Kids Planet Day Nurseries Reviews 

Removed my son with immediate effect from Kids Planet Chesterfield Newbold. I had concerns while my child was in toddler room with a large amount of trousers cover in urine when he was mostly established toilet training. However I do appreciate accidents happen particularly in nusery. It was noted when a family member collected him at a randomised time that he asked support from three different staff members and they did not acknowledge him. When my family member collected my child he promptly asked to use the toilet (children have to request staff support to use toilets as they are not in rooms). This was escalated to head office and discovered on CCTV this was the case. I had a response from manager who dealt with the situation very poorly giving me responses "why don't you come on and educate staff then" however head office thanked me for raising this concern.

I also highlighted around basic needs not being met such as drinks with all meals times, management stated this was the case. I then asked for management to review CCTV and she confirmed it was not, however there was drinks machines in rooms but I recognised not all children might feel comfortable or be new to a room.

I would also like to add that there are some lovely members of staff at the nursery who have been great with my son which I highlighted to head office, and I appreciate the care and kindness they have shown him.

kids loved it deffo recommend to anyone who wants there kids to have a good day out and the staff were amazing

Following a serious safeguarding failure involving my nine-month-old son, my Member of Parliament approached Kids Planet to discuss the issues. In response, the Kids Planet CEO formally assured my MP in writing that the issues had been reviewed by Ofsted, who found no breaches. This was a complete fabrication. DSARs from both Ofsted and Kids Planet later confirmed that no such communication or finding ever occurred.
 
Let that sink in: the Kids Planet CEO misled a Member of Parliament to cover up a safeguarding failure involving a baby.
 
This culture of dishonesty runs right through the company. The Area Manager repeated these false claims to the entire parent body under the guise of "reassurance", proving Kids Planet will tell families whatever they need to hear – true or otherwise – to protect their backs and keep the fees rolling in.
 
The Chief Operating Officer showed a similar disdain for accountability and parental transparency. In a separate matter, an individual was given unrecorded access to the rooms over multiple days whilst my children were in the building – making physical contact with and hugging the children – despite having zero operational reason to be on-site. The COO's formal response was notably evasive, ignored vital safeguarding questions, and abruptly declared the complaints process "exhausted" – despite giving no explanation or accountability for this security breach.
 
The Childcare Director displayed equal contempt. In another separate matter, I became aware of a secret staff WhatsApp chat – including the Nursery Manager – containing irrefutable evidence of institutionalised, management-led bullying, and staff using a voice note to mock the speech patterns of one of their vulnerable children with SEND (whose parents Kids Planet did not inform).
The Childcare Director downplayed this as "careless and unprofessional isolated exchanges", formally concluding that no children were impacted. Claiming that a toxic environment and staff cruelty doesn't affect hyper-aware, highly influenceable young minds goes against all established early years practice. Coming from a "Childcare" Director, it is professionally absurd. And she knows it.
 
Mine is not an isolated experience. Burying failures is Kids Planet's signature move. The apparent handling of a recent major incident at Kids Planet Crosby – involving changing stories, misleading parents, lies, and cover-ups – closely mirrors my own experience. Find the mum's Instagram account. If your child is at a Kids Planet nursery... that could happen to you.
 
All of this may seem distant from your local nursery, the cute photos on Famly, and the smiles at drop-off and pick-up. But governance is important. Governance is what ultimately keeps your children safe.
Behind Kids Planet's cosy, curated "family-run" image sits a highly-leveraged commercial machine, driven by Luxembourg-based private equity (Fremman Capital, and Ares Secondaries), obsessed with rapid expansion. When the highest levels of governance are focused and judged on how many nurseries they can buy up, and "maximising value"... they will protect their multi-million-pound investment before they protect your child.
 
Beware of any non-committal, carefully-worded reply from Kids Planet's PR team to this review. Any downplaying – or even denial – of these factual and evidenced events is an attempt to mislead you. But silence would also be telling.
If they were truly sorry – or if children's wellbeing were their top priority – they would have engaged honestly to address these failures, rather than gaslighting and stonewalling me for nearly a year.
 
Ask yourself: if Kids Planet's handling of these issues had been anywhere near good enough, would I have left this review?
 
This factual and honest review has been written in my capacity as a consumer who has paid many thousands of pounds to Kids Planet, and it has been published in the public interest.
 
In summary: this is not a good company. Do not trust Kids Planet with your children.

well i started my child in Kids Planet Arnold, which was going to be funded partly by student finance. A year later my bill is over 2000 pounds, as Kids Planet put in the wrong offsted documents to collect payment. Now I have a lady from head office being very threatening in emails, telling me to link the account within two days or she will assume i am not paying after they have had me stressed out with lies and not doing their job properly for a year and a half, leaving me with an outstanding bill. I took my child out of the nursery and put her in a new nursery who have collected payment with no trouble. It's been absolutely shocking, telling me they have been in touch with me, calling student finance to find out they have not basically don't know what they are doing now they are being threatening I would not advise these to any person studying not the best ....my child was constantly unwell no deep cleaning done and left to run with young girls they was fantastic but not recommended at all

SANDBACH: The nursery has a car park that is nearly empty for most of the day. That is because the nursery staff think it is ok to double park in the residential street opposite, making it a misery for those living there. There are wider roads to park in just a few yards further away which would cause no problems to residents, but the staff don't care. It has got that bad that the Police, town and borough council have become involved. Now looks like we will be getting parking permits for residents so they won't be able to park there at all. If only their management had actually listened. You have had my previous identical removed as "it was not based on a "genuine experience". This is utter rubbish the misery the staff cause the residents on Sunnymill Drive is very real and the manager at the Sandbach branch is well aware of the torment it causes but does nothing to mitigate it.

As a family, we've been with this nursery for nearly seven years, with both of our children attending during that time. Until recently, I would have had no hesitation in recommending it.

What disappoints me most is the disconnect between what the nursery promotes and the reality we've experienced. Their marketing and values are built around being a flexible, family-focused childcare provider, yet our experience no longer reflects that.

Since my eldest started, fees have increased significantly—far beyond what we've seen at comparable nurseries in the local area. Most recently, I was shocked to discover that booking an ad hoc session now attracts a 20% premium, meaning a single additional day would cost almost £90. For a nursery that prides itself on supporting working families with flexibility, this feels completely contradictory.

The biggest shame is that this review has nothing to do with the staff. The team caring for the children are genuinely fantastic—kind, caring and dedicated—and they are the reason we've stayed for so long. My disappointment lies with the decisions being made at a management level. In my opinion, commercial priorities now seem to be taking precedence over the family-focused values that originally set this nursery apart.

I sincerely hope the leadership reflects on the direction they're taking, because it risks undermining the trust and loyalty they've built with long-standing families like ours.

Preface this by saying the actual staff members who work in the nurseries day in and day out are excellent people; my local (Longley) is amazing.

The company as a whole is large, with various sites up and down the country, and they took over my local nursery towards the end of 2025, and it's been mainly negative.

Refurbishments have been the only positive since they took over.

Since then, I've had 1 month out of 8 where my invoice was correct, as it's been taken from the nursery and brought into the corporate office, where no one can use a spreadsheet correctly or do arithmetic in general.

Requested a birth certificate to update records they should of already had, then lost said birth certificate, re-did all the funding information just to request it again but fail to send it through and then threaten funding would be pulled because they sent an email into spam THE DAY BEFORE IT WAS DUE.

Tried to pressure parents into splitting our free hours over the year instead of 38 weeks but failed to mention the slight price difference by taking this option.

Struggled with heatwaves, with lack of planning resulting in me personally taking in fans/coolers to help out as my child was sweating and complaining she was too hot.

Now recently introduced the concept of paying 20% more for an ad hoc day session by dressing it up as a "Feature" on their family app and then disabling the comments (subsequently deleting them) when parents pushed back.

If my child didn't have friends / bonded with her carers, then i'd of pulled them out of the nursery when they took over knowing what i know now.

Update : bumped it up a star because they've since reverted their plans on the 20% surcharge for ad hoc bookings.... Wonder why.

Second Update: Management seem to have really stepped up their game at handling things, emails quicker, response to issues much much quicker.

Company does nothing but increase fees with zero justification.

Latest issue today is that they have hiked any ad-hoc additional days working families might need by demanding an additional 20% ON TOP OF THE ALREADY HIGH DAILY RATE and when there was over 150 - 200 complaints about this post which they labelled as "Exciting news" from different parents, kidsplanet simply just disabled the comment section to avoid any backlash. So rather than address everyone asking them to justify the increase they would much rather silence everyone and bury their heads in the sand.

Before Kidsplanet come back and say that there was bad comments etc there wasn't. Just questions from concerned parents wanting to understand why an additional day would now be 20% more expensive than a normal day when a Childs needs are the exact same.

Nothing but blatant profiteering.

In reference to your reply you must think we were either born yesterday or stupid.

You did mean to post it including the 20% increase (just before half term i might add, right when parents would need the extra childcare. My guess is that you got SO much backlash from SO many parents that you realised what damage you were about to cause so you back tracked).

Despite year on year price increases, parents get an announcement today (14/07/26) via the Nursery app (Famly) about some “exciting news!” This news being that ad-hoc additional days are now to be charged at 20% EXTRA compared to normal days. Abysmal treatment of loyal, high-paying customers who for the most part have more than one child go there because most of the staff are fantastic.

If the water goes off and kids aren’t allowed in, if the weather’s bad and they’re closed, if our kids are told they’re too ill too attend, do we get money back? Not a bloody penny!

Within an hour there were 110+ comments from parents asking for clarification and justification of this, and Kids Planets response? To delete all comments and disable further comments with no response of their own. Exciting news!

Nursery was brilliant until Kids Planet took over. Now we are leaving because of Kids Planet.
Wrong invoices every month.
Set term time only dates that aren’t in line with local authority dates.
Many staff leaving.
Awful. Would avoid Kids Planet at all costs.

Withdrew my child due to low staffing levels. This is how mistakes happen. Just look at what happened in Crosby, how was it allowed that someone was able to pick up the wrong child?
Typical big boy company that is only interested in reducing costs & increasing revenue

Kids Planet Christie Fields is a fantastic nursery, and I’ve had both of my children attend there. The staff are incredibly kind, caring, and supportive, creating a warm and welcoming environment for children to learn and grow. I’ve always felt confident knowing my children were happy and well looked after. I would highly recommend this nursery to other parents.

I have been really impressed with this nursery at one of many of sites (Christie fields) there is genuine outstanding care provided on a daily basis, the staff are consistent in the care for children and fully support their needs first, this is shown by how the team(s) communicate in a way to create a warm welcoming atmosphere, My child since attending KP has grown in confidence and this is purely down to the staffs dedication, determination and kindness. Home builds love, foundations and emotional security - nursery develops social, practical and group skills.

Kids Planet is a fantastic nursery to put your child in. I have been sending my child there since he was 11 months old & I couldn’t be happier with the care provided (he is almost 3 now) The staff are attentive, caring & have really know my child! My child always comes home telling me about his day & what he got upto with his teachers which is lovely to hear.

The management team are great & ensure
the nursery runs smoothly, which is clearly reflected in both the staff’s practice & the excellent provision throughout the nursery.

Every time I drop off or collect my child, the children are always engaged in activities & most importantly, happy! I would definitely recommend this nursery to other parents.

My little boy goes to Kids Planet Heddon. The team at this nursery are truly amazing. They take on such a huge responsibility every day with care, patience, and dedication, and it never goes unnoticed. It’s an incredibly important role that is often underpaid (nationally) and deserves far more recognition for the impact they have on both children and families. Knowing my child is in such safe, capable hands gives me real peace of mind and allows me to work without worry. I’ll be forever grateful for everything they do. He loves absolutely all the staff but big shout out to Sommer..Fran ..Emily and Dom as I hear a lot about them via my son xx

I had a very concerning experience with Kids planet Brampton Park and ultimately made the decision to withdraw my child after 2 months.

One of the first issues I noticed was the lack of basic safety and hygiene protocols. Parents were expected to enter the baby room and retrieve their own children, often stepping over crawling babies while wearing outdoor shoes. This felt completely inappropriate for such a vulnerable age group.

There was also no suitable space provided for breastfeeding, when raised at the show around I was told there would be an appropriate plan in place and space provided each day for me to visit and feed my child, the lack of organisation left me sitting on steps or small children’s furniture. This felt both uncomfortable and inconsiderate. Over the course of spending time feeding in different rooms, I also noticed that many of the children’s areas appeared quite run down and in need of renovation.

More worryingly, my baby’s care needs were not consistently met. Staff told me they “didn’t have chance” to try giving her formula during the day to get her used to it, and her nap schedule was not followed, which left her distressed and unsettled.

The most serious concern, and the reason we ultimately left, was around neglect of her medical needs. I had completed a medical form clearly stating that her prescribed eczema cream needed to be applied multiple times a day, but this was not followed. My baby was sent home with multiple cuts and scratches on her arms, suggesting she had been left uncovered and able to scratch for a prolonged period.

What was especially concerning is that the state of her arms were not mentioned to me at pick-up. With staff admitting to the manager that they ‘didn’t have chance’ to apply any cream at all through out the day and they had not noticed the severity of her skin.

When I raised this formally and sent images of my child’s injuries, the manager handled the situation very professionally. She was extremely apologetic, said she would speak to the staff in the baby room, and put a plan in place to prevent this happening again. While I appreciated her response, ultimately she would not be the one directly caring for my child day to day. I needed confidence that the staff in the baby room would meet my child’s needs appropriately from the outset, and unfortunately that trust had been lost.

Overall, I did not feel confident that my child was receiving safe, attentive, or appropriate care. I strongly urge the nursery to review its staffing, safety procedures, and approach to individual care needs

They purposely tried to prevent an autistic kid from attending because of an Ofsted inspection

My two grandchildren attend The Wendy House & love it so very much the staff are so very friendly & extremely knowledgeable & generally love their job ❤️

We couldn’t be happier with this nursery. Our daughter has been attending since she was 12 months old, and it has been such a positive experience for her and for us as parents.

She absolutely loves going every day, which says everything. It’s been wonderful to see how much she has grown in confidence and how much she’s learned during her time there. The activities are engaging and clearly support her development in a fun and nurturing way.

The staff are truly amazing—caring, attentive, and genuinely invested in the children’s wellbeing and progress. We always feel reassured knowing she’s in such good hands.

The facilities are also fantastic—clean, well-equipped, and thoughtfully designed to create a safe and stimulating environment for the children.

We’re so grateful to have found such a brilliant nursery and would highly recommend it to any parent.

My daughter has been attending Ashbourne House since September and she has taken to it like a dream. They're all very lovely and really supportive with helping with milestones (potty) and making her feel happy and comfortable.

Always comes home happy to tell me about what they've been up to.