Kids Allowed in pole postion

The Nursery Chains 2018 league tables track the fortunes of the 25 biggest nursery groups in the UK over the past 12 months, revealing how they have grown, alongside our analysis of their inspection grades.

This year we have expanded our analysis of the Ofsted reports of the largest groups to include all the 25 chains.

• Nursery Chains: League Tables - Changing times
• Nursery Chains: Nursery Chains 1998-2018 - Chains at 20
• Nursery Chains: Award Winners - Pots of gold

Congratulations to Kids Allowed who are top of the table for the first time, achieving the highest score possible, with all six of their inspected nurseries graded Outstanding.

Kids Allowed runs eight nurseries in Greater Manchester and Cheshire providing 1,334 places, as well as out-of-school clubs and a training academy.

Jennie Johnson, founder and chief executive of Kids Allowed, said it was 'brilliant news', adding, ‘The team at Kids Allowed work tirelessly to deliver an exceptional service to children and their families. It is great to be recognised in this way and the team feel so proud to have achieved top position on the quality table for nursery groups and of course, I am delighted too.’

Kids Planet, which was top of our quality table last year, is now in second place, with 17 nurseries graded Outstanding and two Good, with 12 nurseries awaiting inspection after rapid recent growth.

Fast-growing ICP comes in at number six, but with only five of its 20 nurseries yet inspected.

Sizing up

This year Nursery Chains turns 20. Our first issue was published in November 1998 and contained the names of 70 nursery groups.

In November 2018, our Nursery Chains directory includes the names of 180 nursery groups ranging in size from three settings to 353.

Both Busy Bees and Bright Horizons, the UK’s two largest groups by far, have continued their run of consolidation with the acquisition of small and medium-sized groups.

Busy Bees operates 353 settings, offering 31,514 places, while Bright Horizons has 308 settings providing 24,805 childcare places.

Busy Bees' acquisitions this year include the nine Mace Montessori nurseries in London and Daisy and Jake's six Wirral-based settings.

Bright Horizons has also been busy with deals this year. The group has acquired the Yellow Dot group of 12 nurseries, based in Hampshire, and Zoom’s five London nurseries, between them adding more than 1,100 childcare places.

The third largest group is now Monkey Puzzle, which operates as a franchise. It has jumped to third place in the table from fifth last year, adding ten more nurseries and more than 700 places in the past 12 months.

• This story was updated on 23 November to reflected the revised Ofsted League Table.
• See the full rundown of the top 25 in Nursery Chains Autumn 2018, available free with the latest issue of Nursery World, published today (12 November), and available online for subscribers here, or sign up for a free 7-day trial here