding year in 2024, from our continued growth and developing into new territories, to our many successes throughout our teams!
Our focus has remained on providing the highest quality education and childcare, and our Ofsted ratings reflect this with an amazing 49 ‘Good’ ratings and ‘12’ Outstanding!
Kids Planet is delighted to have been recognised as one of the 2024 UK’s Best Workplaces in Education & Training by Great Place To Work UK!
We’re taking a closer look at how the year unfolded, with achievements, acquisitions and success throughout the group:
Our standout achievement was being crowned WINNERS of ‘Group of the Year (Large)’ at the NMT Awards on Saturday 30th November, held at the Excel London, surrounded by shining lights in the sector! During a time when recruitment remains a challenge for the early years sector, the judges praised our investment in our staff through the many career pathways made available and the mentorship provided along the way.
We had an unforgettable evening we had at the Kids Planet Awards on Saturday, 7th December, at the stunning St George’s Hall in Liverpool! With the fabulous Mark Simmons as our host and lively tunes from the band South West, 500 colleagues from across England and Wales came together to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our teams over the past year. The evening began with a warm welcome from CEO Clare Roberts and an inspiring speech by Jane Kenyon from Girls Out Loud, the charity we proudly supported on the night. From there, it was all about celebration! We presented 21 well-deserved awards to incredible winners and enjoyed an evening filled with delicious dining, entertainment, and plenty of dancing.
Not only that, FIVE Kids Planet nurseries have achieved TOP 20 in their region on Daynurseries.co.uk. A huge congratulations to Wallasey, Southfield, Kenton Park, Queen Street, and Tong!
We were very proud to be finalists in the Nursery World Awards this year, in the ‘Nursery Group of the Year’ category, AND finalists in the Education Investor Awards in the Nursery Operator of the Year category.
Our dedication to training and education was recognised further when we walked away winners at the VTCT Awards – with not only the Training Academy being ‘Highly Commended’ as a large training provider, but our Training Academy Director Gill Mason being award for her ‘Contribution to the sector’, and Kids Planet is delighted to be recognised for the THIRD year running in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers, ranking 39th!
We ended the previous year with a grand total of 173 nurseries and go into 2025 with a family-led group of 222 nurseries – 48 new settings that align with our values, blending communities into the Kids Planet family and providing excellent childcare and education for all.
Some key moments:
We continue to grow through a combination of acquisition and greenfield developments.
Not only do our nurseries work tirelessly across the year to support their local communities and charities, our Clare Roberts, CEO of Kids Planet Day Nurseries based in Lymm, has taken on her own challenge of an expedition in support of the EY Foundation, which aids disadvantaged young people in the UK to transition into education, employment, or entrepreneurship. The chief executive of a major nursery chain has trekked across Cambodia, raising more than £12,800 for charity.
Kids Planet is delighted to be working with Girls Out Loud, a multi-award-winning social enterprise, joining their Big Sister mentoring programme. Girls Out Loud is on a mission to raise the aspirations of teenage girls in the UK and beyond, and the programme is aimed at supporting girls at school aged 13-14, who sit in the middle of the cohort and simply cruise. These girls are in danger of becoming invisible and often struggle to find their place.
Nine women from Kids Planet have signed up for the programme and are currently mentoring between locations in Liverpool and Manchester (St Julies Catholic School for Girls in Woolton, Liverpool, and Coop Academy Manchester, Higher Blackley), growing their professional development and management mentoring, and truly making a positive impact on these young girls’ (and their own) lives!
We were delighted to have been selected again by the AWD (Apprenticeship Workforce Development) as the lead partner, researching ways to better ‘Functional Skills’ for learners, to help ensure that full apprenticeship standards are achievable to all.
The Training Academy was awarded funding to deliver a unique Skills Bootcamp called ‘SEND in the Outdoors’ for existing team members to enhance and upskill their knowledge to support SEND children, delivered in partnership with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority!
This year, we have seen 160 apprentices graduate – 83 of which are SEND qualifications, and 16 from our SEND bootcamp. We are incredibly proud of all the hard-work and effort from the team and fostering home-grown talent within our nurseries is paramount.
As our group expands, so has our social circle, and our growth has opened up our eyes to lots of topics and pain points parents and carers face in the early years. From funded childcare, rhythm time, what I wish I knew, acquisitions, neurodivergence in early years, and much more, our podcast ‘All Things Early Years’ uncovers the highs and lows of parenting.
All episodes can be found at https://www.kidsplanetdaynurseries.co.uk/podcasts/ or on Spotify and iTunes.
As you can see, it has been a busy year, and going into 2025 we will continue to look for opportunities to deliver our strategic goals. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our staff for all your hard work and constantly leading the way within the early years sector.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!
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