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Kids Planet Woodlands

Kids Planet Woodlands is a day nursery in Lancashire for children aged 0 to 10, with 44 registered places. Ofsted report card, 7 August 2026: Strong standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.

Regent Street, Heywood, Lancashire, OL10 3BX

Key facts

Type
Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Ages
0 to 10 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered places
44 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
10 September 2024 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 17:30

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 7 August 2026

Who runs it

Kids Planet Woodlands is run by Kids Planet Day Nurseries Limited (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

  • Inclusion: Strong standard
  • Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard
  • Achievement: Strong standard
  • Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
  • Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
  • Leadership and governance: Strong standard
  • Safeguarding standards met

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 7 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

Children's laughter fills the air in this calm and welcoming setting. From the moment they arrive, children are comforted and extremely well supported. Their emotional wellbeing is given the highest priority. As a result, children are happy, settled and secure. They move confidently through their day, knowing that adults are attentive to their needs and respond quickly when they require reassurance or guidance. This culture of care enables children to thrive emotionally and socially.

Children benefit from a well-planned and ambitious curriculum. Staff provide a wide range of meaningful learning experiences that help children develop new skills. For example, after listening to a story, children design their own rainbow fish. They use scissors to cut a variety of materials and attach them to a template, developing their small-muscle control. Children achieve consistently well across the carefully sequenced curriculum, supported by effective teaching.

Communication and language are prioritised from the earliest stages. Children confidently use ambitious vocabulary throughout the day. For instance, when discussing handwashing, children explain, 'We need to clean our hands to wash away the germs.' This demonstrates their secure understanding of healthy routines and their ability to use language in meaningful contexts.

Positive relationships underpin the nurturing and joyful atmosphere children experience here. Children behave superbly well. Staff are exemplary role models who have extremely high expectations and teach children about respect and tolerance. This is evident at lunchtime, when children sit together and wait patiently for their friends before going to play. Staff work hard to create a relaxed environment where children feel valued and able to be themselves. As a result, all children flourish and make excellent progress.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders promote a strong and purposeful culture of inclusion that ensures every child is supported. The identification of children's needs is swift and begins from the moment they start at the setting. Staff gather detailed information from parents and carers to build an accurate picture of each child's development. They use a range of strategies, informed by training, to monitor children's progress. These are then used to create children's individual next steps. Leaders use this information to support accurate assessments to build a clear understanding of children's language skills in both their home language and English. Staff work exceptionally well with parents to ensure strategies are consistent between home and the setting. Consequently, all children, including those who face barriers to learning, make excellent progress from their individual starting points.

Children are closely assessed, and prompt support is put in place when needed. This helps them to reach their full potential and age-appropriate expectations. Staff are confident in seeking additional guidance from a range of professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders are highly committed to their work with children. They ensure that all children, particularly those who face barriers to learning, receive the best possible start to their education.

Children who are known to, or previously known to, children's social care are well supported. Leaders welcome other agencies into the setting and work in partnership with families to promote children's welfare and development. These children form extremely close bonds with their key person, helping them feel safe, secure and ready to engage in learning.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious and creative curriculum that is highly responsive to children's needs. Their clear vision ensures that teaching is purposeful and rooted in children's interests and prior knowledge. Staff are inspired by leaders' direction and invest considerable thought and energy in planning meaningful activities. For example, leaders ensure that themed experiences, such as a tea party activity, build on familiar stories, making learning joyful, memorable and purposeful.

Leaders place communication and language at the centre of the curriculum. Staff model ambitious vocabulary and create language-rich interactions throughout the day. This is evident when staff encourage children to explore different tea flavours, prompting them to smell, describe and compare scents such as camomile, lemon, strawberry and mint. Leaders' emphasis on high-quality dialogue ensures children have frequent opportunities to practise and embed new vocabulary. Through effective and consistent leadership, staff are equipped to engage children in meaningful conversations that build confidence and communication skills. Leaders' commitment to high-quality practice results in children who are sociable, emotionally secure and confident communicators.

Staff respond sensitively and skilfully to children's curiosity. They understand how to adapt interactions so that every moment becomes a learning opportunity. This is particularly evident in the provision for the youngest babies. Staff working with babies offer nurturing, developmentally appropriate experiences that promote early communication, emotional security and social development. Children smile and enjoy back-and-forth communication as they explore water play, settle comfortably on staff's laps for stories and sing their favourite nursery rhymes.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children consistently enjoy a wide range of exciting and meaningful learning opportunities that support their development. All children, including those who face barriers to learning, make excellent progress from their starting points and achieve their potential.

Children master important life skills, which helps them to develop their independence. Babies choose their own books to read with caring staff. Young children use their imagination to build their own dinosaur volcano outside. They wash the dolls' clothes, select their own pegs and hang them up to dry. Older children serve their own food and learn how to use a knife and fork independently. Children consistently demonstrate excellent social skills. They interact with others and form warm, positive relationships with their peers.

Children are well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Transitions between rooms are robust and carefully planned with information-sharing on each child's individual needs to ensure children's learning continues seamlessly during times of change. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive tailored support throughout transitions. Leaders and staff work closely with room leaders and the on-site school to ensure these children experience consistency, security and continuity in their learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders consistently prioritise children's welfare. They have established effective systems and policies that promote children's safety, mental health and emotional wellbeing. Children demonstrate high levels of self-regulation and show consistently high standards of behaviour. They play alongside one another extremely well. For example, when creating birthday cakes with play dough, children share sprinkles and candles and engage in rich conversations. They require minimal adult intervention and consistently show respect, patience and turn taking.

Routines are well embedded, and children's behaviour is exemplary because they have secure, positive relationships with staff. Leaders have introduced yoga sessions to support children's wellbeing, teaching breathing strategies and techniques that help children manage their emotions. Quiet areas and cosy dens in each room, equipped with books that help children explore feelings and behaviour in an age-appropriate way, further support children's emotional development.

Staff create an environment that consistently promotes positive behaviours and attitudes. They are clear about their expectations and reinforce these effectively. Leaders place high importance on children's attendance and monitor this closely. Their approach ensures that any barriers to attendance are identified quickly and addressed. As a result, children develop consistently positive attitudes to their learning and to one another.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Leaders and staff consistently place children's welfare and wellbeing at the centre of their practice. They tailor support to meet the individual needs of all children, with particular attention given to those who face barriers to learning or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders work closely with key persons and parents to share information, provide appropriate challenge and monitor children's progress effectively. They put children's needs first and make sure these are acted on superbly well, which has a significantly positive impact on children's overall wellbeing.

Children's welfare and wellbeing are given high priority across the nursery. Leaders plan highly supportive and personalised transitions for each child. They offer additional settling-in sessions so that children can develop confidence in their new surroundings at their own pace. Staff build nurturing relationships with all children, especially their key children, and work closely with parents to ensure continuity of care. They know the children extremely well and use this knowledge to support them as they move through the nursery. For example, staff share detailed information with colleagues and with the on-site school to ensure children experience a seamless transition.

Children develop a strong sense of belonging in the setting because of the loving and attentive care they receive. Relationships between staff and children are warm, kind and nurturing. Staff know all children, their needs and their families very well. This approach ensures children feel secure, valued and ready to engage positively in their learning.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders demonstrate unwavering passion and commitment to their work. They have a thorough understanding of the setting, enabling them to evaluate its strengths and areas for development with accuracy. Staff wellbeing is a significant strength. Leaders check in with staff regularly and use supervision effectively to provide guidance, reassurance and professional challenge. Staff report that they can approach leaders at any time and feel listened to. As a result, morale is high, staff are happy in their roles and the stability across the team benefits children every day.

The enthusiastic and proactive leadership team, supported by an inspiring staff group, provides carefully tailored care and well-planned learning opportunities for all children, including those who face barriers to learning. Leaders and staff work in partnership with parents and other professionals to secure the best support and care for children. Partnerships with families and external agencies are excellent. This coordinated approach reduces barriers, promotes inclusion and ensures children receive the support they need. Information is shared effectively, and parents feel valued and well supported throughout their child's learning journey.

Leaders successfully promote initiatives that encourage children to develop environmental awareness, sustainability and recycling. For example, children place their food waste into recycling after lunch. The setting also offers a free clothes swap shop, enabling families to take items they need or donate those they no longer require. Parents receive valuable suggestions on activities to reinforce children's learning at home. The setting provides take-home bags containing oral-health resources, toothpaste and toothbrushes, materials to support learning at home, and laminated cards offering strategies and advice on online safety.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

  • Leaders should ensure continued improvement in the setting's successful work to remove barriers for children who need extra help to realise a transformational impact on all children's communication and language.

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 7 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

  • Beehive Daycare - Day nursery, Heywood OL10 3HH, ages 0 to 4, 54 places, 0.1 miles
    Ofsted, 3 June 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Kids Planet Derby Street - Day nursery, Rochdale OL10 4QJ, ages 0 to 4, 102 places, 0.2 miles
    Ofsted, 2 December 2021: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Cabbage Patch Preschool - Day nursery, Heywood OL10 3RD, ages 2 to 4, 30 places, 0.3 miles
    Ofsted, 3 November 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Tiddlywinks Nursery School (Heywood) Ltd - Day nursery, Rochdale OL10 1EF, ages 0 to 9, 57 places, 0.5 miles
    Ofsted report card, 16 June 2026: Expected standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met
  • St Joseph's Preschool Nursery - Day nursery, Heywood OL10 1AQ, ages 0 to 6, 90 places, 0.5 miles
    Ofsted report card, 15 April 2026: Strong standard in 3 areas, Expected standard in 3 areas; safeguarding standards met

Schools nearby

Kids Planet Woodlands on the Ofsted website