Jubilee Gems

Growing plants, baking a cake and spending time in woodland give Jubilee Gems a clear identity: learning takes shape through practical experiences with nature. Its Hygge inspired curriculum brings warmth, simplicity and connection into that work. The emphasis is on children having time to explore, build relationships and persevere, rather than rushing from one activity to another.

At its July 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that children made exceptional progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, with effective safeguarding arrangements. The detail behind that judgement matters: learning was connected across ages, from exploring cooking equipment as babies to following a recipe as older children.

Jubilee Gems occupies Ark House on School Road in Padworth, Reading, RG7 4JA, and accepts children from three months to five years. There are 106 places in total. Families can choose term-time or year-round attendance, making the nursery relevant to parents with different working calendars.

Rooms and Ages

Five named rooms organise the progression through nursery: Tiny Twinkles for babies, Dinky Diamonds for toddlers, Little Sparkles for rising twos, Emeralds for rising threes and Sapphires for preschool children.

In July 2024, relationships were central to the baby room's day, with staff helping babies feel comfortable enough to explore a calm space. Books and sensory activities featured for babies and toddlers, including investigating materials and textures through a summer beach theme. Books and sensory play gave them opportunities to investigate textures and materials.

Older children had access to woodland, farm and forest school areas in July 2024. Growing vegetables and other plants sat alongside physical activity and opportunities to judge manageable risks. That gives outdoor time a purpose beyond a change of scenery: children encounter living things, movement and decisions that cannot be reproduced by a tabletop activity alone.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, so play and everyday experiences support their developing skills. Jubilee Gems adds its own Hygge inspired curriculum, an approach centred on being present, appreciating simple experiences and building connections. Its practical strands include a full forest school session, caring for edible and flowering plants, baking a cake and Be the brightest gem.

The curriculum outline connects growing, making and exploring with independence, confidence, respect and persistence: practical priorities for children learning to try again when something is difficult.

In July 2024, the cooking sequence illustrated how activities developed with the children. Babies investigated equipment, toddlers used pretend baking and pouring, and older children worked towards making a cake from a simple recipe themselves. The task became more demanding as their experience grew. A familiar subject could therefore support different stages of development rather than being repeated unchanged.

Mathematics also appeared in ordinary play in July 2024: children counted dough pieces, noticed shapes and compared containers through water activities. Songs and books supported conversation, while staff encouraged children to express their thoughts and feelings. Learning was woven into what children were already doing, giving abstract ideas a physical example they could handle or observe.

Outdoor and Community Life

A June 2025 visit from local firefighters brought a fire engine into nursery. Children examined equipment, asked questions and tried some of the kit, linking people who help us with real objects and practical discussion about emergencies. This was a dated visit, rather than a promise of a recurring event.

Community experiences extended further in July 2024, when children regularly visited a library, a residential nursing home and a church. These outings brought them into contact with people and places beyond nursery. Alongside the woodland and farm experiences, they broadened the subjects children could talk about and explore through play.

Relationships and Communication

In July 2024, staff exchanged detailed information with parents and used their knowledge of individual children to help them settle into routines. Babies' relationships with staff received particular attention. For a family beginning nursery care, that combination matters: information from home can shape the day, while familiar adults help a child become comfortable enough to take part.

A lending library supported reading together at home in July 2024, and families could receive guidance around changes such as a new baby or a house move. These are concrete forms of parent support. They connect nursery life with circumstances that may affect a child's feelings and behaviour outside it.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that the SENCO coordinated targeted interventions through collaboration between families, key persons and outside agencies, including support for children awaiting diagnosis. This describes a working mechanism, rather than a general promise of inclusion: the adults around the child shared information and coordinated interventions around individual needs.

The current team structure includes a SENCo and deputy safeguarding lead roles, alongside a Forest School Lead. Those responsibilities give families identifiable functions to discuss when planning support or understanding the nursery's outdoor work.

Meals are freshly cooked on site. For families balancing nursery with home routines, having food prepared at the setting is a useful practical part of the day.

Sessions and Attendance

Jubilee Gems offers both year-round care and term-time attendance; the latter follows West Berkshire term dates. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, with closures for bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year. These are opening hours, while the attendance options distinguish how care is arranged across the year.

The Full Year Enriched and Enhanced Provision sits alongside a Fully Funded term-time option. Flexible sessions allow families to shape attendance around their needs, choosing both a calendar and a provision option.

Getting There

The address is Ark House, School Road, Padworth, Reading, RG7 4JA. The nursery is in Padworth Common, off the A4 between Newbury and Reading, near the North Hampshire border.

Nursery enquiries can be made on 0118 9834018 or through info@jubileegems.co.uk. A nursery visit can be booked through the visit service.

Funding and Paid Extras

Free Early Years Education Entitlement covers up to 15 hours a week for three- and four-year-olds over 38 term-time weeks, beginning in the school term after the child's third birthday. Working Parent Entitlement provides up to 30 funded hours a week for eligible children aged nine months to four years, also over 38 weeks. Eligibility and application timing remain important conditions, rather than funding being an automatic consequence of joining.

For the Fully Funded term-time option, there is no Additional Services and Facilities charge, and the costs of delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage are covered. Funding administration also affects joining dates: children must already be attending before the funding submission to West Berkshire, and joining after that deadline means funding cannot be used until the following term. Families receive a form for the nursery to claim entitlement on their behalf and must provide an original birth certificate or passport if it has not already been seen.

• Two attendance calendars. Term-time care follows West Berkshire dates, while year-round care is also offered. Choose the calendar around the weeks your family needs childcare, as well as your usual weekday routine.
• Funding and the start date. A child joining after the funding submission deadline cannot use that funding until the following term. Coordinate the intended start with the application timetable before committing to attendance.
• What each provision option covers. Fully Funded term-time attendance carries no Additional Services and Facilities charge. At the visit, ask how meals, consumables and any extras are handled under your chosen option, and request a current written quotation.
• Practical learning for your child. Growing plants, baking and forest school activity are central curriculum strands. Use the booked visit to discuss how these experiences are adapted for your child's stage and how Be the brightest gem works in daily practice.

Jubilee Gems suits families seeking either term-time attendance or year-round care, with a preference for practical learning shaped by nature and relationships. Growing, baking and woodland experiences give the curriculum substance, while the July 2024 Outstanding judgement provides a strong inspection position.

The progression from exploring equipment to pretend cooking and independent baking makes everyday experiences purposeful. Families should weigh that educational fit alongside funding deadlines and provision options.