At Ankermoor Academy we follow the 'In the Moment' approach to teaching reception. Through 'In the Moment' learning, practitioners construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give children, particularly the most disadvantaged, the opportunity to lead their learning with all staff, carrying out the cycle of: assessment, planning and observation on a moment by moment basis.  

The core curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced. We use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised for phonics and White Rose for maths therefore children build on what they know and what they can do. The school’s approach to teaching early reading and synthetic phonics is systematic and ensures that all children learn to read words and simple sentences by the end of reception. By following Little Wandle, we will ensure that our children secure a knowledge of phonics which gives them the foundations for future learning, especially in preparation for them to become confident and fluent readers. Reading practice sessions take place 3x a week and focus on decoding, prosody and comprehension in order to crack the code. 

There is a sharp focus on ensuring that children acquire a wide vocabulary, we enhance this by completing Talk for Stories at the end of each day, where vocabulary is our focus.  This is a really enjoyable part of the day, where the adult reads aloud to the children and the get to explore the text through role play and discussion. 

Effective communication is a priority in Reception, due to this we are completing Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) with the lowest 20%, this will enable all children  to communicate effectively. 

We are currently developing our outdoor provision, we believe that children should have access to the outside area at all times.  We ask that all children have a puddle suit and wellies in school every day.