Jigsaw Arts Chelmsford

Each performing arts session contains an equal amount of dance, drama and singing. For our 3- 6 years, its 30 minutes of each, keeping the sessions snappy and fun. For our 7 – 18 years, it’s an hour of each dance, drama and singing with three specialist teachers.

Jigsaw Arts offer performing arts courses, so all children attending focus on all three disciplines. We suggest that students attend a two-week trial to see how they feel about the subjects that they are less confident to explore. The classes complement each other really well and we often find children do end up enjoying all three- but are bound to have a favourite!

Jigsaw Arts aim to give every new starter the best introduction to our courses as possible, so our two-week taster classes typically take place at the start of term only. Jigsaw classes are all about building confidence, and having new starters join late in the term can be counterproductive. However, speak to your school manager to see what is possible.

We offer a two-week trial which costs £30 for 3-6 years attending our 1.5 hour session/ £60 for 7 – 18 years attending our 3 hour sessions, so your child can try out the sessions before you commit to the whole term. When you sign up for the full term after the two-week trial classes that £30/£60 paid goes towards the whole term’s fees and you only pay the balance remaining for the term. We don’t offer free trials as we find this quite disruptive for our current students.

We are unable to secure a space without taking payment, so we recommend you book your two week trial online. We cannot guarantee that a space will still be available if you turn up at the school.

Our classes are drop off sessions for students aged 3 years or more. We invite you to arrive early on your first session to meet the teacher and manager before the class starts. Some schools offer Jigsaw Jumpers sessions for under 3’s, these are the only classes that parents attend. Parents are invited to speak to the school manager at the end of classes and families are invited into the school at the end of term to enjoy student’s presentations/ shows, two terms out of three per year.

To ensure high quality lessons for all Jigsaw students we have a limit on the number of children enrolled each term. There is a maximum of 16 students in our 3-6 years classes, and our busier classes will have an assistant teacher present to join in with the fun! For students aged 7 – 18 years, there is a maximum of 18 - 20 students depending on the size of the venue.

We recognise some children may be nervous on the first day and our teachers are ready to settle children in. Each school has a manager as well as a teacher, and busy classes have assistants, so there are lots of friendly faces to welcome new students. Jigsaw’s focus is to build confidence and develop social skills through performing arts. Some children grow in confidence after a few weeks, some longer but in our experience, it does make a difference. You can speak to the school manager about what you hope to achieve from the class, and we can give you feedback on their progress.

Yes, all teachers have an enhanced DBS check. Our teachers also attend Jigsaw Arts teacher training sessions.

We are unable to take children who require one to one care/support, as we do not have the provisions in place. Each child and their needs are unique, so we recommend you speak to the school manager about your child’s support requirements before booking. We will typically recommend coming along to enjoy the two-week trial classes so that we can decide after this if the course would be beneficial to your child.

We generally don’t stop for school half term holidays and our classes typically run for 11 weeks without any breaks. But please do check with your school manager as some venues must close due to venue closures.

Jigsaw Arts run termly courses, so we are unable to offer any discount for missed sessions. We like to recommend that students attend all the sessions to get the most out of the course.

Yes. We offer discounts to fees for second siblings and further discounts for third siblings. Please find the class you would like to attend on our website, and all fees are clearly displayed.

We ask that the children attend Jigsaw classes in either their Jigsaw Arts uniform which can be purchased at your school, or in loose fitting black or grey clothing that is easy to move/dance in. We recommend trainers and plimsoles, or anything that the children can safely run and dance in.

We recommend that all student’s bring a bottle of water. We have a short break time during classes and some schools invite students to bring in a snack. Your Jigsaw school manager will inform you if need to provide your child with a small snack in your pre-term email before the first week of term. Otherwise please just bring lots of energy and enthusiasm.

Yes! Once a year Jigsaw Arts schools put on a fully staged end of term show with costumes (and lights), for friends and family to enjoy. The second performance term of the year is a presentation term, where families are invited in at the end of term to see an open class demonstration of how Jigsaw Arts classes are structured, and how the teachers interact with the students on a week to week basis. The final term of the year is our technique term, where students focus on lots of new techniques in drama, singing and dance. There is no formal performance at the end of a technique term, but you will receive a report on your child’s progress from their Jigsaw teachers.

This depends on the size of the class and the performance space, so please check with the school manager at your venue. Some of our smaller venues have a 2 adult per student limit.

We do not do any exams. Instead, Jigsaw Arts students are awarded annually for their attendance and commitment to the course. Each student has a different goal when they come to Jigsaw, this is why we award them for commitment as opposed to skill or progress. If you are currently attending a Jigsaw weekend school and would like to find out more about LAMDA exams, please do speak to your school manager as they may be able to recommend a local LAMDA teacher.

No, children don’t need to audition. All children are welcome at Jigsaw. We recognise that the children come to our classes with different skill sets and different goals. Our teachers are able to differentiate to make sure all children are challenged to their full potential. We are proud that Jigsaw is ‘A Place to Belong’ for all students.