Foundational Knowledge

The essential building blocks to learning.

It's really important for children to learn the essential skills and knowledge as they move through school. This helps them get prepare and understand what comes next.

This is especially true in their first few years. That's when children learn to read, write, and count. When they build a strong foundation in these areas, they can more easily learn everything else and get ready for a lifetime of learning.

In October 2024, Ofsted shared some helpful ideas about these important skills in their 'Strong Foundations' research.  In this research they identified 5 areas of Foundational Knowledge highlighted in the diagram below.

As a school, we have used this research to create our very own list of essential foundational knowledge for our pupils. We want to make sure every child at Martongate Primary School has the strong building blocks they need to succeed in the future.

We use these targets alongside the National curriculum to help all our learners. This ensures children do not move on until they are ready and have the foundations to succeed in life. 

foundational knowledge statements.pdf