Aglance at the league table for our summer 2006 issue shows very little change for the largest nursery groups. The familiar names are all there, with Nord Anglia still in the top spot with all its nurseries now re-branded under the Leapfrog name.
There are no mergers or acquisitions to report among the big players and overall the number of settings and places has been fairly static.
However, the top ten chains have retained their positions in the upper half. Towards the bottom of the table some groups have dropped one or two places to make room for just two new entries.
This echoes the continuing uncertainty in the private, voluntary and independent sectors, with many groups suffering low occupancy levels and reported threats from local authority run children's centres, despite the Government's commitment to partnership working.
A few groups have lost several hundred places. Some have only lost a small number of places, but kept the same number of settings.
Most of these losses can be explained by the closure of several Leapfrog nurseries, six Buffer Bear neighbourhood nurseries and the final completion of sales of ten Teddies nurseries, predicted in Nursery Chains this time last year.
Buffer Bear ran into problems with sustainability at some of its negihbourhood nurseries, facing local competition from Government-funded children's centres. However, it still retains 20 such settings.
However, it is worth noting that Leapfrog Day Nurseries, although still a clear leader in terms of the number of places it offers, is nonetheless down by 199 places to 9,563 in total, and its settings have decreased by three to 98 nurseries since last November.
In fact, only six of last November's top 20 groups have expanded in the last six months and then by no more than a few nurseries each.
Kidsunlimited in fifth position has made the largest gains with an increase of 471 places and a further five settings.
In third place, Just Learning has also added four nurseries, and 353 places.
Last November the top 20 groups in the UK and Ireland offered a combined total of 57,342 places. Six months on, this figure stands at 57,832, a rise of just 490 places overall.
The decrease would be even more substantial, were it not for the inclusion for the first time of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, a major new entry to the league table at number 13.
The early years organisation has been steadily growing as a provider of early education and childcare in its own right. It now has 30 neighbourhood nurseries and children's centres and plans to continue to forge partnerships, including with extended schools.
The only other new entry is the first chain from Ireland to be included in the league table.
Giraffe Childcare and Early Learning Centres, which operates nine settings in the Dublin area, is at number 18 and has ten more openings planned for later this year and 2007.
Its expansion mirrors an increased debate on childcare in Ireland and greater commitment from the Irish government to expand formal provision.
Finally, despite the overall slowdown, Just Learning hit the headlines at the end of April when it was put up for sale for an estimated 80m.
The figure is promising, although commentators have largely put it down to the value of the freehold property owned by the group. As yet, no buyer has been confirmed, and Just Learning has since come under scrutiny with the outbreak of E. coli 0157 at one of its Careshare nurseries in Dunfermline, Scotland, a case still very much in the news as Nursery Chains went to press.
UK and Ireland's 20 largest nursery chains
Position Nursery chain Places SETTINGS
2006 (2005)*
1 (1) Leapfrog Day Nurseries 9,563 98 2 (2) Asquith Nurseries 6,766 115 3
(3) Just Learning 6,355 72 4 (4) Bright Horizons F S 5,487 95
5 (6) Kidsunlimited 4,778 51
6 (5) Busy Bees 4,139 51 7 (7) Buffer Bear 2,570 40 8 (9) Child Base 2,418
32 9 (8) Teddies 2,058 35 10 (10) The Childcare Corporation 1,763 18
Position Nursery chain Places SETTINGS
2006 (2005)*
11 (12) Ravenstone House 1,581 13 12 (11) Primary Steps 1,503 30 13 (NEW)
Pre-school Learning Alliance 1,481 30 14 (13) CfBT inc. the Manor Tree
Group 1,332 15
15 (14) Treetops Private Day Nurseries 1,268 18 LESS THAN
16 (15) Wind in the Willows 1,113 17 17 (16) Toad Hall Nursery Group 949 16
18 (NEW) Giraffe Childcare & E L Centres 940 9
19 (17) Happy Days Day Nurseries 890 17 20 (18) Happitots 878 12
