Kids Planet group plans rapid expansion

This will increase the chain’s number of settings from 17 to 25 by 2018.

The new site in Salford Quays will open as a 136-place nursery in November.

In addition to this, two other settings have been acquired by the group since the last Nursery Chains supplement placed them at 16^th in the largest UK chains league table.

These are Yarrow House Nursery in Southport, Liverpool, and Lymehurst Day Nursery in Urmston, Greater Manchester, both rated as Outstanding by Ofsted.

The group also bought a site in Swinton to create a £1.5 million purpose-built nursery to open in 2017.

Chief executive Clare Roberts said, ‘We’re so pleased to have acquired such a fantastic site within Exchange Quay, it will be a great fit for the Kids Planet group. All areas of our buildings are thought about, ensuring we utilise all parts to create cosy, stimulating and unique spaces.

'As well as this site and Swinton, we have acquired five nurseries in the last 12 months, along with creating a head office function in Lymm as part of our three-year expansion plan.’

'The chain has also recently appointed two new area managers. Both were peviously nursery managers - Lyndsey Brannick from Kids Planet Prestwich and Jude Scott from the Widnes setting. 

‘Creating career progression within the group is, we believe, a crucial step to the future success of the group,’ Ms Roberts added.

‘We have robust training programmes and believe passionately in investing and rewarding our practitioners. This includes the development of a six-month learning journey for our employees to ensure that all employees feel fully integrated and valued as part of our team. Our approach paves the way for creating future talent within the group and opportunities to move into management as we acquire more nurseries.’ 

The group now offers more than 1,700 places in the north-west region with revenues in excess of £13m.