Learning At Jigsaw
Little Moments. Big Learning.
Children are learning from the moment they arrive.
A conversation over breakfast, a tower that won't quite stay standing, a puddle discovered outside or an imaginary café created with friends can all become opportunities to develop new skills, ideas and understanding.
At Jigsaw, we create environments where children can follow their curiosity, become deeply involved in play and discover what they're capable of — supported by practitioners who know how to help take their learning a little further.
Our Vision
Children Learn Best When They're Interested
Our vision is to create an enriching environment where children become confident,
independent learners through child-led play, discovery, and connection with the
natural world, laying strong foundations for lifelong growth and wellbeing.
We are committed to providing a high-quality, child-centred curriculum that
supports every child to become a confident, curious, and capable lifelong learner.
Our approach is fully aligned with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2025
statutory framework and reflects the needs, interests, and development of all
children in our care.
Our curriculum is rooted in relationships, enriched through
play and guided by seven golden threads: Communication, Confidence,
Creativity, Identity, Independence, Movement, Wellbeing
We aim to:
• Ensure children develop well across all seven areas of learning and
development.
• Support progression towards learning outcomes, tracked using the Famly
app.
• Prepare children for the next stage of their learning journey, including a
successful transition to school.
A Strong Foundation
The Early Years Foundation Stage
We follow ‘Child Led, Play based Learning’ where all areas of learning in the
EYFS are supported through playful experiences in our continuous provision.
Daily invitations to play are set up in tuff trays to support children’s learning and we provide loose parts and real authentic materials within our
environments. Children explore the environment freely and make their own choices in play.
We incorporate elements of Forest School ethos while also following the rhythm of the year, using seasons and festivals to shape our curriculum. Adults extend and scaffold learning through the ShREC (Share attention, Respond, Expand, Conversation) method of teaching. Adults also encourage children to take part in some adult led activities to support children’s learning further through some guided play.
Blending these influences with our knowledge of child development and our local community context creates a curriculum that is relational, joyful and rooted in play.
Listening, understanding, conversation and developing the confidence and vocabulary to communicate thoughts, ideas and needs.
Building relationships, developing confidence, understanding emotions and gradually learning how to navigate life alongside other people.
Developing movement, coordination, strength and control alongside increasing independence in everyday physical skills.
Building foundations through language, stories, books, listening, sounds and children's developing interest in making and understanding marks.
Discovering numbers, patterns, shapes, measures and problem-solving through play and everyday experiences.
Exploring people, communities, nature, technology and the fascinating world children see around them.
Experimenting with materials, music, movement, imagination, role play and different ways of expressing ideas.
Three Prime Areas:
Communication & Language • PSED • Physical Development
Four Specific Areas:
Literacy • Mathematics • Understanding the World • Expressive Arts & Design
Learning Hidden In Plain Sight
Sometimes Learning Doesn't Look Like Learning
To a child, they're simply playing. Look a little closer and you'll see just how much is happening.
🧱 Building a Tower
What Children See:
“How high can I make it?”
Whats Developing:
Problem-solving, balance, mathematical thinking, coordination and perseverance.
💦 Pouring Water
What Children See:
“Where did the water go?”
Whats Developing:
Capacity, cause and effect, coordination, prediction and early scientific thinking.
🎨 Mixing Paint
What Children See:
“I made a new colour!”
Whats Developing:
Creativity, experimentation, observation, fine-motor control and decision-making.
☕ Playing Cafés
What Children See:
“Would you like some cake?”
Whats Developing:
Language, imagination, social interaction, counting and understanding everyday life.
🐞 Finding a Bug
What Children See:
“What's that?”
Whats Developing:
Curiosity, observation, vocabulary, respect for living things and understanding the natural world.
🧥 Putting on a Coat
What Children See:
“I did it!”
Whats Developing:
Independence, coordination, sequencing, problem-solving and confidence.
Play isn't a break from learning. For young children, play is one of the most powerful ways learning happens.
The Adults Role
Knowing When to Step In — and When to Step Back
Great early-years practice isn't about directing every moment of a child's day.
Our practitioners watch, listen and get involved thoughtfully.
They might notice a child repeatedly building the same structure and introduce a different material. Join imaginative play and introduce new language. Ask a question that encourages a child to think differently. Or recognise that a child is completely absorbed and simply give them the time to continue.
It's about understanding what a child is exploring now and what might help them discover next.
Observe
Notice what captures a child's attention.
Listen
Understand their ideas and communication.
Extend
Supporting children as they develop confidence, knowledge, relationships and independence.
Give Time
Allow children to become deeply involved.
Individual Development
Their Journey, Not Everybody Else's
Children don't develop according to identical schedules.
One child may become fascinated by language while another wants to understand how everything works. One might confidently join a group while another prefers time to observe before getting involved.
By getting to know children as individuals, practitioners can recognise their interests, understand their development and think about experiences that could support what comes next.
This isn't about constantly comparing children with one another.
The question isn't “Is this child the same as everybody else?” It's “What does this child need next?”
Environments That Invite Curiosity
Forest School At Jigsaw
Jigsaw Day Nurseries' Forest School Ethos is based on a fundamental respect for children and young people and their right to play in a natural outdoor environment.
Children are encouraged to explore Stivichall common woodland through a learner centred approach to develop children's sense of curiosity, awe and wonder. The children are also encouraged to take risks such as climbing trees and using tools under the supervision of a trained forest school leader.
Allowing children to take risks will help them to build confidence and resilience. Forest School takes place in all weathers with the exception of thunderstorms and strong winds. This allows children to explore a full range of nature and the environment through experiencing the elements.
Forest school sessions happen weekly so that children can experience the changing seasons.
Explore
Materials that encourage children to experiment and express ideas.
Construct
Resources that can be combined, changed, balanced and repurposed
Imagine
Spaces and materials that can become whatever children's imaginations decide.
Investigate
Interesting objects, materials and experiences that encourage questions and discovery.
Beyond Four Walls
The Outdoors is a Classroom Without Walls
Outdoor experiences give children opportunities that simply feel different from being indoors.
There's more space to move, different sounds and textures to investigate, changing weather to experience and an entire natural world filled with things to discover.
Running, climbing, collecting, digging, building, observing and experimenting can support physical development, communication, problem-solving and understanding of the world.
And sometimes being outside is valuable for an even simpler reason:
Children love being outside.
Words Are Everywhere
Every Conversation Counts
Language doesn't only develop during story time. It grows through thousands of everyday interactions.
💬Talk
Conversations introduce new words, ideas and ways of expressing thoughts.
📖Read
Stories open doors to language, imagination and worlds beyond children's immediate experiences.
👂Listen
Giving children time to speak shows them that their ideas are worth hearing.
Sometimes the best way to help a child communicate is simply to give them enough time to finish what they're trying to say.
Every Child Belongs
Different Children May Need Different Things
Children develop in different ways, and sometimes a child may benefit from additional support.
An inclusive approach starts with understanding the individual child — recognising their strengths, identifying where something may be more difficult and working together with families to consider what support could help.
Our aim is for children to be able to participate in nursery life, build relationships and experience opportunities that are meaningful to them.
Looking Ahead
Preparing the Child, Not Just the Checklist
Preparing for school isn't something that suddenly begins during a child's final term at nursery.
The foundations are developing throughout the early years — every time a child communicates an idea, attempts something independently, solves a problem, manages a difficult feeling or confidently approaches something unfamiliar.
By the time school approaches, we want children to have developed more than knowledge.
We want them to have developed confidence in themselves as learners.
Learning Doesnt Stop At The Nursery Door
You Know Your Child Best
Parents see parts of their child's world that we don't — and we see parts that families may not get to experience at home.
Sharing those perspectives helps us build a much fuller understanding of the child.
By communicating about interests, changes, achievements and development, home and nursery can work together to support what children need next.
Share
Keeping communication open between home and nursery.
Discover
Giving families an insight into nursery experiences.
Support
Working together when a child may need encouragement or additional help.
Jigsaw uses Famly to help keep communication, updates and important nursery information together in one convenient place.
Learning Changes As They Grow
Every Stage Brings Something New
Learning Changes As They Grow
Have A Question?
The best way to understand our approach is to see children exploring it for themselves.
Visit one of our Coventry nurseries, look around the environments, meet our team and discover what learning at Jigsaw looks like in everyday nursery life.
