Hampshire Leading Foundation Stage Practitioner

Who are the LFSPs?

Leading Foundation Stage Practitioners (LFSPs):

  • have been identified by the SfYC District Advisory Team as having excellent early years practice
  • are advocates for early education that is rooted in play-based learning
  • have at least three years of recent experience working with early years children
  • are currently working with early years children (birth to five)
  • demonstrate and continue to develop principled early years provision and practice
  • have passion about the early years and improving outcomes for children
What is an LFSP?

Each Leading Foundation Stage Practitioner provides a support service for all early years practitioners. Interaction with an LFSP

will enable you to share your ideas with a wider audience, learn from the experiences of others and tap into a wide range of help and support.
Thornton and Brunton (2007)

They support providers and practitioners in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) and maintained sectors in a variety of ways, including:

  • offering advice to all practitioners in early years settings (including reception classes)
  • supporting providers in developing their EYFS practice and provision
  • visiting providers or arranging for practitioners to visit their provision
  • modelling and coaching in their own and other’s provision.

LFSPs have completed a skills and expertise audit of their practice. They have also identified and documented their current developments and interests in profiles. Contact your local advisory team for further information.

Latest LFSP information

What do others say about LFSP Support?

Practitioner comments following LFSP support - Describing the changes in themselves:

I've become more assertive, confident in general. It's almost because someone is saying to you 'Give it a go it will work just be strong'. It gave us the confidence to say "it does work, you've just got to give it a chance" and us as managers our confidence has improved a lot both because we've done a management course but also sharing information with another professional, "well this will work, well try this" that gave us the confidence to say we are going to give this a go and we want you to try it, so it did go better than us just coming in and saying shall we, shan't we or we're going to do this whether you like it or not sort of attitude. It was better for us that it came from someone who does it. Taking it further we had a EYFS evening for parents and other settings to come in and explain all the reasons for this, lots of other settings attended and about eight families and we also did a hard copy about EYFS. Then having the confidence to share your journey' (long pause) and also… and I have become cluster practitioner as well… since the visit. Again (named LFSP) gave us lots of positives on that…. And (names advisory teacher) had asked us about it and we thought shall we… we are not really that good, and should we shouldn't we… she said yes you are, she gave us a push on that and so we're now in the process of organising visits for other settings to visit other settings and we are going to make that a real positive, we're keeping records of the changes we have made and why we're able to take that into other settings as well when we do our visits.
How do I apply for LFSP support?

Services for Young Children District Advisory Teachers (DATs) provide information and the process of requesting LFSP support.

Where can I meet an LFSP?

Watch out for:

  • LFSP exhibitions
  • LFSP provider twilight sessions, 'Open Events' to view and discuss practice
  • LFSP talks at local network meetings
  • LFSP workshops at conferences
  • LFSP displays at big events
How do I apply for the LFSP role?

Who should apply?

Any practitioner who:

  • has at least three years of recent experience of working with early years children
  • is currently working with early years children (birth to five years)
  • can undertake the role for at least one year, preferably two years to ensure continuity
  • is demonstrating and developing principled early years provision and practice
  • is passionate about the early years and improving outcomes for children
  • is reflective and has a proven commitment to professional development.

Interested practitioners need to ensure they meet all the essential criteria on the Expression of Interest Form including the support of their owner/manager/chair of committee/supervisor/head teacher.

All short-listed practitioners will be visited by a member of the Services for Young Children team. This visit will include time in the applicant’s room, and a short discussion with the applicant’s owner/manager/chair of committee/supervisor/head teacher.

Read through the Expression of Interest Form and discuss with your line manager/head teacher/supervisor/chair of committee/owner. You may also wish to discuss the opportunity with others who support your setting (see the list of professionals on the Expression of Interest Form). Ensure you provide all relevant information and allow time for your manager/head teacher/supervisor to fill in their section.

Expression of Interest Forms can be requested from Services for Young Children.