The group scores the highest for having the greatest proportion of Outstanding grades among its inspected nurseries (62.5 per cent).
N Family Club has grown in the past 12 months to 26 nurseries and is now the 19th in size, with eight of its settings so far inspected by Ofsted.
Congratulations to the group, which was also our top scorer in our Ofsted table in 2022.
The Childbase Partnership is close behind in second place, with 61.0 per cent of its 41 inspected nurseries graded Outstanding.
In third place is the London Early Years Foundation, with 47.2 per cent of its inspected nurseries graded Outstanding, followed by Storal Learning in fourth place with 43.8 per cent Outstanding grades.
The top four nurseries in the Ofsted table all have settings graded Outstanding or Good.
Our annual Nursery Chains supplement, published with the March issue of Nursery World, shines a light on nursery groups around the UK – both big and small – and looks at how they are striving to overcome the challenges of the cost-of-living, energy, and recruitment crisis.
Our 2023 analysis of Ofsted reports is notable in the drop in Outstanding to Good grades, about which some sector leaders have already aired their concerns.
The number of Outstanding grades in this year’s table is down from 389 to 368, a drop of 21.
However, overall, there are more inspected nurseries among this year’s 25 biggest groups, which now operate 1,885 nurseries, up from 1,701 last year – an increase of 184 settings on 2022.
Children 1st, which was third in this table in 2022 with 13 Outstanding nurseries, has seen all these settings reinspected over the last year and they are all now rated as Good.
Speaking to Annette Rawstrone for our overview feature, the group's founder and chief executive Margaret Mason said, ‘Previously they were all Outstanding and now they are Good, which has been very disappointing and caused morale to drop, and we have to wait another four years to put things back.
'I do not feel inspections like these, which did not give nurseries time to settle back, have helped the industry.’
It remains to be seen whether this drop from Outstanding to Good, in the wake of the pandemic, becomes part of an ongoing trend.
We also look at how the big groups are consolidating their position in the nursery market, with many of them growing in size significantly during the last 12 months.
In our table of the biggest groups, Kids Planet is now firmly established as the third largest group in the UK behind, Bright Horizons in second place and Busy Bees, the largest group.
As always, we also publish our extensive directory listing the names, details, locations and registered places of nurseries around the UK, from small family-owned groups of three settings or more to the biggest.
Find out how the make-up of the country's 25 biggest nursery groups has changed in the past 12 months and check out our analysis of their Ofsted grades in Nursery Chains 2023, available free with the March issue of Nursery World and online.
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For more information and to book tickets, visit www.nurserybusiness-summit.com
How the 25 biggest groups compare: 2023 v 2022 Ofsted grades
2023
Number of inspected nurseries: 1,557
Outstanding 368
Good 1,138
Requires Improvement 36
Inadequate 15
2022
Number of inspected nurseries: 1,324
Outstanding 389
Good 895
Requires Improvement 29
Inadequate 12
