Disposition exemplars
The exemplars are non-statutory guidance for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) practitioners. They help you create an environment where dispositions can be recognised and developed.
There is no set route or timescale. You can choose which dispositions to emphasise and adapt activities to your setting. Some dispositions may be revisited several times, while others only briefly.
Start with familiar traditions if that works best for your children.
Using the exemplars in practice
Plan to:
- refer to the exemplars when designing continuous provision
- weave suggested activities and resources into everyday practice
- use child-speak explanations and key questions to guide conversations
- link activities to EYFS areas of learning and home experiences
Wider benefits
The exemplars also help deliver:
- characteristics of effective learning
- spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC)
- British values
These are important for Ofsted and for parents who may ask about your approach.
Download the disposition exemplars
- Introduction to the disposition exemplars
- Appreciating beauty
- Being accountable and living with integrity
- Being attentive to the sacred as well as the precious
- Being courageous and confident
- Being curious and valuing knowledge
- Being fair and just
- Being hopeful and visionary
- Being loyal and steadfast
- Being merciful and forgiving
- Being imaginative and exploratory
- Being modest and listening to others
- Being open, honest and truthful
- Being reflective and self-critical
- Being temperate, self-disciplined and seeking
- Being thankful
- Caring for others, animals and the environment
- Creating inclusion, identity and belonging
- Creating unity and harmony
- Expressing joy
- Participating and being willing to lead
- Living by rules
- Remembering roots
- Responding to suffering
- Sharing and being generous
Page last updated: 15 January 2026