Cracker Jacks Pre-School

Cracker Jacks Pre-School
Unique reference number (URN): 2820165
Address: 15 Kester Way, St. Neots, PE19 6SL
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 27/11/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Cracker Jacks Day Nursery Ltd
Inspection report: 13 February 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for
governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open
culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively
identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all
legal requirements are met.

Expected standard
Achievement Expected standard
Typically, children achieve well from their starting points. Gaps in all children's learning are
closing consistently, in particular for children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities. Generally, children gain the skills that will prepare them for their move on to
school. Babies are inquisitive and actively explore the stimulating environment. They smile
with delight as they discover how to make different sounds using musical instruments.
Babies babble and swiftly learn the pattern of conversation. Young children show a love of
books. They eagerly join in with repeated refrains from familiar stories. Older children listen
intently to personalised stories in which staff include the children's names as characters.
They take turns to contribute their creative ideas and shape the narrative of the story.
Children develop motor skills effectively. They draw on cotton wool pads with coloured pens,
place them into a plate of milk and observe how the colours blend together to create new
colours. Children build strength and coordination using a varied range of equipment
outdoors.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Leaders and staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and conduct. They set
clear, age-appropriate boundaries that have a positive impact on children's behaviour. Staff
reinforce positive social behaviours, such as reminding children to place a pot of pens in the
middle of the table to ensure that everyone can share. This supports children's
understanding of fairness and cooperation within group contexts. All staff have positive
relationships with the children. They consistently identify and praise children for their efforts
and achievements. This helps boost their confidence and self-esteem. Tidy-up time is
signalled through staff and children singing a familiar song. Babies clearly recognise this
cue. They demonstrate their understanding of routine and expectations as they help staff to
tidy away resources. Staff use these moments to model positive behaviours. This means
that expectations are understood and embedded across all rooms, supporting continuity.
Children understand expectations as they transition to the next room.
Staff provide calm, clear explanations and model respectful interactions to support babies to
understand kind and caring relationships. Staff support young children to work
collaboratively to construct a train track. They teach them to take turns to position a piece of
track and provide them with opportunities to practise these skills independently. Leaders
take time to share information with parents about the importance of attending regularly.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Staff create a warm, nurturing environment where babies confidently seek reassurance
through spontaneous cuddles. This demonstrates secure key-person relationships. This
helps children who are new to the setting to settle quickly. There are inconsistencies in how
staff support younger children to develop independence skills. For instance, some staff do
not encourage children to manage their self-care and outer clothing. This does not provide
all children with the skills to prepare them for their transition to the next room.

Children are provided with nutritious meals, and staff create a calm, comfortable
environment for children who need to rest. They regularly check that children remain safe
while they sleep. While this supports children's wellbeing and health, staff do not typically
help children to develop an awareness of a healthy lifestyle. This limits children's ability to
make healthy choices, understand why these choices are important and develop positive
habits from an early age.
Children have regular opportunities to enjoy physical exercise. Regular visits to the sister
setting enable older children to benefit from the soft-play provision. Children learn to assess
risks and develop spatial awareness. Babies have a wonderful time as they reach high to
pop bubbles with their hands. Staff encourage children to identify and discuss their own and
others' feelings. Children express who they love and why. Staff actively encourage children
to love themselves by reinforcing the importance of valuing themselves, modelling this
through gestures, such as giving themselves a hug.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders demonstrate an understanding of curriculum quality and teaching. They make
informed decisions to drive improvement as they regularly review and refine the curriculum
in response to children's needs. Staff offer a balance of adult-led and child-led experiences
for all children. Assessment is ongoing and informs teaching to ensure that learning is
matched to what children need to learn next. Children love to explore outside, which
includes a forest school area. Staff adapt teaching to support children with special
educational needs and/or disabilities effectively and maintain younger children's sustained
engagement during group times. For instance, they make action songs more exciting as
they encourage children to move their bodies. This also supports children's coordination and
builds their core stability.
Older children are keen to learn, although the quality of teaching is variable for this group of
children. Staff do not consistently encourage them to build on their critical thinking skills,
such as solving problems for themselves. For example, staff tell children that they need to
use thick mud on their brush to make clear, purposeful marks to create a heart pattern using
a stencil. Staff teach children mathematical concepts and language related to quantity and
size. They show a genuine interest in children's home life. This motivates children to use
complex sentences to recall recent experiences with staff and their friends, fostering positive
relationships. Staff skilfully introduce babies to new words in meaningful contexts, such as
'juicy' as babies enjoy tasting melon.
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders prioritise finding out about individual children's unique circumstances to help them
understand how to best support children and families. They successfully use a range of
assessment methods in partnership with parents to precisely identify and agree how to best
support children with a range of backgrounds and special educational needs and/or
disabilities (SEND). For example, staff adapt their interactions with any children they identify
are not making expected progress in their communication and language skills. They
consistently use clear language when speaking to children and provide them with ample
time to process what they hear. This enables them to understand questions and practise

their speaking skills. Leaders use additional funding well to ensure that children have every
opportunity to be part of the setting's community. This provides children who might otherwise
face limitations with additional opportunities.
Leaders work in close partnership with other professionals, not only to support children but
also their families, where needed. Established staff are experienced in how to support
children from a range of backgrounds and those with SEND. They frequently update their
knowledge and skills to remain informed of current guidance and good practice. They
actively support all staff with how to implement agreed strategies. This supports every child
to access the full curriculum and make progress from their starting points.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders are ambitious and have worked closely with external professionals to successfully
address the actions raised at the previous inspection. Children now benefit from a
curriculum that builds on what they already know and can do, and organised routines are
embedded. Leaders continue to reflect on how well staff meet children's needs. However,
they have not identified some inconsistencies in staff practice and how well children develop
an awareness of a healthy lifestyle. Arrangements to improve staff practice are in place.
Staff complete regular training and receive supervision meetings. Leaders encourage
reflective practice through peer-on-peer observations. Recent training has strengthened
staff's understanding of how children learn through patterns of repeated actions. As a result,
leaders and staff have adapted the environment and resources accordingly. Leaders actively
support staff wellbeing. Experienced staff say that they feel supported and valued in their
role. Newer staff explain how they are given time within their working day to attend their
studies. Leaders identify that some children have barriers to their learning. They work in
partnership with parents and outside agencies to seek support swiftly. Leaders and staff
keep parents fully involved in their child's time at the setting. Parents speak positively about
the staff team and the provision their children receive. They feel included in the setting's
community and are involved in every aspect of their child's care, learning and development.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children receive a warm welcome from staff and most excitedly leave their parents to
explore the enticing environment, which includes interesting activities and experiences that
reflect their individual interests. Staff provide a range of adult-led experiences for children,
based on children's individual needs and what they need to learn next. This helps to support
all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who

Inspector:
face other barriers in their learning, to make continued progress in their development. This
generally prepares children well for the next stage of their learning.
Children have supportive and appropriate relationships with staff. Babies are consistently
addressed by name. This helps to reinforce their sense of identity and builds self-awareness
from an early age. Babies, particularly those who have recently started to attend, receive
nurturing cuddles at times when they require reassurance. This helps them to feel safe and
secure and supports their independent curiosity. For example, babies place colourful, light-
up pebbles onto semi-transparent surfaces and observe how the colours change. This
supports their sensory exploration as they investigate the effects of light and colour through
play. Older children show sustained engagement as staff support them to bend and join
willow branches to create the shape of a heart in a forest school session. Children
demonstrate secure ownership over their learning as they beam with pride as they share
their achievements with staff.
Children show a sense of belonging. Their views are valued by staff as they make
independent suggestions of the songs they would like staff to sing during group time. This
supports children's engagement and motivates them to join in enthusiastically with actions
and some familiar words. Children's attendance is closely monitored. Unexpected absences
are followed up promptly. Parents are reminded of the importance of regular attendance to
support consistency and progress in learning and development.
Next steps
Leaders should support staff to consistently allow younger children to demonstrate and
practise their independence, giving them more opportunities to complete tasks on their
own before providing support.
Leaders should continue to build on staff practice to support older children to develop
their critical thinking skills.
Leaders should have a more focused approach to increasing children's awareness of a
healthy lifestyle.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with the provider, manager and staff during the inspection.
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the
quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The
registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for
children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

Lorraine Pike
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2820165
Address:
15 Kester Way
St. Neots
PE19 6SL
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 27/11/2024
Registered person: Cracker Jacks Day Nursery Ltd
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00
Local authority: Cambridgeshire
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 13 February 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
1 to 4
Total number of places
45
Our grades explained

Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are
following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional
standards expected of them.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects
and regulates services that care for children and young people.
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