Kids Planet Waterfront

A mud kitchen, sensory drawing and children helping shape nursery life give Kids Planet Waterfront its character. In March 2025, outdoor play involved experimenting with water and paint, while a pre-school committee gave older children a way to contribute ideas. These are useful details for parents who want play to involve exploration and choice.

At its 7 March 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective. The nursery accepts children from three months to five years in Brierley Hill. Its attendance options include full days, mornings and afternoons, giving families different ways to organise care.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning and care: everyday play supports communication, movement, relationships and growing independence. Here, the March 2025 activities show how those areas can overlap. Mixing water with paint and transferring it between containers gave children practical ways to experiment, while pretend play in the mud kitchen connected their own experiences with shared play.

Drawing also extended beyond paper. In March 2025, children used sticks to make marks in sand and Chinese spices, combining early writing movements with sensory exploration. Babies explored objects connected with books, giving them something tangible to associate with a story. These examples matter more than a curriculum label alone: they show the materials staff used to make learning accessible at different stages.

At the March 2025 inspection, Ofsted found teaching good but asked for a clearer progression in older children's physical learning and more exact planning around each child's next learning steps. The distinction matters. Activities could engage children successfully, yet their individual learning targets needed to shape those activities more closely.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor space had more than one purpose in March 2025. Alongside experimentation and imaginative play, staff used it to help children who found it easier to settle their emotions outside. Children also chose quiet areas for themselves when they needed time to recover their composure. For a parent, that connects the physical environment with how the day responds to a child's feelings.

Older children contributed ideas through the pre-school committee in March 2025. It gave them a practical role in decisions about nursery life, rather than leaving every choice to adults. Staff also considered parents' views when reviewing provision, bringing family perspectives into that process.

Relationships and Communication

In March 2025, parents could speak with their child's key person in the room at collection. An online app and parents' evenings provided other opportunities to exchange information and connect nursery learning with home. The combination matters: a conversation can address the day's immediate details, while a longer discussion can examine development over time.

Famly, the group's parent app, is part of Waterfront's current offer and provides updates during the day. The manager also holds the Designated Safeguarding Lead role and supports families with settling into nursery. Those are identifiable arrangements for communication and responsibility; the dated safeguarding judgement belongs to the inspection above.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In March 2025, staff assessed children's achievements and identified learning targets, including targets for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. A special educational needs coordinator discussed support during the visit. The planning improvement is relevant here too: knowing a child's interests and targets needs to lead to activities that address their particular next steps.

A partition between the toddler room and preschool room had been introduced by March 2025 to help younger children feel more secure. Staff were positioned around the nursery to join children's play, including inviting less willing participants to build with them. These observations describe how space and adult interaction were used at that time.

Health learning in March 2025 included oral-care equipment and conversations about teeth, alongside handwashing routines. At meals, older children discussed ingredients using examples such as uncooked pasta and dried parsley. Food became something to investigate and talk about as well as eat.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at The Waterfront, Level Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 1XA. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 52 weeks of the year.

The booking patterns are Full Day, from 7.30am to 6pm; Morning, from 8am to 1pm; and Afternoon, from 1pm to 6pm. A Full Time option uses the same clock times as Full Day, and an hourly charging option also exists. Morning and afternoon bookings create a different attendance rhythm from a full day, rather than simply shortening an opening window. The early full-day start needs clarification before a family builds its working schedule around it.

Telephone and email enquiries go directly to Waterfront, and a tour can be booked. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside paid care. The charge structure separates private attendance from days on which early years funding is used, so families need to consider the complete booking rather than treating every hour as having the same inclusions.

Under the group's inclusive fee arrangement at Waterfront, private fees include meals and snacks, plus formula, wipes, sun cream and nappies. Meals and snacks are freshly prepared, with dietary needs accommodated.

On days when funding is applied, meals, consumables and activities carry separate charges. Those charges use different bands according to the funded hours applied that day. The practical distinction is clear: items included in a private fee can be charged separately when funding contributes to the booking. A written quotation should make that distinction visible for the family's chosen pattern.

• Early starts. Full Day and Full Time bookings begin at 7.30am, while opening hours begin at 8am. Confirm which start applies to the intended booking before organising work around it.
• Individual learning. The March 2025 improvement points concerned physical progression and planning for each child. During a tour, ask how staff now translate a child's learning targets into activities, including movement challenges for older children.
• Funded-day extras. Meals, consumables and activities are charged separately on days using funding. Request a quotation for the actual attendance pattern so these items can be considered alongside any private hours.

Kids Planet Waterfront suits families considering either full-day attendance or morning and afternoon sessions, especially those who value practical outdoor play and communication through an app. The March 2025 examples give substance to that appeal: sensory drawing, shared stories and children contributing ideas all show how nursery experiences can connect learning with everyday interests.

The qualification is individual planning. Engaging play needs a clear purpose for each child, and physical learning needs a deliberate progression. Those are the most useful areas to explore when deciding whether Waterfront fits a child's needs.