Jigsaw Nursery Abu Dhabi is a private nursery for children aged between 45 days and 4 years of age. It is located in the Al Karama area (though officially in Al Rowda) near the corner of Delma Street and Karama Street. The nursery follows the UK Early Years curriculum.

The story so far...

Jigsaw Nursery was first established in January 2007 and has been owned and operated by Al Najah Education since 2015. Al Najah Education are an international education group, currently operating schools and nurseries in the UAE, Singapore, Oman and Malaysia. Nursery Manager, Ms Leanne Bell, has led the nursery since 2017.

The nursery received the highest possible rating of 'Outstanding' from ADEK in 2022, confirming its high standard of early childhood practice and care.

What about the curriculum?

Jigsaw Nursery uses England's Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a popular choice in UAE nurseries and focuses on the development of seven core areas: communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts and design.

The nursery has ensured it has kept up to date with the latest early childhood research, adapting its practice in line with revisions made to the EYFS in 2021. Having had a fairly traditional approach previously, the nursery has moved forward to provide a much more child-led early learning experience.

The nursery uses a form of in-the-moment planning, which ensures the children's interests, curiosities and needs influence the types of activities made available to them. This approach requires highly skilled early childhood practitioners, a fact that Nursery Manager, Ms Leanne Bell, is conscious of.

She told us:

"We're always developing our practice, It's a continuous project. I can't sit here and say we're 100% child led, that we're exactly where we want to be. What I can say though, with total confidence, is that the children are at the center of everything we do, and everything we are working towards together."

What about the environment and facilities?

Jigsaw Nursery is housed in a converted villa on a quiet residential street. It has eight classrooms, a large indoor gym, two shared indoor play spaces and a very good sized outdoor play space. 

While the nursery itself is not the newest, with some creaky doors and a few scuff marks on corridor walls, it does appear to be undergoing a gradual renovation, with some key areas having been very recently updated to a very high standard. 

The nursery's outdoor space has been refloored this year, providing a vibrant backdrop to its exciting outdoor play equipment. The nursery's spacious indoor gym has also been fully renovated, with new colourful matting and some impressive indoor climbing apparatus installed. 

What about the ratios?

Adult to child ratios are in line with ADEK requirements, with the youngest age group bettering ADEK's ratio requirement of 1:5. 

What about timings?

Nursery hours are from 7am until 6pm, with a range of options in between. 

What about the fees?

Fees are charged termly or annually and range from AED15,750 per year (two days per week, 7:00am - 2:00pm), up to AED34,000 per year (five days per week, 7:00am - 6:00pm). 

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