Year 1 Phonic Screening Check Thursday 21st April 2016 9.00 am

What is phonics? Simply the relationship between letters and sounds in a language. Words are made up of small units of sounds called phonemes. Phonics teaches children to identify the phonemes that make up each word.

What is phonics? (cont) Phonemes ( a sound in a word) e.g. c a t (3 phonemes) Graphemes (letters or sequences of letters that represent a phoneme, can be 1,2,3,4 letters) e.g. f-i-sh NOT f-i-s-h kn-igh-t NOT k-n-i-g-h-t sh-i-p NOT s-h-i-p

What is phonics? (cont) Blending This is when children say the sounds that make a word and they are able to merge the sounds together until they hear what the word is. Vital for learning to read! Segmenting The opposite to blending, children say a word and break it up into the phonemes that make it up. Vital for learning to spell!

What are the Year 1 Phonic Screening Checks? A short, nationally directed, 1:1 test for all Year 1 pupils conducted by their class teacher. This test assesses whether each child has learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate level.

Why does my child have to undertake this check? It is a statutory requirement for all schools. To make sure that all pupils have grasped fundamental phonics skills and to see that nobody slips through the net.

When will my child complete the check? All checks will take place during the week beginning the 13th June 2016.

Who administers the check to my child? Each child will undertake the check with their class teacher in a quiet room away from the rest of the class.

How are the checks administered? Low-key, no fuss, relaxed. The check comprises of a list of 40 words and non-words (these are referred to as pseudo words/ alien words). Half the words cover phonics skills which tend to be covered in Reception, and half the words are based on Year 1 phonics skills. Your child needs to read the words to their teacher correctly.

Examples of words Words Non-words Section 1 (Reception) cat (cvc) wish (cvcc) vap (cvc) geck (cvcc) Section 2 (Year 1) slide (ccvcc) trains (ccvvc) voo (cvv) spron (cccvc) Pseudo-words are included because they will be new to all pupils, so there won’t be a bias to those with a good vocabulary knowledge or visual memory of words.

What happens if my child does not reach the standard? You will be informed, via the school report, if your child has not achieved the expected level. Extra support, both in Year 1 and Year 2, will be provided for children who did not reach the national standard. These children will then be able to re-take the assessment in Year 2.

Any questions?