Welcome to SAfE’s latest Ofsted tracker, highlights and insights

The revised Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (2025) places increased emphasis on how securely foundational knowledge is identified, sequenced and embedded, particularly in the EYFS and Key Stage 1. For Headteachers, this means inspectors will look more closely at how curriculum thinking, teaching practice and provision ensure that all pupils develop the knowledge and language needed to access later learning successfully.

Strong foundations in learning are one of the most reliable predictors of long-term educational success. The OFSTED 2024 Strong Foundations in the First Year of School report states that, ‘research is clear that high quality early education establishes the foundations for later success, including academic achievement, good health and well-being.’ Research shows that pupils who secure essential knowledge early are better able to access, connect, and apply more complex ideas later. When those foundations are insecure, learning can become fragile, progress slow, and gaps widen. The revised Ofsted Education Inspection Framework reinforces this principle with renewed clarity, placing curriculum coherence, progression, and secure foundational knowledge as a core element of inspection and school improvement.

In terms of the definition of foundational knowledge, it refers to the underpinning level of language, communication, reading, writing and maths that pupils need to have secured to support their access to the wider curriculum and future learning. The key findings of educational research, such as that by the Educational Endowment Foundation demonstrate the vital importance of a pupil’s first years of learning; the Early Years and Primary phases are the structural base of a child’s whole educational journey and for school leaders this means ensuring that their Early Years and KS1 curriculum actively and equitably supports every child developing these secure learning foundations.

Within this edition of OFSTED Insights, we examine how Senior Leaders can evaluate the key elements which can support their school in achieving this.

A well-sequenced EYFS and KS1 curriculum ensures children secure the foundational knowledge they need before encountering more formal learning. Ofsted’s focus on curriculum and teaching as an evaluation area underscores the importance of this sequencing. Inspectors will evaluate whether leaders can demonstrate that they have identified the most important knowledge pupils need at each stage and that this knowledge is taught in a logical, cumulative way rather than attempting to accelerate progress by moving pupils onto more complex tasks too quickly. When this is achieved within EYFS and KS1, pupils develop confidence, fluency, and the cognitive capacity to tackle more demanding curriculum content in KS2.

A well-sequenced EYFS and KS1 curriculum ensures children secure the foundational knowledge they need before encountering more formal learning. Ofsted’s focus on curriculum and teaching as an evaluation area underscores the importance of this sequencing. Inspectors will evaluate whether leaders can demonstrate that they have identified the most important knowledge pupils need at each stage and that this knowledge is taught in a logical, cumulative way rather than attempting to accelerate progress by moving pupils onto more complex tasks too quickly. When this is achieved within EYFS and KS1, pupils develop confidence, fluency, and the cognitive capacity to tackle more demanding curriculum content in KS2.

Another key element for leaders to consider is their schools transition between the EYFS and KS1 curriculum. Planning this transition collaboratively with their teams will ensure that Year 1 builds on, rather than departs from strong EYFS practice. This includes aligning expectations, maintaining continuity where appropriate (such as through structured play and guided practice), and introducing the KS1 curriculum in a way that allows children to apply what they already know and move smoothly into more formal learning when they are ready. This clarity around how foundational knowledge is identified, sequenced, taught and revisited across the whole team, will support leaders in evaluating their school’s curriculum and provide robust information to support their decision making.

Leaders should be able to demonstrate:

Staff understanding of how early knowledge supports later learning.

High-quality teaching is central to securing the foundational knowledge children need in the EYFS and Key Stage 1 and the strongest evidence highlights the pivotal role of purposeful, responsive adult–child interaction. Ofsted’s Strong Foundations in the First Years of School report makes clear that children do not reliably acquire essential knowledge through exposure or play alone; schools need precise identification of what children need to know and teaching that makes this knowledge explicit, memorable, and practised over time.

High-quality interaction is central.

Adults must:

Without this, learning through play alone is not sufficient to secure foundational knowledge.

These practices align with findings that effective early years’ pedagogy depends on adults actively shaping learning, balancing direct instruction with responsive teaching and structured opportunities for purposeful play. Strategies such as commenting more than questioning, allowing processing time, and intentionally enriching vocabulary ensure new concepts are meaningfully understood and retained, especially for children whose language development may be less secure.

The learning environment also plays a critical pedagogical role. Well organised, clearly defined areas within continuous provision ensure that play remains purposeful, cognitively rich, and aligned with the progression of knowledge. By designing environments that enable exploration while maintaining clear learning intentions, and by positioning adults to observe, intervene, and scaffold with precision, schools can create the pedagogical conditions in which foundational knowledge is securely embedded.

Ensuring equity in the early years means recognising that some pupils, potentially including those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, may start school having had fewer opportunities to develop the language, self-regulation, and early number concepts that underpin later learning. By the end of Reception, these early differences can already amount to several months of learning and without sustained, intentional support they risk widening as pupils move through primary and into secondary education.

Schools can counter this by designing EYFS and KS1 provision that is deliberately structured around what research tells us matters most for early learning: rich oral language environments, explicit teaching of foundational knowledge, and repeated, meaningful practice. High-quality interactions, systematic early reading and number instruction, and targeted small-group support—delivered by well-trained adults—ensure that pupils who need more do not simply receive ‘more of the same,’ but access teaching that is responsive, precise, and ambitious.

Inspectors will consider whether support for disadvantaged pupils is:

Crucially, an equity-driven approach avoids deficit narratives; instead, it positions all children as capable learners and ensures that the pupils who would benefit most from strong foundations receive the strongest teaching, every day, from the start.

Securing strong foundations in the early years is not simply a matter of good practice; it is a strategic priority that shapes pupils’ long-term educational trajectories. When leaders ensure that the EYFS and KS1 curriculums are coherently sequenced, pedagogically robust, and intentionally designed to meet the needs of every child, they create the conditions in which secure knowledge can flourish. This work is especially powerful when approached through the lens of equity—recognising that some pupils may require more deliberate support and ensuring that the strongest teaching is directed where it can make the greatest difference. By investing in these foundations, schools not only strengthen early attainment but also build the stable platform from which pupils can thrive throughout their primary education and beyond.