Kids Planet Day Nurseries founder Clare Roberts, from Lymm, was named on the Queen’s birthday honours list – appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to education.

She first set up Kids Planet Day Nurseries back in 2008 after struggling to find childcare in her area. Over 14 years on, Kids Planet is now a UK wide group of 115 nurseries.

Over this time, Clare has been involved in meetings with parliament and sits on a lot of policy forums, keen to drive change and raise awareness, focusing on what wider support the sector needs.

Clare said: “I am honoured and very humbled to have been included on the Queen’s Honours list to be awarded an OBE for services to education, particularly during the Jubilee celebrations.

I am immensely proud to be part of the early years sector and dedicate this honour to all my colleagues within Kids Planet and the wider industry, for the incredible work they do for children each and every day.

Such unwavering commitment and professionalism have been even more apparent during the challenges we have all faced over the last two years, as a result of the pandemic.”

Clare pinpoints her involvement in the wider sector in general, and particularly during the pandemic, as a leading factor in receiving an OBE: “I’m very aware of all the challenges faced by the early years sector and I try and do my best to make it better, although it’s a difficult tide to turn for us all.

Over the last two years, as a collective group within the early years, we’ve all come together and spent a lot of time trying to navigate a way through Covid and work out legislation, looking at how to get MPs to support early years in the best way.”