One of the biggest shifts to come with the renewed Ofsted inspection framework is around “foundational knowledge”. In its inspection toolkit, Ofsted says inspectors must “evaluate how effectively pupils are enabled to secure strong foundations to access the curriculum”. This, in turn, will ensure that they have what is required to “belong, thrive and achieve”.

But what is foundational knowledge and how can schools evidence that they are delivering it for all pupils?

In the first instance, we can rest assured that these are areas schools are exploring. Foundational knowledge refers to the base level of language and communication, reading, writing and mathematics that students will need to have secured if they are going to be able to access the wider curriculum.

Developing this begins in the early years, but there is now renewed focus on how schools continue to support pupils to hone these skills throughout their education.

But what does that look like, and how do you demonstrate to inspectors that you are making it a priority?

Delivering foundational knowledge

1. Awareness

Teachers need to be alert to what their pupils can and can’t do. They should be able to name those students who still have gaps in their ability to speak, write and read with fluency.

As students move through the curriculum, the challenge increases. Insecurities in the foundations of writing fluency or reading accuracy may emerge. We need to be alert to checking for any signs that things have gone astray.

In our trust, all students are screened for reading either during the first few weeks of their first term or as part of their induction into our alternative and specialist provisions. We also screen those who arrive later in the year. This is then triangulated with other information we have about the student, meaning we quickly know those who are likely to need additional support.

2. Precision

Once teachers have pinpointed where insecurities in foundational knowledge exist, they need to understand precisely what the issues are. At our trust, diagnostic tests, whether looking at basic number, reading or writing skills, are used for all students who are found to be below what is expected. We can then select the right interventions at the right time.

For example, a pupil might be accurate in their decoding but not at speed, which therefore hinders their reading. Letter formation may be accurate for a pupil when a word or sentence is dictated to them, but they do not have fluency in this and so struggle when writing at length, especially when dealing with more complex information.

Similarly, in numeracy, they may have secured some of their multiplication tables, but when they are working with more complex numbers, they find it difficult to recall them with automaticity.

In our trust, we use the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension to explore reading needs and regular book samples to check writing and numeracy needs.

3. Additional support

Once you have determined which pupils need additional support and precisely what they need support with, you need to consider what the most effective intervention might be.

Whether that is additional reading practice, time to work towards writing fluency or number work in a small group, support should aim to address their biggest barrier. We invest in training the staff who will deliver these interventions to make sure that students are being supported by someone with expertise in that area.

In some cases, you may need to call on external support. For example, some pupils who are struggling to communicate might need specialist support from a speech and language therapist. However, others may simply need more opportunities for high-quality interactions in the classroom or additional checks that they have understood what they have heard. Some may need to have instructions broken down further.

We screen early for language needs and continue to check with class teachers about what they observe in their interactions. We then make use of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to provide further small group work as needed.

While our aim is for all pupils to participate in the full curriculum, for those with gaps in foundational knowledge, we may have to make some tough decisions to ensure that they don’t continue to be locked out of wider learning. Short-term and impactful interventions will help them to get more out of lessons in the longer term.

Foundational knowledge for all

For all of this to be as impactful as possible, it should be wrapped around opportunities to practise and embed secure foundations in lessons. The curriculum should explicitly identify where foundational knowledge is being strengthened for all, as well as what will happen when pupils are still at the earliest stages of development in that area.

It is likely that the needs of pupils will cut across many areas, but one thing is for certain: we want students to leave our schools being able to talk, read, write and do the kinds of mathematical thinking that will help them to achieve whatever it is they want.

Zoe Enser is the school improvement lead for a trust in the North West of England

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