Kids Planet Marton
Kids Planet Marton is a day nursery in Middlesbrough for children aged 0 to 4, with 66 registered places. Ofsted report card, 19 August 2026: Strong standard in 1 area, Expected standard in 5 areas; safeguarding standards met.
1 The Grove, Marton-in-Cleveland, Middlesbrough, TS7 8AB
Key facts
- Type
- Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 0 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 66 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 1 May 2025 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 19 August 2026
Who runs it
Kids Planet Marton is run by Kids Planet Day Nurseries Limited (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 19 August 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Nursery life gives children many opportunities to become capable and considerate young learners. Even the youngest children are encouraged to do things for themselves. As they get older, children readily serve food, manage cutlery, dress themselves and help their friends. They approach experiences confidently, persevere when something is difficult and develop the communication, physical and personal skills that prepare them for what comes next.
Children's lives beyond nursery are reflected thoughtfully in what they experience. A family's new baby prompted toddlers to explore bathing, dressing and caring for dolls. In pre-school, 'bear yoga', inspired by a child's experience at home, capture children's imaginations. They remember movements, suggest what should happen next and work together excitedly to rescue a friend from the imaginary bear. Experiences such as these encourage children to be curious and involved. However, staff are not always equally clear about exactly what they want children to learn through activities and play. This means that some opportunities to build on what children already know are not fully realised.
Children feel safe, secure, valued and confident in the care of staff who understand them and their families well. This is especially important when life becomes difficult. Children experiencing bereavement, changes in care or additional needs receive sensitive support that responds to their individual circumstances. This helps them remain involved, make progress from their different starting points and thrive. Parents speak highly of key persons and the difference their support makes to their children and families. Leaders promote regular attendance so that children benefit fully from their nursery experiences.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Expected standard
Children who need additional help are identified promptly. Leaders use progress checks at age 2, communication screening and ongoing assessment alongside information from families to recognise emerging needs and barriers. Staff know children well and raise concerns when development is not as expected. This helps leaders put support in place at an early stage.
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive support that reflects their individual needs. Staff work with families and external professionals to agree appropriate targets and use specialist advice to shape their practice. Visual aids, objects of reference and 'now and next' approaches help children understand routines, communicate their needs and participate in nursery life. Staff adapt experiences so that children who need additional help can take part and learn alongside their peers. Leaders review children's progress to check that adaptations and additional support are making the intended difference.
Children experiencing disadvantage or other barriers receive individualised support. Leaders consider what will make the greatest difference to each child and their family, rather than applying the same approach to everyone. Close partnerships with families and other professionals help staff recognise and respond to changes in children's circumstances. Children with different starting points and needs receive appropriate support that helps them participate in nursery life and make progress.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
Leaders have identified the important knowledge and skills they want children to develop as they move from babies through to pre-school. Communication, physical development and independence are appropriately prioritised alongside preparation for children's next stage. Room leaders understand these aspirations and can explain how learning develops over time.
Staff use children's interests and experiences to motivate them. Books are selected purposefully to develop children's ideas, while routines provide opportunities to practise communication, mathematics and independence. Positive interactions with adults encourage children to explore, talk and confidently attempt new things. Staff adapt experiences so that children who need additional help can take part and learn alongside their peers.
However, not all practitioners are equally clear about exactly what they want children to learn through activities and play. For example, play involving the care of dolls is thoughtfully introduced to reflect changes in children's family lives, but different adults supporting the play have different ideas about what children should learn from it. Similarly, during an early-writing activity, children are enthusiastic and keen to have a go, but the teaching did not always help them practise the intended skills accurately. Leaders recognise this and are rightly focusing on developing a more consistent understanding across the staff team.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children make appropriate progress from their different starting points. Babies develop physical skills, early communication and independence. As children move through the nursery, they become increasingly confident in managing routines, communicating with others, cooperating and persisting when something is difficult.
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress towards their individual targets. Appropriate adaptations and specialist advice help children develop important communication, physical and personal skills.
Older children gain useful knowledge and skills in preparation for school. They demonstrate growing independence and develop early mathematical and literacy knowledge. Children confidently use what they know, for example, when counting, sorting or managing self-care tasks. However, where the intended learning is less precisely understood by practitioners, opportunities to build further on children's existing knowledge are not always fully realised.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
Leaders have established clear expectations for behaviour and familiar routines that staff implement consistently and children understand. Warm relationships help children feel secure and develop confidence in managing their behaviour. Staff know children well and adapt their approaches when individual children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, need additional support.
Children demonstrate positive attitudes to their experiences. They become absorbed in their play, persevere when they encounter difficulty and are confident to have a go. Younger children persist with challenging self-care tasks rather than immediately relying on adults. Older children cooperate, take turns and increasingly manage everyday routines independently. Children show kindness towards their friends and readily help one another when tasks become difficult.
Routines are calm and predictable. Children understand what is expected of them and move confidently through the nursery day. Staff provide sensitive support when changes in children's circumstances affect their emotions or behaviour while maintaining appropriate expectations. Leaders promote regular attendance so that children benefit fully from their nursery experiences and follow up unexplained or repeated absence.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
Leaders have embedded a highly responsive approach to care, and knowing children within the context of their families is a particular strength of the setting. Key persons establish trusting relationships with parents and carers and use their detailed knowledge to provide highly responsive care. For babies, gradual induction arrangements allow home routines, developmental information and family aspirations to shape their earliest experiences at nursery.
This responsiveness is especially evident when children face significant changes in their lives. Staff recognise when circumstances, such as bereavement or changes in care arrangements, affect children's emotional wellbeing and adapt support accordingly. Additional key-person time, carefully considered experiences and communication with families and other professionals provide continuity and reassurance. Parents and carers speak very positively about this support and the difference it makes during difficult periods.
Children's physical wellbeing and independence are equally well considered. They progressively learn to feed and dress themselves and manage personal routines. Work to promote oral health extends into the home through practical resources and advice for families. These consistently attentive approaches mean that children are known as individuals and receive care that helps them feel secure, valued and understood.
Leadership and governance: Expected standard
Leaders understand the setting's strengths and what needs to improve. They have strengthened supervision, professional development and the role of room leaders. This work is having a positive impact. Room leaders speak confidently about children, curriculum aspirations and priorities within their rooms. The registered provider maintains oversight through regular visits, audits and performance reviews and holds setting leaders to account for improvement.
Leaders use supervision, observations and opportunities for staff to work together to check the quality of practice and help staff improve. Their previous focus on interactions with children has strengthened practice. Leaders are now focusing on making sure that all staff are clear about exactly what children should learn through activities and play. This understanding is not yet consistent across the staff team. Leaders have also identified outdoor learning as an area to develop and have planned further training.
Leaders maintain appropriate oversight of children requiring additional support and work with external professionals where needed. Leaders monitor attendance and follow up unexplained absences appropriately. Staff wellbeing is considered through supervision and individual support. Leaders use parents' views and work with local professionals and community partners to shape support for children and families. Leaders are reflective about the provision, but some improvements are not yet fully established or consistently reflected in practice across the nursery.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should strengthen practitioners' shared understanding of what they want children to learn through activities and play, so that they consistently build on what children already know and can do.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 19 August 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Other nurseries nearby
- Rosedene Easterside - Day nursery, Middlesbrough TS4 3QH, ages 0 to 10, 45 places, 0.8 milesOfsted, 17 July 2024: Outstanding overall; safeguarding is effective
- Teacher Time Easterside - Pre-school, Middlesbrough TS4 3PZ, ages 1 to 10, 35 places, 0.8 milesOfsted, 8 September 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Parkway Day Nursery Limited - Day nursery, Middlesbrough TS8 0TL, ages 0 to 4, 88 places, 0.9 milesOfsted, 22 April 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Little Wonders Coulby Newham - Day nursery, Middlesbrough TS8 0RS, 46 places, 1.1 miles
- Play Days Day Nursery - Day nursery, Middlesbrough TS4 3BW, ages 0 to 4, 96 places, 1.2 milesOfsted, 28 October 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- Captain Cook Primary School - Primary, 0.3 miles
- Marton Manor Primary School - Primary, 0.4 miles
- Holmwood School - Special, 0.7 miles
- Easterside Academy - Primary, 0.7 miles
- Lingfield Primary School - Primary, 0.7 miles