Foundational Knowledge & Skills at Wellesbourne

At Wellesbourne Primary and Nursery School, our aim is to create strong foundations for every child, enabling them to grow in confidence and build upon these foundations as they continue their educational journey.

Strong Foundations refers to guidance published by the Department for Education and Ofsted that highlights the importance of making sure every child in the early years and early primary stages (Reception and Key Stage 1) builds the essential knowledge and skills they need to thrive throughout their whole school life.

At its heart, this means:

🔹 Securing the Basics Early
It’s about ensuring that children have a really strong grounding in the fundamentals — such as communication, early reading and phonics, writing, maths, and social and physical development — before they are asked to do more complex tasks. Children need repeated practice and teaching of core skills so that they remember and can confidently use them later on. GOV.UK

🔹 A Clear and Coherent Curriculum
Schools should be clear about what children need to learn and when, and make sure learning is sequenced properly so that each new step builds carefully on what came before. Children benefit most when learning is structured, well-planned, and matched to their developmental stage. GOV.UK

🔹 Focus on Fluency and Mastery
Rather than rushing into more challenging work, children are supported to become fluent — that is, comfortable and confident — in key skills like reading, writing and number work before they move on. This supports confidence, later learning and enjoyment of school. GOV.UK

🔹 Helping All Children Succeed
The guidance highlights that strong foundations are especially important for children who start school with lower levels of knowledge or confidence, or who have had limited early learning opportunities. The aim is for every child to have the solid building blocks they need so they’re ready for the rest of their education.

So, when we talk about Strong Foundations at school, we mean:

✅ Teaching and reinforcing the basics in a way that makes sense to young learners
✅ Making sure children have lots of opportunities to practice and become confident
✅ Helping children feel successful and ready for future learning
✅ Planning learning carefully so each step fits with what children already know

This is not about “teaching to a test” — it’s about giving children a really solid start that helps them feel confident, curious and capable as they continue through school.

Please click on the links below for further information on how we aim to embed foundational knowledge and skills here at Wellesbourne.