Kids Planet Leigh

A snail’s trail in the garden can become the starting point for learning at Kids Planet Leigh. This refurbished Wigan Road nursery builds activities around children’s interests, with hands-on exploration indoors and opportunities to investigate nature outside. Independence has a practical place too: children are encouraged to serve themselves at mealtimes rather than simply wait for an adult.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. Physical activity, work with parents and support for children with additional needs were important parts of that inspection picture, alongside a clear request for more consistent teaching.

Children are accepted from 3 to 60 months. The attendance options include full days, mornings and afternoons, giving families a choice between a whole-day booking and shorter sessions.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care. In everyday terms, learning includes communication, movement and growing independence through play and ordinary routines, rather than concentrating only on early writing.

In March 2024, babies moved paint around inside sensory bags, exercising the finger movements they would later need for drawing. Preschool children used pictures to express their feelings. These were different uses of mark-making: exploration for the youngest children and a way to communicate emotions for older ones.

Movement also took different forms across the ages in March 2024. Babies had tummy-time activities, toddlers climbed small pieces of equipment, and preschool children played rugby with a sports coach. Yoga and breathing exercises added a quieter element, linking movement with ways to calm down. The activities combined physical practice with opportunities to listen and cooperate.

The current offer includes sports activities within fees, as part of a group-wide package. At branch level, practitioners plan around what catches each child’s attention, including garden discoveries and creative activities indoors. That makes children’s interests a starting point for the day, rather than an incidental extra.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden gives nature exploration a concrete setting: following a snail’s trail is one example of how children investigate their surroundings. Group-wide outdoor learning activities also form part of the offer, with wildlife exploration, vegetable growing and active play among the examples.

In March 2024, children also used a sensory room. Moving there involved a staircase and practising use of its handrail, making the journey itself an opportunity to learn a safety routine. The physical space mattered to the day, as well as the activity at its destination.

Consistency was the main educational concern in March 2024. Staff sometimes used dummies when babies did not need them, reducing opportunities to practise speech, and occasionally completed manageable tasks for older children. Leaders were asked to bring day-to-day teaching into closer alignment with their intentions and monitor whether children were learning the knowledge they needed next.

Relationships and Communication

In March 2024, staff explored children’s interests and used them when organising daily activities. Parent workshops and bags of activities to use at home extended learning beyond nursery, giving families something practical to do together rather than only an account of what had happened during the day.

Famly, the group-wide parent app included in the offer here, provides updates about children’s days in real time. It gives families another connection with nursery life alongside conversations with practitioners. The practical benefit is being able to follow a child’s experiences while they are in childcare.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities highly effective, with needs identified promptly and care plans coordinated through the SENCO. Picture cards and signing were among the communication methods used, while parents and outside professionals helped assess and review children’s development. This was support built around individual needs, with several adults contributing to the same plan.

In March 2024, lunchtime also provided opportunities for toddlers to interact with staff and one another. The current mealtime approach encourages self-serving and sociable eating, so independence is practised through an ordinary part of the day. Freshly prepared food and snacks are included in private fees; funded attendance has a separate charge structure, explained below.

Preparation for primary school centres on communication, social skills and doing more independently. These are useful everyday capabilities, from expressing a need to managing a small task, rather than a promise of admission to a particular school.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at 126 Wigan Road, Leigh, WN7 5DR. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 52 weeks of the year, with bank holidays closed.

Full Day and Full Time bookings run from 7.30am to 6pm. Morning sessions finish at 12.30pm after a 7.30am start; Afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 6pm. Adhoc hourly childcare is also offered. The morning and afternoon patterns are separate bookings, so the lunchtime interval matters when matching childcare to work or other commitments.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01942 606222 or by email at leigh@kidsplanetdaynurseries.co.uk. Tour requests and applications are also offered.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 and 30 funded hours for eligible families, alongside privately paid childcare. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Private fees include meals and snacks, plus nappies, formula, sun cream and wipes. On days where early years funding is applied, meals, consumables and activities are charged separately, with the charge band depending on the amount of funding used that day. Families therefore need to distinguish the inclusive private offer from the treatment of funded attendance when comparing their childcare costs.

• Teaching consistency. In March 2024, unnecessary dummy use and adults doing tasks children could manage reduced some learning opportunities. During a visit, ask how practitioners now protect time for talking and encourage children to try tasks themselves.
• Shorter-session fit. Morning bookings end at 12.30pm and afternoons begin at 1pm. Choose the pattern against your actual working hours, including the interval between these separate sessions.
• Funded attendance costs. Meals, activities and consumables carry separate charges on days with funding applied. Ask for a written quotation showing your proposed attendance and how each category is treated.

Kids Planet Leigh suits families seeking either full-day attendance or morning and afternoon sessions, with garden exploration and opportunities to practise independence woven into its current offer. Its March 2024 strengths included physical activities and practical work with families; the teaching inconsistencies from that visit deserve attention when choosing it.

The appeal is concrete: children’s interests shape activities, the garden supplies things to investigate, and self-serving makes independence part of mealtimes. Families using funded hours should weigh that offer alongside the separate charges attached to funded attendance.