Kids Planet Barkston Ash

Around six acres and three buildings give Kids Planet Barkston Ash an unusually spacious physical setting. Landscaped outdoor play areas are a substantial part of its character, rather than an incidental addition to the indoor accommodation. This is a sizeable nursery with an Out of School Club alongside its early-years provision.

On London Road in Barkston Ash, near Tadcaster, the setting has capacity for 215 children and accepts ages from 2 months to 11 years. Those whole-setting figures include older children’s provision; they should not be read as the size of a baby group or preschool room.

At its September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that staff worked effectively with parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The practical offer includes full days, mornings and extended mornings, giving families more than one attendance pattern to consider.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children’s learning, development and care: here, its everyday meaning is learning through play, conversation, practical exploration and growing independence. The most useful picture of teaching comes from specific activities, rather than a curriculum slogan.

In September 2024, younger children explored dough and shapes in cornflour, while older children turned a large cardboard box into a bungalow. These examples put sensory exploration and imaginative construction alongside one another. Children could investigate materials and develop an idea of their own, with adults extending the learning.

During that same month, preschool children used safety knives and graters with real vegetables after staff noticed their interest in domestic role play. Adults offered practical suggestions when cutting became difficult. This brought manageable challenge into a familiar activity, connecting hand control, problem-solving and independence rather than treating them as separate exercises.

Conversation, songs and stories also ran through play in September 2024. Storytelling involved actions, props and expressive voices, while older children interested in letter sounds received support with early reading. Imaginative games included making pretend food and telling a bedtime story; construction activities gave children reasons to explain and develop their ideas.

Outdoor and Community Life

The landscaped play areas are the strongest physical feature here. With children’s accommodation spread across three buildings within approximately six acres, the outdoor setting deserves as much attention as the indoor spaces when families assess how their child’s day would work.

A group-wide outdoor approach reproduced for this branch includes wildlife discovery, vegetable growing and active play. These are concrete ways to connect movement with investigating the natural world. Sports activities are also included in private fees. Neither the grounds nor the group approach should be mistaken for a promise that every child follows an identical outdoor timetable.

The September 2024 improvement point concerned children’s understanding of other people: opportunities to explore differences and shared experiences in local and wider communities needed more consistent planning. That is a useful counterweight to the appealing outdoor setting. Learning about the world also means learning about the people in it.

An assigned key person is part of the current care arrangement. For families, that gives the relationship a clear starting point: a particular practitioner is connected with the child, alongside relationships with the wider team and other children. The group-wide Famly app used here provides updates during the day, helping parents stay connected with nursery life.

In September 2024, babies and children settled readily after separating from their families. Adults encouraged sharing, turn-taking and consideration for others, using everyday situations such as helping a friend or responding politely at mealtimes. These observations describe the care and social routines at that visit, rather than guaranteeing how any individual child will settle.

Health learning was practical in September 2024. Conversations about food and teeth continued through meals and pretend play, and home-learning bags included oral-health information and recipe ideas. That gave families something tangible to continue at home. The nursery provides freshly prepared food and snacks, with dietary needs catered for.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with year-round operation and closures for bank holidays and Christmas. The opening window and the standard full-day booking are different: Full Day and Full Time run from 8am to 6pm.

Morning bookings run from 8am to 12.30pm. The extended options, Morning + 1 Hours and Morning + 2 Hours, finish at 1.30pm and 2.30pm respectively. Early Bird covers 7.30am to 8am, and an Adhoc Hourly Charge provides a separate hourly booking option. This combination allows shorter mornings, longer mornings and full-day attendance to serve different family routines.

Older children have before-school care from 8am to 9am and after-school options ending at either 5pm or 6pm, both beginning at 3pm. Holiday provision includes full days, mornings and afternoons, as well as extended mornings. These arrangements make the older-child offer a meaningful part of the setting, rather than simply extending the nursery’s age range on paper.

Getting There

The address is London Road, Barkston Ash, Tadcaster, LS24 9PW. Families can contact the branch by telephone or email, and a tour can be booked.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside privately paid care. Private fees include meals and snacks, plus formula, wipes, nappies and sun cream; sports activities and the Famly app are included too. The charge structure changes on days when early-years funding is applied: meals, consumables and activities are charged separately, with half-day, short-day and full-day charge bands.

That distinction matters when comparing attendance patterns. A privately paid day and a day using funding do not have the same treatment of extras, even within the same nursery. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Scale and your child’s space. Accommodation spans three buildings within approximately six acres. During a tour, ask which indoor and outdoor areas your child would use and how the key-person relationship works across that day.
• Afternoon booking times. The nursery afternoon entry gives a 1.30pm start and an 8am finish, conflicting with the daytime opening window. Confirm the intended finish before choosing that pattern.
• Funded-day extras. Meals, consumables and activities attract separate charges on days using early-years funding. Ask for a written breakdown for your proposed attendance pattern so the distinction from private fees is clear.
• Learning about communities. In September 2024, planning needed to give children more consistent opportunities to understand differences and similarities between people. Ask for examples of how this now features in children’s activities.

Kids Planet Barkston Ash suits families considering full-day care, shorter mornings or extended mornings, with older-child provision adding another practical reason to consider it. Its generous grounds and landscaped play spaces are the clearest physical attraction. The September 2024 picture of learning also contains useful substance: sensory materials, imaginative building, practical food preparation and language woven into play.

The decision is about how that large setting works for your child. The assigned key person provides a clear relationship to explore, while the difference between private-fee inclusions and funded-day extras deserves careful attention. Families weighing an afternoon booking should settle its finish time before making their choice.