7th March 2019 Phonic Testing in Year 1

When will the test happen? Testing for phonics takes place in a given week in June Parents will not be informed of the date as this is unnecessary If a child is away they can be tested in the following week

What is the test like? The children are shown real and pretend words to read using all the different phonic patterns they have learned e.g. made, gade, chide Each pretend word is put forward as the name of an alien Each child is tested individually with their own class teacher in a quiet room The children are not told it is a test and will just experience a lovely one to one session with their teacher. Children usually enjoy this individual attention and time with their teacher.

Children are praised for having a go and doing their best If a child gets to a point where they are struggling the testing is stopped

How is my child prepared for the test at school? There is daily phonic teaching, as has been the case since your child started school. Children are developing their skills in reading phonetic patterns through a wide range of activities, including reading pretend words. The reading you child does with their teacher on a one to one basis, in their reading group and through their English lessons all supports their progress in phonics

How can I help at home? NEVER TALK ABOUT THE TEST! Carry on with your daily reading and encourage your child to ‘sound out’ unknown words whenever they can. Support your child with any phonic work they bring home to do

Will all children take the test? If the teacher makes the judgement that a child is not yet an appropriate stage to take the test then the parent will be informed that this is the case. This will only be a very small minority of children, if any.

When will I know the result? We hope to be able to give you the result sheet with your child’s end of year report. The result will show if they met the standard or they did not meet the standard. We do not know what mark is needed each year until after all the testing is completed. The result sheet will show their mark out of 40 but not what the pass mark is.

What happens with the results? The teachers will use the results to inform the next steps in learning for your child. The results are rarely a surprise as the teachers know the children’s skills really well already. Any child who does not meet the standard does another test at the end of year 2 in exactly the same way.