A complete EYFS and KS1 Foundational Knowledge Builder to help schools identify and prioritise the essential knowledge children need for future learning.

The Early Years & KS1 Foundational Knowledge Builder is a flexible curriculum design tool that helps schools define the key knowledge and skills they want children to secure by the end of Reception and Key Stage 1.

This is not a curriculum scheme or progression map. Instead, it provides a carefully structured bank of foundational knowledge statements that schools can review, select, adapt and prioritise according to their own curriculum intent and pupils’ needs.

Designed for curriculum leaders, subject leaders and school leadership teams, this resource supports schools to answer an important curriculum question:

“What are the essential things every child needs to know and be able to do before moving to the next stage of their education?”

The Builder includes foundational knowledge statements across key curriculum areas, including:

✓ Communication, Language & Oracy

✓ Early Literacy Foundations

✓ Mathematics

✓ Science

✓ Humanities

✓ The Arts

✓ Handwriting

✓ Executive Function and learning behaviours

The resource is designed as an editable Excel tool. Schools can:

✓ select statements that represent their own curriculum priorities

✓ use the Yes/No selection column to filter chosen expectations

✓ adapt statements to reflect their school context

✓ organise KS1 priorities across Year 1 and Year 2 if desired

✓ create a shared understanding of essential knowledge across staff teams

The aim is not to prescribe what schools must teach, but to provide a high-quality starting point for curriculum decision-making.

Get early intelligence from 10 primary schools inspected under the 2025 Ofsted framework.

✔ Highlights recurring inspection findings from 10 primary schools under the 2025 Ofsted framework

✔ Covers all key inspection areas: Achievement; Curriculum & Teaching; Early Years; Inclusion; Personal Development & Wellbeing; Attendance & Behaviour; Leadership & Governance

✔ Identifies cross-cutting themes inspectors repeatedly reference, including leadership, curriculum sequencing, early years provision, inclusion, personal development, and behaviour

✔ Flags recurring areas for development noted by inspectors, such as consistency in implementation, assessment precision, access to enrichment, and wider curriculum depth

✔ Gives school leaders, governors, and trustees early insight into inspection focus, helping them spot trends before they become widespread

Want more detail?

The full Primary Ofsted Intelligence Pack builds on this briefing with in depth analysis:

✔ Patterns of strengths and areas of development by inspection category and grade

✔ Cross-school analysis

✔ Clear insight into differences between Expected Standard and Strong Standard schools

✔ Recurring inspection lines of enquiry, showing where focus is most likely to fall

✔ Evidence-based intelligence to support strategic leadership, self-evaluation, and inspection readiness

The full pack gives leaders the complete picture, helping you identify trends early, understand what ‘Expected Standard’ and ‘Strong Standard’ look like under the 2025 framework, and plan improvements confidently - all grounded entirely in published inspection evidence.

Very few primary schools have been inspected under the new 2025 Ofsted framework. This pack gives you analysed insight into those inspections now.

Based on published inspection reports, this resource identifies early inspection trends, recurring strengths, and common areas for development - giving school leaders a strategic advantage before patterns become widely established.

Rather than relying on the framework alone, it shows what inspectors are actually saying, enabling SLT, governors, and trustees to plan and prioritise with confidence.

What the pack contains:

This pack is structured in two main layers:

Key Inspection Findings

✔ Highlights strengths, areas for development, and recurring trends across 10 primary schools

✔ Provides a clear overview of inspection patterns, cross-cutting themes, and common priorities

✔ Enables leaders to benchmark their school against inspected schools

✔ Supports anticipation of likely inspection lines of enquiry

✔ Provides insight for strategic improvement decisions

Individual Inspection Area Packs

Seven packs, each covering a core inspection area:

✔ Achievement

✔ Curriculum & Teaching

✔ Early Years

✔ Inclusion & SEND

✔ Personal Development & Wellbeing

✔ Attendance & Behaviour

✔ Leadership & Governance

Each pack contains:

✔ Cross-school analysis of strengths and areas for development by inspection grade

✔ School-level summaries for direct comparison and actionable insight

Strategic Insight for Leaders

✔ Evidence-informed intelligence about what inspectors are actually highlighting under the 2025 framework

✔ Identification of areas most likely to attract scrutiny during inspection

✔ Guidance for prioritising school improvement and SLT discussion

✔ Early understanding of trends to strengthen provision and prepare for inspection